chrome tuxedo park emblems

I've got the tux park hood emblems all polished up nice, and they look as good as they are 'gonna' get.

Now, I need to paint the inserts on them black. My coordination and patience level preclude me from using an artist's brush.

I thought about it, and I came up with a couple of ideas, but neither of them are really all that practical.

So....... I'm looking for a clever way to do this. Has anyone come up with a way to paint these recessed areas black?

One of the ideas I had was to use India Ink and a tiny pipette with a final spray coat of clear coat, but I'm not sure that would withstand weather.

I thought about making an impression using, say beeswax, carefully removing it, and then cutting the impressions out. Then re-installing it and spray painting black.

Another idea was to put a highly reduced auto paint in using the above mentioned pipette...

Any other ideas??? Surely this has been done before.

kamel

 

Two ways come to mind.
first one tape the whole piece and cut out the letters removing all the tape except where the letters are.
Second, (my choice) paint the whole deal and then use a cotten ball with paint thinner on it to remove the paint from the letters.

 

would paint it, then buff the paint off the rasied areas.

 

Use a brush. Ain't that hard.

 

i think when it comes right down to it the easiest way would be just to paint it with a tiny brush

 

Thanks for the input.

I wonder how they painted these things originally.

It had to be done using some sort of automation...

 

First, let me say I have yet to try this, but....

I have thought about this a bunch for redoing my V-6 emblems. My idea is to melt some parifin wax, then pour it into a low flat pan. The depth of the wax would be equal to how tall the raised portions are, but not quite deep enough to touch the areas to be painted. So when the emblem is dipped in the wax, the wax would protect the areas that need to stay chromed. From there I could paint away with whatever method I decide on. When the paint is dry, it's just a matter of melting off the wax to reveal the chrome.

Jim

 

I tend to solve problems while sleeping. I simply wake up with an answer.

So -- here is the plan.

I get an artist's pen, actually, two of them and assorted nibs for them. Lay the emblem as flat as possible.

Take a standard 8:2:1 mixture of high gloss enamel and mix a small (cat food can in my case) batch. In another cat food can, put some extra reducer.

Now, dip and write. When the letters are filled in to look correct, dip some extra reducer in the emblem using the second pen with a slightly larger nib to make sure that the paint has flowed in every nook and cranny.

Not going to add extra reducer to the cat food can of paint, because I want full strength in the letter recess to begin with. The extra reducer will make it flow, but not reduce the amount of paint that will be left when dry.

I think I can get the pen and nibs on the cheap from ebay.

It'll be a week or three before I try this, but I'll let you know how it works..

It is sort of a second childhood -- we'll test my coloring skills and see if I can stay between the lines.....

 

You can also "paint" rubber cement onto areas you don't want your paint to go, then just spray it. Rub off the cement when the paint is dry. When I did the emblems on my Olds (fancy little rocket things) I put masking tape on the parts I didn't want painted and then used an X-Acto knife to cut away the stuff I didn't want covered. Then I just sprayed it. It was tedious, but they came out really nice.

 

I did a test run on a scrap tuxedo emblem using a fountain pen and scrip ink.

Man, does it look good! And it is just like coloring only I don't get the Crayola crayon smell with it.

Now, all I've got to do is reduce the paint to the same consistency as the ink....

I'll take some before and after pix.

My main objection to anything that requires removal of paint sprayed on is that is too close to rework.

Where I come from rework is a four letter word.

 

Thread revival! I just repainted my Tux hood emblems using a tiny fine paint brush after reading all the suggestions on this thread. The paint flows perfectly, I was pleasantly surprised. If you have a steady hand it is not hard using this method. The next day I used aluminum foil to polish up the emblems. It safely removes any paint that has gone outside of the letters. Here's a pic

Roy

 

Looks good.

I cleaned mine up with paint remover and a tooth brush. Then I masked any large chrome areas and sprayed the entire emblem with semi glass black. After that, I wiped the emblem down - carefully - with a rag dipped in acetone.

 

Like brand new!!! Boy those are in great condition!

 

I was lucky as the Jeep was originally from Las Vegas - very dry and not much water/corrosion damage.

 

Knew it! I have a second set but they are quite pitted. Hard to find the chrome pieces for the Tuxedo Parks that are in good to very good condition without the pitting.

 

So your technique is to wipe right after you spray or let it set for a period of time? I need to do some heater knobs that have the red lettering almost all worn down.

 

I let it set after spraying - but only for a short period of time - maybe two or three minutes. The idea is to let it set enough so that if I make a mistake and accidentally touch lightly into a recessed area, it won't remove the paint in the recess. Seems to work OK.

 

I gave the clean and paint with enamel a go last night...but struggled to get the paint to not bleed up and out into the top. So you guy sare saying that rubbing with Aluminum foil, or a rag with acetone should clean these up?



Edit - the rag with acetone cleaned these up nicely. Not 100% great, but good enough for me.

 

Nice job on your emblems! I used aluminum foil to clean up as it’s soft and will not scratch. Found it also gives a nice shine. (Used it on the other chrome pieces too.)

 

I actually want to try again because I kind of ruined them when I tried to buff them. Is there any reason soaking them in acetone for a few hours will be bad for the chrome?