06-17-2016, 11:59 PM
My experience of RD vs original is mixed.
I got a 40-180 dial from them, and wasn't overly happy with it. I got one from Mark, and was much happier. But RD used real glass, while mark's was plexi. So they get points for that. But Mark wins in accuracy.
Here is my broken original on top, RD in the middle, and Marks on the bottom. RD fonts are thicker, and somewhat more "rounded" than the originals. Mark's fonts are far more accurate. RD horizontal lines are far more thicker than Mark's. His are much closer to the original.
Here is an original 60B (late model). Mark doesn't reproduce this one, but RD does. Not overly happy with this one. Mainly because they chose a straight bar over the original wavy lines for the police/amateur marks. And, they labeled it "air" instead of "amateur". The font is more accurate than the 40-180 font, but the spacing/weight still seems off, especially for the "STANDARD" font.
And here is a 38-10 from RD. Mark makes this one, but was out of material at time I needed to order it. So I can't compare his in this case. Out of the 3, this is probably the best RD repro. The font again is a bit thicker than the original. And the spacing/weight on the font on the wording on the left of the dial is poor (the original was very even for the first few lines, then got shorter, while the repro is all over the place). The printing seems a little "jagged" though compared to the original, but that may also just be because the font is thicker.
Now, given this is a niche hobby, and RD and Mark are pretty much our only options, I guess we can't complain too much. If you have a broken dial (like my 60B), then even a bad repro is better than nothing. But it seems Mark is much more accurate (based solely off my 40-180 comparison, I wish I could have compared his 38-10 too). But in the mean time, I guess we have to deal with what is available. I wish Mark could find a new source for material, so we would have another option. Or I wish RD would make theirs more accurate. Either way.
I got a 40-180 dial from them, and wasn't overly happy with it. I got one from Mark, and was much happier. But RD used real glass, while mark's was plexi. So they get points for that. But Mark wins in accuracy.
Here is my broken original on top, RD in the middle, and Marks on the bottom. RD fonts are thicker, and somewhat more "rounded" than the originals. Mark's fonts are far more accurate. RD horizontal lines are far more thicker than Mark's. His are much closer to the original.
Here is an original 60B (late model). Mark doesn't reproduce this one, but RD does. Not overly happy with this one. Mainly because they chose a straight bar over the original wavy lines for the police/amateur marks. And, they labeled it "air" instead of "amateur". The font is more accurate than the 40-180 font, but the spacing/weight still seems off, especially for the "STANDARD" font.
And here is a 38-10 from RD. Mark makes this one, but was out of material at time I needed to order it. So I can't compare his in this case. Out of the 3, this is probably the best RD repro. The font again is a bit thicker than the original. And the spacing/weight on the font on the wording on the left of the dial is poor (the original was very even for the first few lines, then got shorter, while the repro is all over the place). The printing seems a little "jagged" though compared to the original, but that may also just be because the font is thicker.
Now, given this is a niche hobby, and RD and Mark are pretty much our only options, I guess we can't complain too much. If you have a broken dial (like my 60B), then even a bad repro is better than nothing. But it seems Mark is much more accurate (based solely off my 40-180 comparison, I wish I could have compared his 38-10 too). But in the mean time, I guess we have to deal with what is available. I wish Mark could find a new source for material, so we would have another option. Or I wish RD would make theirs more accurate. Either way.
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