Last night, out of sheer curiosity, I painted the cluster area to match the exterior color. (sort of) I've seen the import tuners doing this for a while, so figured I'd do it and check it out. Not sure I like the results.
Next project for this is to do a woodgrain background. I think that will look a lot better. Now I need to find some Zebra wood sheets.

Thoughts or opinions?

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Nice Job! There is a member here that sells the wood effect gauge faces, But his screen name escapes me at the moment.

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I dunno, I can't imagine that looks good isntalled. I'd much rather go for new gauge faces...... and maybe nicely lit plexiglass needles.........

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Whoops, I misspoke. I meant Zebra wood where the silver is now. Leaving the gauge faces black.

BTW, on the top portion, is this that part that people are painting white for more light reflection? I've read a few threads about increasing light by painting something, but can't figure out where.

That is amazingly rice - but I kinda like it. My biggest question is:

What would a china blue cluster look like ? (my cars color) If you had a dark blue or maybe that MB maroon (Brandy red or whatever?) that might be cool



halfway on topic: I did scan in the climate control panel (240D simple CC system) and photoshopped it to lable things a bit more cleanly. I like the "small, uncommon" mods like this and what you are doing.

What else on the interior could be color-matched to the exterior ? door handles ? seat pulls ? vent duct outlets ? just throwing ideas out.

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Painting the "ceiling" part will probably do no good -- it doesn't really catch any light that could be reflected. If folks are painting anything, it would be the plastic where the clear light channels sit.

However, on my '84 300td, I didn't want the hassle of prepping, masking, and painting, so I lined the bulb housing and plastic around the channels with metallic duct tape. The tape conforms well and is thin enough not to affect the fit of anything. The lighting is now about four-to-five times as bright as it was before (and that's with amber bulbs replacing the clear, which in itself reduces light output).

I like it! post a pic of it installed so we can see.

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past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

Your paint job looks nice at first glance.......then as I read some of the other posts.....perhaps, the dash lighting will reflect off of the freshly painted and bright areas.....

I don't think that the dash lighting is in any way deficient.....but I live in an area with few street lights......but out here in the dark woods, the instruments look like aircraft gages at night......and can be read easily.....

SB

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I've been wanting to do the same thing you did. I just could not figure out how to get the plexi-glass out? How'd you do it?

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It's my old cluster, the plexiglass broke off on accident. So, I figured I'd experiment.
John, gonna have to wait til tomorrow to install it.

Second to last is what I'm getting one day.
Don't know price but can't be much.

http://www.benzwood.com/trim_1.htm

Louis.

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Not always the smartest but certainly not dumb?

I did my clusters in Burl with three-dimensional printing (hydroimmersion), and I really like them. I didn't do the back part of the 107 cluster due to reflections, and the tunnels still reflect a little more than I'd like them to. I think you will find that Eris (Germany) clusters are fantastically expensive. I'm not selling these anymore but I was getting around $100 for a 107. The eris clusters are 300 and up.

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The red oak veneer lowe's sells($40 a roll) is fairly close to the same grain as the factory fitted trim.

It'll take a lot of experimenting to match 30 year-old wood, though-- mine doesn't match, but it dresses the console area very well!

It's very easy to cut into shape with a #1 exacto knife and some patience when cutting against the grain-- maybe some circular chrome gauge trimrings would finish off that raw edge, but I am not certain the rear of the cluster where it meets the sides and top would be able to be finished up to the standard we are used to.

You can see with the upper a/c control panel what I am speaking of-- Contrast that with the climate control panel that included trim rings for the openings to see what I am rambling about! The grain is opposing the original, but that's because the only veneer I could find locally came in 12" width, and the grain ran lengthwise.

I'll post some other pictures if there is any interest in seeing the pieces in various states of finish! These veneer projects are very fun and are a very welcome departure from turning greasy bolts and detailing the interior!!!

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Oh, I see I'm not the first.. Maybe I'll just see how much it is and buy one. Was thinking of getting the shifter knob, and the steering wheel center piece too.

No offense but that is god aweful ugly. Spend $10 and get your self a real zebrano ashtray.

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1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42