Has anyone painted there emblem where it still had that see through look or ruby look , for loss of better words.

I'm going to try this soon, I'll post pics.

I redid mine.I'll take a pic and post it as well.

David

Here is mine.Looks good but if it has pitting, it will bleed through so to speak.


David

Looks nice, can you share how you did it? My tank door emblem is in dire need of a refinish - or dare I say replace it with whatever I can find.

I have a couple of the original birds from my 67. I replaced the two on the front fenders about 15 years ago with aftermarket stuff. I would like to try to refinish the originals if possible.

Thanks
Hef

I have a few originals...How much you charging? They look great

My clearcoat is cracked and clouded, but the chrome is excellent..I hate to not use them.

I wouldn't mind trying if the secret be told and nobody is willing to make some money on the side.

Wouldn't be a bad side gig for someone...Refurbished original emblems at the same cost as repops? I would go with my used refurbished originals any day.

I have three sets as starters. That's one of my current projects. They'll be "usable core required", OEM only. Trunk and grill lettering, fender scripts, hood and deck lid badges, and door, glove box, gas door, and trunk lock emblems. Coated with clear resin where appropriate. I am attempting to find the best hard non-yellowing resin right now.

Thanks for the compliments.First you clean and polish the chrome.I used the buffing wheel and compound.This emblem was pretty bare so i cleaned out any remaining paint.I used testors red and testors black.The metal finish of the inlay has textured finish to it.This is what gives the red inlays their "sparkle or metallic paint" look, not a metallic paint.The more coats of red you apply,the deeper/darker the colour.The black will cover in two coats but three would not hurt.Then you can apply the clear.Do it in layers as it will not cure is you try an fill it all at once.Do not apply the clear until the colours are completely dry.
Tom, i worked a cracked and yellowing emblem on my buffing wheel.You can buff the cracks out if they are shallow enough.You need to do this slowly and remeber the heat the wheel creates will burn the clear if you stay on it too long.Do a little,let it cool.Repeat the process until you get it where you want it to be.
I'll tell you the $45 i spent on the bench grinder is probably the best money i have ever spent on a tool.

David

David

Im in the same boat, Vik. I have several sets of fender emblems, as well as a couple of gas door emblems and not a one of em has even a speck of paint on it lol. At least my glove box emblem is like new Anyways, awhile back when painting said emblems was further up on my list, my wifey showed me some clear coating that could be air-dried or baked and I was thinking of using it. I also considered using regular clearcoat while painting my car. Think either of these would suffice? Or should I look into other alternatives?

Wow that looks great, I will be giving that a try, thanks.

Just did my set. I used Dupli-color Scratch fix 2in1.Red Black White and Clear.

Great Thread, Thanks.
Got to get a bench grinder, maybe there is a rotozip attachment I can use for now.
The PONTIAC Letters on my Trunk Lid look like C***. Definitely a good project.

I'm going for a transparent red on the birds, with a durable clear finish.

My gas door bird has its clear coat cracked and crazed all the way through.

I used a red and black nail polish, thinned down so that you simply use a tiny brush and dab the paint in the middle of each section. The thinned paint self levels and does a great job of filling the exact ouline. You need to do a few coats this way.

I had found a nail polish in red that was very close to the original, and had the translucent properties as well.

I have done the inner sport steering wheel emblem so far, and intend to refurbish my old ones as some of the repops I have are crap. The front fender "Pontiac" broke in two as I was bolting it in!

I have used the thinned paint method as well on my dash pad chrome trim to paint in the black line.

I bought and used art paintbrushes for this project that were super fine, almost like one strand was on the brush.The testors paint did not need to be thinned.I did my original tailletters, bought a repop set and then sold the repop set I also polished the letters with my bench grinder buffing wheel combo. You cannot see it in the pic but the chrome really came alive.Used white testors for the letters.They really are white they look cream in the pic to me.Another trick to getting good paint is to use a razor blade or exacto knife blade to slice any overpaint once dried.Don't bother trying to wipe it off or slice the paint off before it dries because the paint is setting up and if you get any bits into it you might as well dig out the paint you just applied and start over.


David

David

I found a translucent red porcelain paint and a translucent black that bakes to a powdercoat-type finish in a household oven. I'm testing on my original trunk lock emblem ('69) and will display when done.

I also figured out the trick to lift the old clear layer off the fender and fuel door emblems.

Vikki, i believe you do not need a translucent paint for the emblems to give them that transparent look, unless of course you want to use that type of paint
The chrome dividers inside are not very tall, therefore the inlay areas where the paint is applied will not accept much paint,unless of course one were to put too much paint to cover the chrome dividers altogether.This coupled with the pebble/raised textured metal gaps the paint so to speak and that metal comes through to help (along with the depth of the clear) give it the illusion of metallic or being transparent.

David

I have a fresh set of NOS emblems here, and the tint is most certainly transparent/translucent. I haven't yet achieved the clarity of the original, but it's not far off.

My emblems, used for experimentation, lack the sparkle of fresh chromed castings. This is especially true where the original plastic overlay lost its bond and trapped moisture for extended periods of time. Polishing didn't help on this particular piece. The gas door emblem off the '68 does not look quite so hopeless, and has a better prognosis. Paint says allow to dry 24 hours before baking, so I will. Pics late tomorrow or Wednesday.

So, whered ya find this translucent paint, Vik? Sounds like what I need.

I bought it at Michaels craft store, in the glass painting section. They have a thinner available but I did not use it. You do want to use the bonding solution. It's the porcelain 150 formula.

The black looks excellent. It looks perfectly factory.

The red looks good, but my substrate metal was corroded gray and that is visible through the transparent red. On a better sample it would look great. I think I'll remove the red and try to get a little more shine before I bake it into permanence.

I have to go to Michaels today to see if I can get the flocking stuff there for my console. I'll have a look at it as well and compare to my nail polish enamel.

I'm so disappointed in my front fender Firebird repops that I'm going after redoing my originals. Funny thing is they are black not white...were some black? They look original...

Was there a clear layer on top of the birds and what's your trick. Did you re-clear them??

Ah crud. I knew there was something I forgot! I went there for the flocking kit.





It looks a lot better than my camera phone makes it appear. Not flawless, but certainly serviceable. I still need to clean up the overpaint, and bake them when fully dry.

I bought clear polyester casting resin for the '68 gas door bird and fender birds. Those all had a thick, cracked, yellowed layer of clear. I doubt it will last any longer than the original, though I will likely apply it just a little thinner to attain a jewel finish.

The clear was very hard and stiff. I put them in a saucepan with water 2" over the top of the emblems, put them on to boil, and left them boiling about 45 minutes. One of the clears lifted completely off in one piece right in the pan; the others were soft and pliable and peeled off with just a little help from a nut pick.

just because you forgot the kit, I see no reason to use profanity. This is a family site, after all.

Good one John, I'm still laughing at that one!

Thanks Vikki for the clear tip...and I suppose both you and I will be making another flocking trip to Michaels

what did one shephard say to the other shephard?

"let's get the flock out of here!"

thanks ladies and germs, I'm here Wednesdays. Try the veal.

Clear resin is on and curing now. Pics a bit later.

Despite the pits that go right through the tailfeather castings and wing castings, it looks really good. Good enough to put back on my '69.

Vikki, was the clear casting resin similiar to that decoupage stuff? how did you apply it...pour it over or ?

It's a catalyzed polyester resin. I mixed it in a 1 oz cup, less than 1/8 oz needed for this emblem. I used a popsicle stick to spread it across the emblem into the indents. It sets up in a couple of hours and is permanent and weather resistant with a glass-like finish.

Vikki, can you post the name of the product? I need to do this and have a Michaels nearby.

Thanks
David

Castin' craft clear casting resin. You need only the very tiny can to do all the emblems a couple of times. Catalyst comes in a separate plastic squeeze bottle. Mix it very well, then spread it and leave it until it is fully cured. Thin layers take longer to cure.

Does it flow over the side or do you just fill to the edge?

By the way Vikki, was at Michaels yesterday, no flocking flocking available there. Darn, now I'll have to order some..

I second Dave's question, does it flow over the side & then you trim it back or do you just cover the area desired?

Thanks
David

Because mine had so many deep pits between the feathers, I filled it. I used a popsicle stick to spread the resin across all the feathered areas. I did not spread on the main chrome areas.

After many hours when the resin was not tacky but was still slightly rubbery, I used a thin pick to clean the residue off the body and the edges of the wings.

It's now dry enough to sand if I wanted, and as I marred it a little during the drying process I really should. But I think it looks just fine as is.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=44669&cat=1,250,43298 other woodworking shops should have it.

Vikki, do you have a pic of the final product and how would you rate the overall results on it?

David

i don't see much difference between between Vikki's or David's (blk69firebirdragtop) emblems they both look excellent.99.9% of people wouldn't know the difference .

Thanks to this thread, I just did a couple of things last night. No pics, they look really good though. I used the Testors White on the Pontiac Lettering, and Testors Black & Dark Red for the Birds.
One tip about the Toothpick methods. I found a very fine file in my toolbox. It was very easy to control and the fine point got into the corners very well.
Be Patient, it only takes about 15 minutes to do a whole bird, if you rush it you can be done in 5 minutes. Dont do that. Let the paint drip off the tool you are using back into the bottle, leaving very little paint on the tool, then set it into the channel of the emblem and let it flow. Put a nice drop in the center and when the tool is fairly dry, move it into the corners. If you try to put a full drop in the corners it will overflow. As said before, you can neatly scrape it off after it drys to reveal the Chrome.

I also bought some Clear Coat. It came in a bottle, dont have the exact name right now. It worked out really well. After the paint dryed I just redid the emblem with the clear. The Clear spread very easily so it went really fast, and you dont notice mistakes like with the paint. The finished product has a lot more gloss "glassy" look.

One thing - So how can tell the difference between an Original Bird or Emblem and an Aftermarket? I have both, and I really cant see the difference. The Glass in the birds of the aftermarket seems cheap, as one of them fell apart on me a couple years ago, but the casting seems exactly the same.

Hef

Glad it worked out for you Hef. Got any pics of them?

David

I did mine today. Used a normal paint stick from the local car shop, the ones for "scratch repair". Bought a red one, black one, and a clear one for finish. Haven't used the clear one just yet, but the painting goes well. Boiled out any paint remaints before I started, scraped out the dirt, and just carefully filled the holes. Any mistakes on the metal are easily corrected with a knife or fine sanding paper...

Some pic's. Need to finish it with the clear paint, and maybe a new layer. I'm gonna do the rest of the emblems as well now!

looking good...you might want to do several layers , as these are "filled" almost even to the edges of the chrome outlines, if I remember correctly (w/o looking)

Maybe short term memory loss got the better of me, but I have been hands-on, non-stop/wrapped-up with the fgf since 74. I don't recall factory painte emblems having a transulent color to them. They were simply an off bric-red (for lack of a better description) and it was more of a satin or flat finish. Also, I recall seeing nos oem birds for sale, and if I recall correctly, they also had the flat brick red.

Is everyone sure that the fancy dancy paint isn't a owner upgrade from way back in the 70's? Imagine! Someone using the latest early 70's fingernail polish, and suddenly, it's considered to be the correct color. Based on what I have seen, I wouldn't doubt it. Anyway, we can keep it according to the board's status becuse I don't want to bust anyone's bubbles.

Some emblems just had paint and some had the thicker clear on top. Specifically or your 69 Amerv, look at your tail panel trunk lock Bird emblem. It should have a thick clear coat.
On the 67-68 the gas door and also the glove box emblem had it.

Jims right, my 67 326 FB Rag from years ago had the clear finish on the emblems, I remember as they were scratched and faded...unless everyone had a fingernail polish fetish on these things, which I doubt.

My emblems on the front have the thick clear coating as well, I'll take a pic this week.

Lets make one thing clear, just to be on the safe side; I do not have a fingernail polish fetish of any kind. I admit, it might look a bit like "fancy dancy paint" on the pic, but in fact it looks quite good! Especially with the clear finish over it...

This is what it is sold like in repro by the way.. Pretty fancy dancy!

Just as a reference, I removed all my emblems, and all though I cannot be sure wether or not they are originals, the bird emblems have a plastic inlay, which is glued in the frame. You can boil it out, and then it comes off in one piece.

I think its quite rewarding to restore the worn out emblems!

I also did the 326 hood emblems. I think the red and black colors are standard right?

Merry Christmans everybody!

My 9 doesn't have it, and I have never seen ANY fgf birds with clear over the emblems. When I mean never, I mean from way back 30 years ago before people started restoring them.

Mine all had the "clear coat" and i purchased a NOS set of fender emblems about 20 years ago that have the "clear coat".

David

My '69 also had the thick, somewhat rubbery clear layer on the trunk lock emblem.

The bird emblems have the clear. The numbers and letters do not.

Last update, just because I'm pretty pleased with the entire emblem redo I did over Christmas. All are ready to put back on the bird now...!

Was actually quite easy to repaint.

They look really nice, job well done!

Hey guys, I finally finished on of my emblems. My gas door finger pull emblem was really bad, so I figured i'd start there. Well, I went to my local hobby shop and brought like 10 tested them all over like 3 months lol. I found the perfect colors for us(Tamiya color clear red acrylic painted testors black). The red I found turned out great and the black as well. Each of the paints have their own website you can order from. heres some pics

Cool,

Are you thinking of filling it with plastic afterwards?

If so how?

No, I filled it in with clear coat( any kind of model clear will work). When you fill the red and black, leave some room so that you can put the clear in. i filled the clear all the way to the rim. the emblems are made so that the ends are all higher the the middle,this way you can fill the clear all the way up to cover everything

I went the easy way here is a repop i bought. i tllooks fine to me and no sweat involved

Yea I was going to get one too, but didn't want to spend the $24 (i know im cheap lol). So i just brought the paint for 3 bucks and did it wile i was at work,so i also got payed for it lol

Vikki,

At what temp/time did you bake your emblems at? Did it work well?

Thanks!

Eddie

I followed the label directions, that was a long time ago so I don't recall offhand. It was pretty low temp.

What is the safest thing to use to get the old paint off the emblems?

Thanks!

I think I soaked mine in solvent or break cleaner overnight. Its plated metal, so I think pretty much any cleaner or solvent will be safe.

Brake cleaner worked great, thanks!

how do you get the emblems off safely? has anyone painted them right on the car? sounds like they need baked, so i am guessing not....

There are new ones you can buy, not worth painting as it's a plastic piece. You need to get a small socket wrench to remove 2 nuts on the inside of the fender.

I know this is an old thread but, I had an idea and didn't know if any thought about it.

We have a bunch of nos parts but, we still need the Keylock bezel and the rear sidemarker bezels. So, I was wondering how to redo these parts.

Has anyone talked to the companys that make collector pins? think they call pins with with filled painted areas like the emblems "clousinea" (sp) or something like that. those pins remind me of the bezels and badges.

Question, Can these bezels be recromed? and them painted?

bill V