Van-body Decoration by a new process
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HITIIERTO it has been considered impracticable to finish bodywork, or to decorate panels for advertising purposes in a pictorial manner in anything but simple designs or lettering, except by brush work. This practically implies that only oil paint has, up to the present, been suitable for such work.
Known as the Lucalose process, a new method has recently been evolved by F. W. Lucas (1922), Ltd., 240, Brixton Hill, London, S.W.2, which enables elaborate lettering, complicated artistic designs, pictures, etc., to be applied in cellulose, entirely with the gun. The process permits of repetition work being done to the extent of from 25 to 50 facsimilies, according to their nature.
We are not permitted to disclose the details of the process, for although screens and masks are employed, this is by no means the whole secret of its success. The quality, however, of some specimens of the work we recently inspected, appeared well up to modern standards.
The advantages of cellulose finish are, of course, its durability and the fact that its original clarity does not deteriorate. Whilst a coat of varnish is required to renovate a van finished in oil paint, the original brilliance can be restored to cellulose by polishing.
The Lucalose process is no more expensive than oil paint, but it is quite impossible to quote definite figures, as the price depends to some extent upon the elaborateness of the design, and, of course, upon the size of the van.
We understand that a number of prominent concerns is taking advantage of the greater advertising value of their vehicles that this new process affords.