I just redid the dashboard in Barney and, as part of that, I got new Amp and Temp gauges as a pre-emptive measure. When I got the new gauges, I could see how much the sun had faded the needle paint on the old ones; a couple were just this side of white:
I had thought that the needles were painted orange (like some GM gauges), but comparison to the NOS parts showed that they were actually originally neon day-glo red.
So I set about trying to find a color of paint that would match the OEM needles. Finally found a color match in the acrylic paints they sell at Michaels:
It's Apple Barrel-brand Neon Red, #20488. This stuff is not very thick; it's much thinner than the enamels I'm used to, so it took several light coats to bring the needles back to the proper color. I slipped squares of aluminum foil under the needles I was painting.
After the old needles were painted, they matched the NOS ones perfectly, so I did my speedometer as well.
Easy to do, and it makes a huge difference to the look of the gauges!
[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]
Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard
http://studeblogger.blogspot.com
www.studebakersandiego.com
I had thought that the needles were painted orange (like some GM gauges), but comparison to the NOS parts showed that they were actually originally neon day-glo red.
So I set about trying to find a color of paint that would match the OEM needles. Finally found a color match in the acrylic paints they sell at Michaels:
It's Apple Barrel-brand Neon Red, #20488. This stuff is not very thick; it's much thinner than the enamels I'm used to, so it took several light coats to bring the needles back to the proper color. I slipped squares of aluminum foil under the needles I was painting.
After the old needles were painted, they matched the NOS ones perfectly, so I did my speedometer as well.
Easy to do, and it makes a huge difference to the look of the gauges!
[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]
Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard
http://studeblogger.blogspot.com
www.studebakersandiego.com
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