Calligraphy - how to paint sharp letters

[Skeeve]

Here is my problem, ladies and gentlemen, a commissioner requested to put some mottoes, litanies and chapter names on his favorite land raider.
I took it with mutual understanding that I have never done complex lettering before. After looking around for an appropriated font I decided to try for a simplified version of "black letters" (commonly known as "Gothic" script). Down bellow are several results. Now, I run into several problems and I would love to hear how people who did something like this before deal with this.

1) Sharp points. Sometimes it is doable, sometimes it is very difficult and required multiple attempts to achieve. Any tricks here?

2) Spacing. Now this is something that drove me crazy when I tried it first. In fact, this remains to be a major problem. Ok, I figured (after first failed attempt) that Gothic is not even and all letters have different width. This created a problem. If I measure and mark spaces of equal size then the whole script looks very wrong in the end. If I don't measure how do I know how many letters I can fit onto a surface of given length? So, at this point I essentially have to draw complete outline with a pencil and then paint it over. Even this however requires multiple attempts because of size-scale-fitting required number of letters issues. Again any thoughts on how to simplify it?

Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image

[Barton]

Three ideas:

Decals - I know it is not good idea sometimes.

Primer it. Trace them in using a stencil, use cheap calligraphy pens (use black ink). Then paint over the result

Pantagraph it, LARGE letters to small ones on to the tank.

[Barton]

Another suggestion from my wife (she used to do Calligraphy semi-professionally):
Try on a piece of paper or scrap plastic card using mixed case, It will look better; more readable.
I know the customer may want all upper case, but try it mixed case with a pen and I think you will like it better.
I realize the first posted photo is mixed case.

[mahon]

Print it on a graph paper with grid, using any font you like - this will make marking most important points much easier.
Draw a simplified grid on your model - like two parallel horizontal lines (bottom and top of letters) and then make dots in the crucial points as per the sketch on the graph paper.
Then sketching the letters on the model shouldn't be a problem.

I think that without sketching on the model it would be very difficult. So far your results are very good and they really add to the model, but I am just thinking how to simplify the process of painting...

Or simply buy decal paper, print decals on it, apply on the model...

[Elfboy]

Little bit of a complicated route to take, but you could probably find rubber stamps for the letters. You can also get them made up to any size you require. That way you can just print the letters onto the tank and paint over the print if you need it to have the red outlines as you've done on the pictures. This way you get very sharp lettering and I'm sure with some rudimentary bits of wood you could make proper spacing bars so you can print whole words.

Of course, this only really works for flat surfaces, not so great for going around corners and that sort of thing.