Text on a non-arc curve

I'm drawing a steam locomotive builder's plate which is eliptical in shape (240x150mm) and I'm having trouble trying to get text to follow the profile of the elipse. I've tried using Express>Arc-aligned text, but when I click on the curve the command line keeps telling me to select an arc. I've tried separating the upper half of the elipse from the lower, but I still get the same "Select an arc" instruction. Here's a typical eliptical plate:

Is it possible to create text as in this plate?

Thanks,

Mike

Give this lisp routine a shot.

http://www.lee-mac.com/slinkytext.html

If you are not sure what to do with a lisp file, check out: http://www.lee-mac.com/runlisp.html

I would suggest doing it manually, instead of relying on lisp. Arc aligned text splits the text into individual letters which are all given the same space, i.e. no kerning.

Thanks for reply. I've checked out the lisp routine but on first impression I feel somewhat baffled by it all. Think it'll take a lot of re-reading the information before I can grasp it.

When you say do it manually, do you mean creating individual letters and positioning each one? Sounds like that could be an immediate method of achieving what I want. I'll give it a try.

Thanks again both of you.

Mike