Painting raised emblems

For a flat nameplate with raised letters, I paint the whole surface flat black.  When dry, I carefully sand the face of the nameplate, on a piece of fine sandpaper taped to a flat tabletop. The paint will sand off from the raised letters, leaving the color of the plastic (hopefully light gray) nicely exposed, against a recessed black background.

midnightprowler

Thanks Don, great idea, any particular reason for basswood?

 

Yeah, I do a lot of scratch building and heavy mods, and basswood is my go-to material.  Balsa is for flying models only.  Basswood cuts, carves, fills and paints wonderfully. So I always have some in hand.

 For stamping the grain is tight enough to give a continuous paint film, but the end grain is open enough to soak up enough to stamp.

midnightprowler

Thanks Don, great idea, any particular reason for basswood?

 

Boy are you right.  Don's tip is one of those "why didn't I think of that"; Ive made my not of it now.

Oh, and Basswood? because it less expencive and easer to find than Troutwood 

Hope Don  answers quick

Thanks Don, great idea, any particular reason for basswood?

Mr. Don: Now THAT..........is a useful piece of information right there!! Thanks for sharing that.

Basswood. Now that makes sense. I tried this method with sponge and the results were terrifying lol.

Traditionally I've used fine tipped brushes with mixed results over the years. Its always depended on how well the emblems stand out after all of the lacquer has been applied. I've learned a ton of better ways to paint things in these last few years and I've been picking up the little tricks from this section for some time now. I will be applying some of them to the Gremlin build and I hope it turns out better then all of the cars I've tried to build before.

Thanks for the tip, Don! I will be using it.  :)

Depends on your brushing skills.  Here is a method that takes less brushing skill.

Take a piece of quarter inch square basswood and saw off a piece with a sharp razor saw, or some way you get a good flat end-grain on the end.  This becomes a "stamp."  Now shake well a bottle of paint of the color you want on the emblem.  Turn the cap over on your desktop.  There should be a thin coating of paint adhering to the inside of the cap.  Dip the stamp- the piece of the basswood with a good end grain into the paint.  Now, press it down on the emblem.   Repeat if needed.  Testors now makes a very shiny Chrome color that should work if it is a chrome emblem.