Intricate painting on plastic

[neepheid]

Hi there

The truss rod cover of my Gibson Victory Artist is bare - someone painted over it with silver Hammerite and either removed the Artist logo first or it came off with the Hammerite. It's supposed to look like this:



What would be the best way to restore this logo? It's pretty intricate, I dunno if I am good enough to paint it freehand. A stencil will be an interesting challenge. Is paint the best way to go?

[Tengu]

That logo was put on by a machine so trying to do it free-hand would never look the same. I suppose you could print the picture you have there and create a stencil but you would still need to be very precise.

It might be easier to try tacking down a replacement from somewhere. I'm sure there must be places online that sell spares like this.

[Colledge]

theres people on ebay that do custom waterslide headstock decals, i'm sure they'd do one of those for you for not very much.

[neepheid]

[quote name='Tengu' post='883103' date='Jul 1 2010, 03:52 PM']That logo was put on by a machine so trying to do it free-hand would never look the same. I suppose you could print the picture you have there and create a stencil but you would still need to be very precise.

It might be easier to try tacking down a replacement from somewhere. I'm sure there must be places online that sell spares like this.[/quote]

A replacement will be difficult to find, not to mention expensive. As alluded to below, a decal might be the way.

[quote]theres people on ebay that do custom waterslide headstock decals, i'm sure they'd do one of those for you for not very much.[/quote]

I suppose so. I'm going to have to cut real close to the edges, then probably spray some kind of clear coat over the top - I'm guessing acrylic would be best for on plastic?

[JimD]

It looks like it was screenprinted - which is paint/ink squeezed out into a very thin layer through a stencil. It's cost effective for industrial/mass production processes but totally overkill for restoring a single instrument.

If you've a very steady hand you can paint it yourself, but if you are not used to painting you may find lots of frustration in getting the right brush and paint for the plastic (trust me, I'm a fine art graduate ).

One thought though; if you know anyone who is into painting miniature figures, like the Games Workshop "dungeons and dragons" figures, you might see if they could help. That takes a degree of skill and determination and you might luck out if you can find the right person. I went to my local GW to look at the paints for a computer modding project I was considering and the staff there are very gregarious and had me explaining the whole concept to them in the end (and all I wanted to do was look at the paints!). I expect if I'd needed something painting they'd have known if there was an enthusiast who could help me.

[RhysP]

Take that picture to a signwriter that has the facility to cut self adhesive vinyl lettering. They could scan your picture & machine cut the artist logo out of white vinyl & then you just stick it on the truss rod cover.

If I was still in my old job I would have done it for you.