halftrackinfo
painting and paint/ rust removal => painting => Topic started by: Tapper02 on August 11, 2012, 06:54:01 PM
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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:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightbackside.jpg)
Back side of light assembly after restoration:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightbackside_Afterrestoration.jpg)
Close up of "LEFT" stamp before:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightlensefront_closeup.jpg)
Close up of "LEFT" stamp after:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/IMG_0985.jpg)
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightfrontside_Afterrestoration.jpg)
24-V stamp before:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightbackside_24-v.jpg)
12-V stamp after (decided to mark it 12-V and replace the bulbs since my electrical system is 12-V):
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightbackside_restoredto12-V.jpg)
"BLACKOUT LIGHT" stamp before:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightbacksidestamp.jpg)
"BLACKOUT LIGHT" stamp after:
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/Tapper02/Misc%20Shared%20Pics/Blackoutlightbacksidestamp_restored.jpg)
Hope this helps anyone who's thinking of doing this!
-Tom
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looking good.
i haven't tried it yet but i think you can convert those to regular headlights by removing the cover, replacing the headlight and relocating the base contact to the 12v spot.