Topic: Tank badge restore

[JasonLester]

I guess this should go here.

Since I have my CB650 running pretty go I decided to pretty it up a little. Being cheap I like fixing things as inexpensively as I can. So I decided to Give a shot redoing my tank badges. They looked ok but much of the black was chipped off and I decided I didn't like it.



So I took them off, worked off any loose paint, taped them up and trimmed off the tape where I wanted paint. This part is a bit aggravating. If you don't have a sharp xacto blade you can forget it. I also used clear tape so I could see where I needed to trim. It would have been nice if this wasn't the perfectly clear tape. But I made due.






Then I took a can of black gloss (because I had it already) And sprayed it all good. I probably should have used a primer first or a black primer. I had the gloss stuff so we'll see. and I guess I can always redo them if it starts to come off. After waiting a while for it to dry it should look like this.





Then simply use you knife blade and get under the tape and peel it away. Make sure to peel off all the little pieces and it should look a bunch better than it started. Maybe not factory perfect but no one looks that close anyway.
If you get paint where it shouldn't be it's pretty easy to scrape off until its fully cured.


End result




So what do you think.

[imamotohead]

Nicely done sir!!

[texaninseattle]

was wondering how i was going to do that for mine...thanks

[Bob Wessner]

Looks good! Post a follow-up on durability down the road.

[DollarBill]

Nice work on that bra....oh....I'm sorry I lost my train of thought watching texaninseatle's avatar.  Where is the larger version of THAT!

By the way I used model paint on my emblems and they turned out great.

[JasonLester]

Nice work on that bra....oh....I'm sorry I lost my train of thought watching texaninseatle's avatar.  Where is the larger version of THAT!

By the way I used model paint on my emblems and they turned out great.

glad I'm not the only one LOL

[dustyc]

I chucked my K7 tank badges into some carb cleaner to melt off the old chipped paint(didn't effect the finish of the metal), then sprayed with black Rustoleum.  Once they're not tacky and can be handled, but before fully cured, I used a Q-tip and some thinner to mop off the tops of the letters.  

[JasonLester]

I chucked my K7 tank badges into some carb cleaner to melt off the old chipped paint(didn't effect the finish of the metal), then sprayed with black Rustoleum.  Once they're not tacky and can be handled, but before fully cured, I used a Q-tip and some thinner to mop off the tops of the letters.  

Oh sure now you tell me. LOL

[dp2275]

heres mine:

took a 'paint removal' abrasive wheel to the emblems.  wiped them down with thinner to remove all grease and painted with semi-gloss exhaust paint and baked them.  then i sanded down the raised edges.

[BobbyR]

I chucked my K7 tank badges into some carb cleaner to melt off the old chipped paint(didn't effect the finish of the metal), then sprayed with black Rustoleum.  Once they're not tacky and can be handled, but before fully cured, I used a Q-tip and some thinner to mop off the tops of the letters. 

To make that process a bit easier, I used an Easter Egg crayon and wiped the paint right off.

[Terry in Australia]

I'm doing the same thing with some tank badges at the moment, and discovered that if I drop them in a jar of acetone, all the OEM paint just washes right off, and as they're a nice cross-hatched pattern with unfaded gold plating, I might not paint them at all, or I might reverse them so the letters are painted, and the background is just shiny gold. Cheers, Terry.

[BobbyR]

I'm doing the same thing with some tank badges at the moment, and discovered that if I drop them in a jar of acetone, all the OEM paint just washes right off, and as they're a nice cross-hatched pattern with unfaded gold plating, I might not paint them at all, or I might reverse them so the letters are painted, and the background is just shiny gold. Cheers, Terry.

Nice idea Terry, could look nice. If not, back to the acetone.

[Terry in Australia]

That's it Bobby, only me and that ol' can of Acetone will ever know........... 

[JasonLester]

I was a little afraid of what the solvents would do to the finish of the badge so I did it my way. I'm glad I posted this now as if these don't hold up I'll redo them a little different.

Thanks

[BobbyR]

I was a little afraid of what the solvents would do to the finish of the badge so I did it my way. I'm glad I posted this now as if these don't hold up I'll redo them a little different.

Thanks

This club is about collective intellegence.

[Terry in Australia]

I was a little afraid of what the solvents would do to the finish of the badge so I did it my way. I'm glad I posted this now as if these don't hold up I'll redo them a little different.

Thanks

This club is about collective intellegence.

Yep, if you add up all of our IQ's, we're about as intelligent as the average potato...................

[JasonLester]

Thats funny!!!

[Bob Wessner]

I was a little afraid of what the solvents would do to the finish of the badge so I did it my way. I'm glad I posted this now as if these don't hold up I'll redo them a little different.

Thanks

This club is about collective intellegence.

Yep, if you add up all of our IQ's, we're about as intelligent as the average potato...................

[upperlake04]

From another site-
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ianfox/tankBadge/

[JasonLester]

Thats a nice pictoral. Those turned out nice.

I knew there would be a bunch of different ways to do it. I thought about hand painting them but I knew I'd probably mess it up. So I figured I could tape and spray easier than getting into the small spots with the brushes I had. Sure I could have went and got the stuff and hand painted it but I had the tape, paint, and xacto knife... So being cheap ...LOL I did it my way. maybe not perfect but not bad.

[jsaab2748]

Anyone ever tried a flow pencil? Google it for a description.
Looks a little pricey, but just throwin it out there..

[BobbyR]

This is probably how the badges were made.  http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=how+it's+made&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#q=how%20it's%20made%20pins&hl=en&emb=0

[XN]

I plan on powder coating mine this winter. I'll be sure to take lots of picture for you guys 

[thepartyjerk]

  These are all great ideas guys. My emblems have some nicks and scratches on them, are these save to sand ?