painting emblems

[PromiseKeeper]

That Sierra emblem is a prime example of things that make me go HMMMMMM...wonder how the factory did it? With those raised letters it would almost seem that the whole thing was painted then the letters were cleaned off? I wonder if you could do that then take a Dremmel to buff the raised letters?

[heavychevy91]

What about applying some type of clear to the testors paint?

[Jason S]

I'm open to suggestions on how to restore the fender badges back to factory. The 25 Hundred is an insert that goes into the chromed (potmetal?) piece.  When the Sierra emblems were new it had negligible paint thickness and was glossy, not flat like the hubcaps (also a very thin paint). The dremel trick might work, but talk about an exercise in patience. One mistake and its back to the start.

As for the Camper Special badges: I don't remember if I tried clear over the Testor's paint, but I think even with a good clear coat there still wouldn't be enough overall protection (especially against UV) to maintain the model paint color.  I think there has to be a good rattle can match w/o having to go to an automotive paint.

Having been through emblem restoration twice before (once on the '74 and on several of the '73 emblems); I think that trying to restore emblems is more tedious and time consuming than a ring and pinion setup. 

[PromiseKeeper]

Just did a search for "automotive emblem restoration" and found this.....

http://www.automedia.com/Reviving_Original_Emblems/res20021101er/1


looks like we were close, except they say to remove the excess paint with an exacto knife. That might work well on the raised letters, even with a single edge razor blade then clear the whole thing.

[PromiseKeeper]

found this too:

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/body/mopp_0806_dodge_coronet_emblem_restore/index.html

[Jason S]

When I did the Camper Special emblems way back, I'm pretty sure I did the wash technique... 

If you look in the members rides for the 1973 GMC K2500, you can see what the model paint turned into on the grille letters.  Kind of a pinkish orange color. Also one of my previous posts show the model paint on the Camper emblem.  So I'm trying to stay away from the model paints.

I'm beginning to think I'll have to pony up the money for a pint of enamel at the auto paint store...  The yellow, as previously stated in this post, is GM Ochre. 

Does anyone have an idea on the orange used on the GMC letters?  I guess it's the same used on the Camper Special emblems.. 

[LTZ C20]

I have noticed you guys have some great ideas and some of your badges look really good. I repainted the "Cheyenne 20" badges on my truck with a light gray/silverish paint from a raddle can. I didn't tape them off or even remove them from the truck. I used a very small brush from a model set and sprayed the paint in an old jar to form a puddle at the bottom. Then i just dipped my brush in the paint (with small amounts on the tip) and very slowly painted the recessed areas of the badges. Your spray job looks really really good. I didn't use any of the original colors, just a gray/silverish enamel. It has stuck excellently and has not peeled or faded. I even removed my head light bezels, taped them off and painted them too. They to have stood up great. I hope to soon repaint my "Camper Special" badges. My truck when repainted will be white with gray/silverish racing stripes and with a badges painted the same color, it looks very slick. I hope this was of help.     

[Engineer]

I got around to painting my cab corner emblems.

I used Krylon "New CAT yellow". That was the closest to what the old paint was. Matched it pretty good IMHO. Used Rust-Oleum black in the Chevy bow-tie.

I believe both paints are semi-gloss from the factory, and the two paints that I used were high gloss. No biggie, most who would know probably wont remember back to 1987 anyway. 

Take a look:

[Jason S]

I can remember back to 1987 and our GMC had no such glossy yellow items  . 

Your cab corner trim looks great.

I'll have to take a second look at the new cat yellow... I personally would like to see a post that says Rusoleum "fill in the blank Orange is a perfect match for GMC orange.

[PromiseKeeper]

Engineer, I'd let you do emblems for me anytime. looks great....super masking too!

[LTZ C20]

ITS OFFICIAL! WE ARE ALL CRAZY ABOUT PAINTING THE EMBLEMS! AAAAHHHHH THE MADNESS! hahahahahahahahahahaha, these all look like fun, can't wait to do mine.

[Skunksmash]

OK, here are some pics of the Camper Special emblem.  The pictures don't really do it justice.

 Took a week using a metal polish called Nuvite  and a Dremel.  Very fiddly stuff.  I did discover a way to polish in the smaller parts of the emblem.  I basically took Q-tips , cut them in half, then used the halves chucked in the Dremel.  As they got black and grubby, I swapped out for a new piece and keot on going.  You have to be careful when doing this - the chrome plating is very thin, and if you get too aggressive, you can burn straight through to the copper plate underneath.

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=20248.0;attach=16458;image

That'd be funny if you got a big silver chain and wore that as like some kind of necklace like those guys do.

[Jason S]

Update on GMC Orange and the orange on Camper Special emblems. I'm making a couple of posts on the site using this photo and others. 

I had a little bit of time today so I took an NOS GMC fender badge to O'Reilly's to try and find a match for the orange.  The best match I could find out of the DuPont books was a color called Hugger Orange used on GM vehicles in the mid to late 1990's.  It was from the 1996 or 1998 Dupont color catalog that I found the color chip.  I'll have more details later. 

For those restoring 73-74 GMC fender badges, here again is an old fender badge (as posted in this same thread) that's been weathered for about 14 years (It was a NOS badge when I put it on).
 

Here is a NOS 73-74 GMC fender badge.

[bake315]

That'd be funny if you got a big silver chain and wore that as like some kind of necklace like those guys do.

Yeah, and walk around saying, "I drive a Silvera...yo?"

[VileZambonie]

Update on GMC Orange and the orange on Camper Special emblems. I'm making a couple of posts on the site using this photo and others. 

I had a little bit of time today so I took an NOS GMC fender badge to O'Reilly's to try and find a match for the orange.  The best match I could find out of the DuPont books was a color called Hugger Orange used on GM vehicles in the mid to late 1990's.  It was from the 1996 or 1998 Dupont color catalog that I found the color chip.  I'll have more details later. 

For those restoring 73-74 GMC fender badges, here again is an old fender badge (as posted in this same thread) that's been weathered for about 14 years (It was a NOS badge when I put it on).

Not sure what your pic is but I have my factory 74 GMC 15 hundred fender badges and two sets of the GMC grill letters. One set had a reflective sticker inside the GMC which I wish I had taken a picture of before I sent them to the chromers and the other set is painted orange/red in the middle. I have some paint that matched almost dead on.