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Dash knob repaint?


casper50

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Anyone have tips on how to refresh the white paint that is inside the letters on the dash knobs?  Tried the spray and wipe method but the paint was dragged out.   Do I need to let it dry and then remove it from the knob surface?

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If you have a buffing wheel for polishing on your bench grinding, you can shine up the plastic real nice with the white compound. If you have any bad places, sand with the finest paper you need to get them out and end with 1000 or 1200. Then """Lightly""" use the buffer to polish them out.Keep the plastic moving because if you leave it in one place to long it will get hot and melt the surface. Works good for the plastic insert on the horn button. Use a sanding block on flat surfaces if you have scratches to get out. The buffer will only shine the surface and take  out the haze. Any deeper scratches will have to be sanded out. Use wet, wet n dry paper. I always use the buffer first and if I'm not satisfied with the results I then go to the sand paper.

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Casper,

I've been painting those engraved texts using the method familiar from scale model painting, commonly referred as "black washing"

(In this case "white washing..???)

Anyway it is based on capillary attraction of the paint, thus the paint needs to be just correct thinned - about the same as for air brush.

Use thin point brush and lightly touch the tip to the bottom of the letter, the paint will run down the groove and fill it nicely.

You probably need to do the top and bottom part of a letter by two touch.

A scale model enamel paint is easy to work with, Humbrol or Tamiya are the best quality available commonly. Also One Shot striping enamel should do good.

You will need to do it a couple of time to get the touch, but with enamels it is safe, since you can easily wipe the excess off with a rag and turpentine.

 

 

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I've done this before to recessed letters on a start button for an old arcade game (basically the same as what you're doing).  I used a Q-Tip to remove the excess paint.  It allowed me to wipe away the paint with precision and didn't gouge out the paint down in the letters.  Worked really well.  

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Another techniques from car modeling is to fill the letters, let it dry, then sand/polish the excess paint using successively fine sandpaper (600 to 3000 grit) or a paint polishing kit from Micro Mark - been taking my molding supplies out to the garage quite frequently lately.

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