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Horn button restoration - suggestions?

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Basil

Basil

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I recently purchased a new (used) horn/trafficator assembly for my Daimler SS. The center of the horn push is basically a badge with a gold letter "D" in the center, surrounded by black. Unfortunately the thing is 50+ years old and a lot of the gold and black paint has flaked off. I would like to restore it to like new but not 100 percent sure how to best go about it. One idea I had was to very gently bead-blast (low pressure) all the existing paint off the back side. Then, use a small brush to paint the D and then, when that dries, spray paint the back side with black. Then, once it all dryes, paint the entire backside with silver (as it seems to be originally). Has anyone had any experience with restoring these sorts of badges?

Basil
 
I have a similar plastic badge on the hood of my pick-up, like the one below. I cleaned off the old paint using a putty knife, and alcohol. I used a fine model brush to lay down the silver outlines of the diamonds, and the outer square, as it was the lowest bit. Then a larger model brush for the blue of the middle diamond, and the white on the other two dimonds. Lastly I used a spray can and laid down the red over everything. It came out looking great, wish I had a picture of it. I'm not sure that lightly bead blasting it would be a good move, it may wind up making your plastic opaque.

52IntlHd.jpg
 
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I'm not sure that lightly bead blasting it would be a good move, it may wind up making your plastic opaque.


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Good point. Maybe I'll try just touching up the missing bitswith gold and black and see how that looks.

Basil
 
Bas,

I use Novus Plastic polish (#2) to refurbish just about anything plastic, especially clear plastic. It will get rid of scratches and make the plastic look like new and will take off the old paint so that you will have a fresh surface to start with. Can you post some pictures to see what you are dealing with?

Cheers,
John
 
I've used similar "backside" painting of glass and plastic parts for non-automotive purposes. Avoid anything that will roughen the surface you're going to paint. Use gentle solvents and cleaners along with cotton swabs to remove the old paint. Like all painting, make sure the surface is clean, dry, and warm before applying anything. Be extra careful with any metal parts you have to bend back to disassemble the button.
 
Model car builders use whats known as Bare metal foil to simulate chrome.It can be found in good hobby shops(comes in several colors including gold). It's similar to gold leaf. Very thin, and has adhesive on the back (which is shiny like the front). You cut it with a razor knife, lay it on and work it in with a cotton swab, then trim off any extra. That along with the model paint and brushes tips should get good results.
I like to use Brasso for polishing plastic. Works nice.
 
Good point about the foil. That would give a much higher shine than even the best paint. I think Tower Hobbies may sell the foil. They have a good web site.
 
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