Gauge Needle Repainting
 

Hey everyone,

I came across a few threads on here about gauge needle repainting and figured I'd give it a shot on my 420SEL. I ordered some Tamiya X-6 Acrylic Orange after looking over some various photos. It was like $6 after shipping.

Here's the pics, let me know what you think:

http://i.imgur.com/dqrgwl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/b9Oetl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9EDtTl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AMNoUl.jpg

I'll probably post the other pics from the other cars on this thread when I do them.

They look really good, like new again.

Good job!

I bought a cheap oil painting set from Walmart and mixed the red and yellow to get something close to that color. I was shooting for Crimson Orange. :)

I mixed on a sandwich sized zip-lock bag turned inside out then flipped the bag back to the original orientation and pressed the air out after the paint job. Two days later I applied the second coat. I still have enough in the freezer to do the 380SE when I put gears in its odometer.

I put paper between the needles and dial face because I used a 1/4" brush. I found the brush fans out better than the smaller ones. With the brush fanned out I could cut in closer to the black centers the needles protrude from. I also moved the oil pressure needle away from its stop and taped it down to keep the paint from sticking the needle to the stop.

I know, I need a girlfriend or something.

Very nice!!

Nice work.
I have been able to remove the needles using two teaspoons as balanced levers. For paint i used a florescent orange-red spray can.V came very close to the original color.
regards
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Even the white looks brighter on the left side(vacuum,fuel,temp,oil gauges)

I did my dad's 300SD today. It was much more faded than the 420SEL pictured above:

http://i.imgur.com/vSFkpl.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/XqQVGl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KVPg1l.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/5I0FAl.jpg

Did my 190E's gauges today. I hopefully fixed an annoying tick from the tripometer. It has trouble resetting. I might look into getting another 2.6 speedo and swapping it in...

http://i.imgur.com/0ow3wl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LsCXKl.jpg

I did the same thing to my 560SEL last year...
 

A satisfying project!

Did you take off the needles or paint them right on the instrument ?

I left the needles on, I used some post-it notes and scotch tape to mask off the faces. If you're careful you should be good. I didnt want to mess with taking the needles off.

When I did it I went non-intrusive. I made a paper mask with a slit to slide under the needle and cover the entire dial face. Also, the paint came out a bit too glossy for my taste, so I finished off with a de-glazer.

My Walmart had a very poor indicator lamp selection.