Painting a car badge - can anyone offer any advice?
Discussion
Slightly OT for this forum, but hoping that one of you might be able to offer some advice on how best to paint a plastic car badge. (If there's a better place, perhaps the mods could move it for me?)
The badge in question has quite a deep moulding which I'm keen to paint, ideally getting sufficient paint into the moulding to have the coloured parts near flush (or flush) with the top.
Can anyone offer any advice as to the best way to do this? Would syringing model paint (Humbrol enamel?) into the recesses until it reaches the correct level work (no idea how well it flows)? Or are there other factors I need to consider, like building up several layers?
Any hints/tips would be really appreciated.
The badge in question has quite a deep moulding which I'm keen to paint, ideally getting sufficient paint into the moulding to have the coloured parts near flush (or flush) with the top.
Can anyone offer any advice as to the best way to do this? Would syringing model paint (Humbrol enamel?) into the recesses until it reaches the correct level work (no idea how well it flows)? Or are there other factors I need to consider, like building up several layers?
Any hints/tips would be really appreciated.
LooneyTunes said:
Slightly OT for this forum, but hoping that one of you might be able to offer some advice on how best to paint a plastic car badge. (If there's a better place, perhaps the mods could move it for me?)
The badge in question has quite a deep moulding which I'm keen to paint, ideally getting sufficient paint into the moulding to have the coloured parts near flush (or flush) with the top.
Can anyone offer any advice as to the best way to do this? Would syringing model paint (Humbrol enamel?) into the recesses until it reaches the correct level work (no idea how well it flows)? Or are there other factors I need to consider, like building up several layers?
Any hints/tips would be really appreciated.
If it's a deep moulding you might be better filling it to within a 0.5 mm or so of the top surface with laminating resin, then pour 2K paint into the remaining cavity until it just bulges around the edge. When it's rock hard, sand it flush and polish back with T-cut.The badge in question has quite a deep moulding which I'm keen to paint, ideally getting sufficient paint into the moulding to have the coloured parts near flush (or flush) with the top.
Can anyone offer any advice as to the best way to do this? Would syringing model paint (Humbrol enamel?) into the recesses until it reaches the correct level work (no idea how well it flows)? Or are there other factors I need to consider, like building up several layers?
Any hints/tips would be really appreciated.
LooneyTunes said:
Thanks - I'll give that a go.
Out of curiosity, any reason why 2k is likely to be better than enamel? Just thinking of the fact that I'll only need a few ml.
Don't know TBH, all I know is that 2K sets rock hard.Out of curiosity, any reason why 2k is likely to be better than enamel? Just thinking of the fact that I'll only need a few ml.
Gloss enamels take several days (or even a week or so) to fully harden even at a few microns deep. If you're filling a couple of mm with enamel I'd imagine it might take a month or so to fully cure. I guess as you said you could paint in layers but it would still take ages to set hard.
I think 2K works slightly differently in that it's more a chemical reaction that cures it rather than evaporation of a solvent, so deeper layers might be OK. I could be wrong on that.
I'm not sure why yo want to completely fill the cavity with paint.
On all clear perspex type car badges I know of (as finished and fitted at the factory) the indented areas are painted, left to dry and in some cases given an internal coat of protective sealant to finish the job.
I recently repainted a 1950s Rover perspex rad grill badge for a mate. I have also refinished Ford badges similarly but "customised" to match the car paintwork, black and gold for a Capri and white and blue to match a white Escort mark 1.
Ordinary Tamiya Red, Black Acrylics and smooth Humbrol silver enamel did the Rover badge nicely in about twenty minutes.
Finished off with a coat of Humbrol spray and a slide of Klear for extra weather proofing
Filling the cavity with paint would take an eternity to dry without adding anything to the finished job in my opinion.
On all clear perspex type car badges I know of (as finished and fitted at the factory) the indented areas are painted, left to dry and in some cases given an internal coat of protective sealant to finish the job.
I recently repainted a 1950s Rover perspex rad grill badge for a mate. I have also refinished Ford badges similarly but "customised" to match the car paintwork, black and gold for a Capri and white and blue to match a white Escort mark 1.
Ordinary Tamiya Red, Black Acrylics and smooth Humbrol silver enamel did the Rover badge nicely in about twenty minutes.
Finished off with a coat of Humbrol spray and a slide of Klear for extra weather proofing
Filling the cavity with paint would take an eternity to dry without adding anything to the finished job in my opinion.
perdu said:
I'm not sure why yo want to completely fill the cavity with paint.
On all clear perspex type car badges I know of (as finished and fitted at the factory) the indented areas are painted, left to dry and in some cases given an internal coat of protective sealant to finish the job.
I recently repainted a 1950s Rover perspex rad grill badge for a mate. I have also refinished Ford badges similarly but "customised" to match the car paintwork, black and gold for a Capri and white and blue to match a white Escort mark 1.
Ordinary Tamiya Red, Black Acrylics and smooth Humbrol silver enamel did the Rover badge nicely in about twenty minutes.
Finished off with a coat of Humbrol spray and a slide of Klear for extra weather proofing
Filling the cavity with paint would take an eternity to dry without adding anything to the finished job in my opinion.
I read it as though the open bit of the cavity was exposed. If its the other way around and the outside surface is clear perspex then obviously you just need to cover the perspex with solid paint.On all clear perspex type car badges I know of (as finished and fitted at the factory) the indented areas are painted, left to dry and in some cases given an internal coat of protective sealant to finish the job.
I recently repainted a 1950s Rover perspex rad grill badge for a mate. I have also refinished Ford badges similarly but "customised" to match the car paintwork, black and gold for a Capri and white and blue to match a white Escort mark 1.
Ordinary Tamiya Red, Black Acrylics and smooth Humbrol silver enamel did the Rover badge nicely in about twenty minutes.
Finished off with a coat of Humbrol spray and a slide of Klear for extra weather proofing
Filling the cavity with paint would take an eternity to dry without adding anything to the finished job in my opinion.
dr_gn is correct.
The reason I was thinking of filling the cavity was that it's a moulded badge, solid colour rather than perspex, that needs to be painted from the outside - hence my logic was that having a smooth top surface would:
1) Eliminate the chances of me ballsing up the sides of the cavity, and
2) Reduce the build up of muck in the badge once it is fitted
More than open to alternative suggestions if they might look better. (as is probably obvious, painting isn't really my area of expertise)
The reason I was thinking of filling the cavity was that it's a moulded badge, solid colour rather than perspex, that needs to be painted from the outside - hence my logic was that having a smooth top surface would:
1) Eliminate the chances of me ballsing up the sides of the cavity, and
2) Reduce the build up of muck in the badge once it is fitted
More than open to alternative suggestions if they might look better. (as is probably obvious, painting isn't really my area of expertise)
LooneyTunes said:
dr_gn is correct.
The reason I was thinking of filling the cavity was that it's a moulded badge, solid colour rather than perspex, that needs to be painted from the outside - hence my logic was that having a smooth top surface would:
1) Eliminate the chances of me ballsing up the sides of the cavity, and
2) Reduce the build up of muck in the badge once it is fitted
More than open to alternative suggestions if they might look better. (as is probably obvious, painting isn't really my area of expertise)
Can you post a picture or a link to a similar badge?The reason I was thinking of filling the cavity was that it's a moulded badge, solid colour rather than perspex, that needs to be painted from the outside - hence my logic was that having a smooth top surface would:
1) Eliminate the chances of me ballsing up the sides of the cavity, and
2) Reduce the build up of muck in the badge once it is fitted
More than open to alternative suggestions if they might look better. (as is probably obvious, painting isn't really my area of expertise)
LooneyTunes said:
Very interesting…Hmm, that one isn't flush with the surface and I suspect that a similar effect could arise from using a jar of Tamiya Gloss Black Acrylic from your locsl model shop. Buy a bottle of thinners (Tamiya X-20A) and wipe off any overspill with it before it hardens.
Tamiys Acrylic dries quite quickly so it may be possible to paint the deeper recesses a couple of times to build it up. There's no way I would try to fill each recess at one go though.
A bonus with Acrylics is that they have poor adhesion on plastics whilst wet, at least, and will allow the surfaces to be cleaned very effectively before they get too far down the drying process
(A coat of Johnson's Klear afterwards would seal the job nicely)
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