Threading Nameplate Restoration
I decided I wanted to try my hand at restoring the brass threading nameplate. I know that you can get reproduction ones on ebay, but they are just screen printed. I liked the raised brass letters better. This wasn't a particularly easy project because the panel was a bit beat up in the first place. But here's how I tackled it. Overall, there's some places I wish it turned out better, but I'm really proud of the results anyway. Kind of cool to restore the original plate!
The real key to success here is liquid mask, which you can pick up at a hobby/craft store. The details are far to fine to be able to mask with masking tape. The liquid mask is clear when dry:
I masked off the areas I wanted black so that I wouldn't get too thick a layer of paint on the background. Then I sprayed the plate red:
After the paint dried, I removed the masking:
...and wet sanded with 1000 grit paper. I started by putting the paper on glass, and rubbing the plate on it. But since the plate wasn't smooth and flat, I ended up sanding too far in some areas and not far enough in others. I found that it was far better to put the plate down and sand with the paper in my hand. This was my first time doing this, so live & learn.
I then masked the areas that I just painted red. Again, note the liquid mask over the S:
...and sprayed black on the black areas:
Prior to wet sanding, it looked like this:
After sanding, the plate looked like this. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed in the results. The lower left area where I sanded too far bothered me. And the black background was pretty messed up in the name box area. I thought about stopping here, but just couldn't bring myself to admit defeat:
So I masked of the raised lettering and resprayed both colors:
After that things were MUCH better. I still had a couple exposed areas of brass in the background. For the black, I colored them in with a black sharpie which worked really well. For the red I used a red sharpie, but the color is off. I think it's still probably better than the brass splotches all over. Finally I sprayed a flat clear coat over it to try to dull the shine of the sharpie marker with the sanded color paint. Here is my final result, which (besides the red sharpie) I'm really happy with!