This is a sand mold casting in brass. The originals were also cast, but the details were a little more crisp. I attribute this to the same principle when you make a photocopy of a photocopy. Below is a copy of a Locomobile Brass Plate that was produced when the first Modelworks kits were made by a kit builder.
The detail is pretty good. They did a nice job on it but it is not painted as were the originals. Next are two images showing authentic brass nameplates:
You can see a slight red tinge in the recessed "Locomobile" and the base looks to be painted in semi-gloss or flat black paint. I believe it was at least a semi-gloss, the plates just might be grungy making it appear as a flat black. Below is my finished brass plate. I first used a belt sander to sand the lettering profile and then used a fine file and 200 grit sand paper. I also used a polishing wheel as a final finish. As you can see I couldn't get all of the casting irregularities out, and I did not want to take it down any further. I painted the Locomobile with the same red paint that I used on my chassis. I did use some semi-gloss oil based enamel paint for the background. I think the plate looks pretty decent for being a copy.
All that I need to do is drill two holes for the mounting. I plan to stamp a serial number and Style "2". Hopefully I can use this as my VIN plate for when I get the Lykamobile Registered. As far as the Serial Number I'm thinking about "STW-xxx" to denote Steam Traction World and the actual kit number "xxx" from Steam Traction World.
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