Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[andycars]

I have a front badge for an Anglia Super that I want to refurbish. It consists of a chrome diecasting with a plastic insert. Much of the paint has flaked off the back.
Does anyone know of a way of getting the remaining paint off other than picking it off or using very fine wet n dry followed by polishing with T cut or similar?
Next, does anyone have experience of recolouring (the rear of) these types of badges, i.e. suitable paint types?
Tried it once on an A35 grille badge with unsatisfactory results - the colouring was never bright enough afterwards.
Someone suggested nail-varnish but I'm concerned it would dissolve the surface of the plastic resulting again in a bloomed, matt appearance.

[Rick]

I repainted the back of the 'Austin' badge on my Mk1 A40 years ago and it came up looking well enough, although probably not suitable if concours is the aim? it may be worth buying a couple of tatty old badges on which to try different paints, eg nail varnish as you suggest, or how about model aircraft enamel paints?

Rick
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[rustyreks]

I would agree that a solvent of any kind could affect the plastic surface a few ideas maybe a hair dryer on low temp may be enought to remove the remaining paint the other is to use something like baking soda and water and a cotton bud as it wont scratch the plastic but will remove the paint i used this method on some dash knobs i was painting and it worked well.Am interested to hear how you get on i also at a later date need to redo some vanguard badges as they need repainting also. brentnz

[Old-Nail]

I would lean toward Acrylic paint as the binder is itself a plastic so would perhaps be safer than a solvent based colour.

Even artists acrylics might do the trick, they are water soluble until set so no messing with solvents. Downside, I don't think that you can get metallic effects in them but these days anything's possible so I may be wrong.

[andycars]

Renovated badge yesterday and this is the result.

I got the remaining old paint off the rear of the badge by scraping carefully with a surgical scalpel (taking care not to dig into the clear plastic). I was careful not to disturb the gold lettering as it was in very good condition. The other old paint was brittle and came away quite easily, with patience. The red area has vertical grooves on the back which had remains of paint in, all of which had to be removed.
Some scratching was inevitable so I polished the back and front with T-Cut until it was crystal clear again, then washed in warm slightly soapy water, rinsed & dried.
The silver was done first by masking; enamel paint for plastic models was used. The red was done next using a mix of acrylic artist's paint (scarlet, crimson, pearlescent red, bronze & silver to get best match possible). The black was done with enamel for plastic models. Slight migration of silver paint into the red area took place due to inability to perfectly mask the grooves - next time I would do the red first as with a suitable flat brush it is easy to control where the red ends.
The acrylic paint was marked "for indoor use only" - not sure why, because as has already been mentioned, it is plastic-like and seems waterproof when dry. It is my intention to seal the back, not yet sure how - maybe by setting in clear silicone sealer when it is fitted to its chrome surround.

Andrew

[Old-Nail]

Artists acrylic varnish would seal it no?

[ianm]

G'day Andrew, yep I think your idea of the silicone would "kill 2 bird with one stone" seal and supply a secure and flexible mount.
Ian

[rustyreks]

Andrew very nice result on the badge it came up great its good when

something works out thanks for sharing. brentnz