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Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:08 pm

Any tips/tricks on restoring the Vanagon, VW and Syncro emblems? The chrome is pretty much faded. One option I may go with is to just paint everything black since I plan on doing that to the grill and sliding window trim as well. Chrome is for '57 Chevys!

Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:21 pm

Get a rubber ink block roller and some silver acrylic paint in tubes put a spot of the paint on some cardboard and roll it out to cover the roller. Then carefully roll it on to the high points. It is a bit on the flat satin side for finish but looks good.

Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:41 pm

from another thread

VanWilder wrote: Today I cleaned up the rear emblems. The "Volkswagon" "Vanagon GL".

I used Heating and Air Conditioning foil tape and an Exacto knife to cut the letters out. So simple and looks great. Stick the tape on and get to cutting.

Material used.

Place tape on Emblem and smooth it over all the letters.

Cut out the empty spaces of the letters with an exacto knife or razor blade

The finished product looks real good and should last a while.

Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:53 pm

Thanks. I plan on painting them black to freshen that part up and then I will experiment with the silver part. I have an extra one I can use as my beta tester.

What do you think of painting the silver part the body color (in this case brilliant orange)? Might be a bit much.

Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:54 pm

madspaniard wrote: from another thread

VanWilder wrote:

Cool. For nearly the same effort, you could also mask out the negative, then spray paint silver. Just another option.

Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:01 pm

What I'm trying to avoid is masking or free hand painting. I think the roller option makes some sense.

Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:21 pm

Just do the Alum tape thing like I did. It worked great, looks great, will last a looooong time and it was so easy. My 2 Emblems took 30 mins. Get your blade,, grab a beer.. etc.. :lol: What ever you do I would love to see it.

Wed Jan 13, 2010 1:07 pm

I used the block roller method. I got a soft rubber roller. Maybe I should have gotten a hard roller as it left a little alligatoring. Looks good from 20 feet and I may try to hit it with a high grit sandpaper.

Before:

After:

Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:48 pm

That looks good my man... I like it..

Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:20 pm

7thing3 wrote:

Looks real good. I'm confused. Did you paint it with a roller? Is that what you mean by a block roller?

Either way, good job.

Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:06 am

The technical term is a brayer:

Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:32 am

That foil tape trick is brilliant!

Man, the craftiness of Samba folks continues to amaze me.

Thanks for posting this great idea.

-CJ

Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:55 pm

I second that...I'm gonna try that tomorrow.

Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:04 pm

I think the 'syncro' and 'volkswagon' ones are still available new. But not the vanagon ones anymore.

Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:40 pm

Check this out, custom scripts. I've always liked the Bay scripts myself!
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=877701

Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:41 am

I just painted mine. I used Kylon Fusion black satin spray paint and acrylic silver paint. went over the letters with a very hard little paint roller for wood trim. then went back and touched up the black with a small art brush. came out ok it think.

Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:07 am

i just sprayed mine black and i love the look but i like the way PAdom'c came out also

Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:34 am

PAdom wrote: I just painted mine. I used Kylon Fusion black satin spray paint and acrylic silver paint. went over the letters with a very hard little paint roller for wood trim. then went back and touched up the black with a small art brush. came out ok it think.

Wow!!! Looks brand new. Great job!!!

Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:35 am

RCB wrote: PAdom wrote: I just painted mine. I used Kylon Fusion black satin spray paint and acrylic silver paint. went over the letters with a very hard little paint roller for wood trim. then went back and touched up the black with a small art brush. came out ok it think.

Wow!!! Looks brand new. Great job!!!

thanks alot !

Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:40 am

Yeah that looks really good, I tried to find the info Jay leno had on a video on how to rechrome these on the cheap but couldn't find it...I think this will work fine.

the back of my westy looks naked.