VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood Painting Grille Emblem

I bought a new '38 grille emblem but it came unpainted. How do I get the paint to stick to the chrome and how do you paint in all those little lines so that your job looks professional?

Neat idea, I might give the syringe a try. I was wondering about roughing up the surface. It would be sort of hard in such small spaces to not scratch areas that I don't want scratched. I had thought of heating the underside of the part with a heat gun to help the paint flow a little better but it might cause it to flow everywhere.

I'm still thinking about this one...

Brian

bigbth
I wouldn't try scuffing the chrome- that may showunder the paint. Just make sure your piece is clean and free of even oily fingerprints. Keep q-tips and paint thinner handy for cleaning goofs. Also sometimes a tooth pick works for small indentations.

Tooth pick isnt bad either, but if you have shakey hands like me :)

Alright then, no heat, no scuffing, maybe a little time in the fridge before painting, toothpicks, syringe, q-tips, thinner, no shakey hands, got it. This is turning into a major operation for such a small part but it does sit right at the front of the car.

I have only painted one other car so my knowledge of paint flow and application is limited. I have been reading everything I can about how to do a proper paint job for the past year in preparation for painting the car. Sometime this spring I should be ready to do the painting, then you'll see a host of questions....

Brian

In all seriousness, I painted the one on my 34, and it was darn hard. Gosh knows how many times I wiped it all and started again. The end result, as good as I could get it, I'm still not happy.

I think now, for all the mucking around that was involved, I would of been better to source out an 'old school' signwriter and give him the job.

I believe that what your saying is true. When it comes to very detailed work, it's extremely hard to make the job look professional. But I also know that those professionals are just people and if they can do the job, I should be able to do the job, I just need that piece of information that they acquired and I have not.

So with your help and knowledge of what doesn't work, I may just pull it off. Plus I can't afford to have other people work on the car....

Brian

Bigbth
For painting your emblem go to a craft store and look for DecoArt No-Prep Metal paint.It is easy to use than auto paint and it really sticks with no primer. Comes in red ,blue ,white and other colors but black.They also have very fine brushes to make very fine lines.
For wood graining check out Zar wood stain at your home supply store,it is used to grain steel house doors it looks like real wood .Use a lighter base then put the grain over it they sell graining "combs" or use a stiff bristle brush .It takes some practice but its not too hard .the store has info. on using it.After it is dry you can clear coat it,several coats and color sand to smooth the grain rub out.I have done several cars with it and they came out almost as good as the pros.

The key to painting the emblem is to use "One Shot" or other sign painters paint. They cover well and dry very slowly. Next is to use a good brush or applicator. Camel hair brushes work well. Don't try to use automotive paints as they all dry too fast and are too thin. A good job can be done with them but it is too difficult for most of us.

ChevyChip is on the mark with the "One Shot" lettering enamel. It's available in many different colors and 1 pt. quantities. [I've been told you can special order lesser amounts] It's not cheap, and a pt. certainly is way more than you'll need.
Here is a couple tips: Any thing you can tape off- do so. Don't use masking tape, but use Scotch Magic Tape, in the green plaid dispenser.[remember the commercial?] Fold one end of the tape over on itself before laying it down. I know this sounds like a hassle, and it is, but worth the time. I once painted all the indentations in a '41 grill, and two hours of taping- 1/2 hour of painting later it was done. I painted sign for several years and I'll tell you, lettering on chrome is not easy. Back to the paint- visit your local sign shop andask to buy a small quantity of paint in the color that you need.

Here is what I did. I couldn't find One Shot so I bought enamels from the craft store suitable for metal. I cleaned the emblem real well. I started with the white and painted the letters and the two dashes on the emblem first. I didn't try to not paint the ridges that separate the different colors of paint (colour for the English/Aussies). That made the painting process real easy. I waited a few minutes, then took a tough depressor/lollipop stick that I dipped in thinner and rubbed it flat across the ridges. I then turned the emblem over and rubbed the thinned paint off on a flat newspaper. I then cleaned the brush and started on the blue surrounding the white. I used basically the same method but I used smaller flat toothpicks dipped in thinner to rub the blue off the ridges in a direction that was away from the white. Once the ridges were cleaned I used the newspaper the remove the excess. The red stripes on the sides of the emblem were the easiest. I just painted the stripe with a little overlap on the flat section surrounding the stripe, waited, used the lollipop stick with thinner, then the newspaper. Lessons learned: The stick should only have a hint of thinner, not dripping. Don't rub to hard on the chrome, even wood can scratch. Be thick on the first coat and cover everything you want covered. If some of the wrong color gets into an area, wait and fix after it is dry. Always wait until the paint skins before removing excess.

Brian

What!!... You didnt cuss one bit? :)
Well done anyway.