One can read the “Razorback” name legibly from as far as seventy-five feet away.
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must’ve had a poor LED installation, since the name was hard to read. Instead Lucke thought it would be better to borrow some elements from a recent LED-accented monument project his shop had built. (Note: For details, see page 80.) Fowler and Lucke met with the captain of the yacht, who told them the owner had only two definite requests: The letters had to be polished stainless steel, and glow red and white (the school colors of the University of Arkansas). This client was a big Arkansas Razorbacks fan, even naming his boat “Razorback.” Initially Lucke conceived of “flat” 1/4-inch-thick letters with LEDs mounted to their backside. So he contacted architectural sign wholesaler Steel Art Company to supply them. The stainless steel “Razorback” letters ended up being 3/16-inchdeep and feature a polished face and matte-finished edge. All together, they measure fifty-six inches wide. The tallest letters stand 18 inches and the smallest 8-3/4 inches. Lucke originally selected Stainless Steel Alloy 304, but after speaking with his Steel Art rep, he switched to the higher grade Alloy 316. “Because of salt water’s effect on metals, I didn’t want any wear-and-tear to show for as long as possible,” he says. During renderings, Lucke drew up a red letter with a black outline with a 1/2-inch relief around it. But he realized that em42
Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2013
With a dMX master controller, fastsigns programmed eleven different color scenes for the letters. bedding two strands of LEDs behind the letters wouldn’t work, since they weren’t big enough. So what would fit structurally? The answer: Allanson StormTight™ 1-3/4-by-1-3/4-inch LED RGB modules. Halo illumination is created by the spacing and intensity of the LEDs; also important is having a side return on the letters. Lucke crafted a 3/4-inch return for the “Razorback” letters. “This would keep the letter thickness-to-letter height proportion within a nice aesthetic range,” he says. “We studied the deflection angle of the light and determined we needed that side wall for the halo lighting to be effective.” (Note: The returns also hide the stand-offs from people peering down from above.) Steel Art suggested a variety of letter mounting styles, and Lucke ended up attracted to their “on the edge” method. “This is where they weld the edge of the letter to the return—almost signshop.com