Posted this on the G as well:
I picked up a couple of blackout lights from a vendor at Tower Park. Took me a while but I finally got around to restoring them for my halftrack. I sandblasted the paint/rust off of the cast metal housing base. For the main beam and marker housings, I hand sanded these down to bare metal where there was rust and just scuffed the paint in the other areas to get good adhesion. A few coats of red oxide primer followed by a few coats of Gillespie #33070 WWII Lusterless OD and voila. I masked off all but the face of the main beam and painted it and the underside of the hood flat black. To keep from painting the headlight behind the filter, I slipped in a few thin strips of paper and removed them with tweezers after painting...worked like a charm. Then it was on to restamping the markings...
For the markings, I took pics and measurements before starting the project. I sent them to a friend who made me some new stamps. The closest match for the yellow paint I could find was a 1/4 fl. oz. bottle of Testors #1184 Zinc Chromate...and it is nearly perfect! Here are some pics:
Back side of light assembly before restoration:
Back side of light assembly after restoration:
Close up of "LEFT" stamp before:
Close up of "LEFT" stamp after:
24-V stamp before:
12-V stamp after (decided to mark it 12-V and replace the bulbs since my electrical system is 12-V):
"BLACKOUT LIGHT" stamp before:
"BLACKOUT LIGHT" stamp after:
Hope this helps anyone who's thinking of doing this!
-Tom
