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Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...
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56D500boy
Posted 2017-01-30 9:42 PM (#532748)
Subject: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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Immediately after I purchased my 56 Custom Royal D500 I vowed to myself that I would NOT go crazy with restoration. The car is nice and will be nicer but it is a 4 dr sedan and will never command the kind of money needed to recoup the costs of all out restoration, full paint job, rechroming, etc. etc. A convertible sure. 2dr hard top maybe. 4 dr sedan extremely doubtful.

Fortunately all my chrome was there and, while not perfect, it is cleaning up quite nicely thank you very much. That said there is some pitting that will remain. This will be a 10 or 20 ft car, not a 3 ft car.

Inspired by Serge's "Make up your car" thread: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=23691&... I am embarking on minor touch-ups and embellishments to the chrome bits that I have. This will involve polishing and paint, but not replating or purchasing New Old Stock bits. Just not worth it. I'd rather spend the money on making the car a better driver.

The following shows what I did today.

1. First trial at touching up the 56 D500 crossed flags. I just did the one flag with a small brush and TremClad semi-gloss black. I think I need to sand/file the chrome/white bits so they are flatter and then paint them with a "Chrome" paint. Then paint the black squares.

2. The Custom Royal side "V"s. They polished up quite nicely but there was some pitting in the grooves. I think putting paint in the grooves hides the pitting and embellishes the grooves nicely. Remember that much of the middle area is covered by the "Golden Knight" (which is going to get painted a high gloss gold tomorrow (I think))

3. The taillight covers. These two are off the car because they were the back-up light lens covers but I am converting the back-up lights to more stop/running/signal lights. They polished up well but the edges of the "grooves" were/are rough. They were rough from the factory. I can see the file marks under the chrome where somebody touched up the raw pot metal casting before they were plated. I have two options: a) painting the edges silver or b) painting the edges semi-gloss black. I thought I would prefer the silver but after I did one in silver and the other in black, I am leaning towards the black.



Edited by 56D500boy 2017-01-31 9:25 AM




(D500FlagsFirstTrial.jpg)



(56CustomRoyalVCrests.jpg)



(56CustomRoyalTailLightLensCovers_Option1_SilverOnEdge.jpg)



(56CustomRoyalTailLightLensCovers_Option2_BlackOnEdge.jpg)



(56CustomRoyalTailLightLensCovers_2Options.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments D500FlagsFirstTrial.jpg (99KB - 219 downloads)
Attachments 56CustomRoyalVCrests.jpg (90KB - 217 downloads)
Attachments 56CustomRoyalTailLightLensCovers_Option1_SilverOnEdge.jpg (90KB - 201 downloads)
Attachments 56CustomRoyalTailLightLensCovers_Option2_BlackOnEdge.jpg (100KB - 237 downloads)
Attachments 56CustomRoyalTailLightLensCovers_2Options.jpg (103KB - 189 downloads)
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56D500boy
Posted 2017-01-31 11:12 PM (#532848 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: RE: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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All I got done to day was painting the lens cover that I had used the Option 1 silver on yesterday with the Option 2 black. Seems to show up little glitches in the pot metal that I missed yesterday and need to be knocked down with my metal file. Went cross-country skiing near Vancouver for 2 hours (closer to 4 hours all in). That killed most of the day.

Going to look for thin rubber gasket material for the taillight to body mount tomorrow and then move onto the actual installation and wiring of these extra tail/stop/signal lights.

Still need to practice painting the Golden Knight before I actually do it.



Edited by 56D500boy 2017-02-01 1:47 AM
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56D500boy
Posted 2017-08-06 6:53 PM (#545715 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: RE: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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56D500boy - 2017-01-30 9:42 PM

2. The Custom Royal side "V"s. They polished up quite nicely but there was some pitting in the grooves. I think putting paint in the grooves hides the pitting and embellishes the grooves nicely. Remember that much of the middle area is covered by the "Golden Knight" (which is going to get painted a high gloss gold tomorrow (I think))


Here is the end result of that game, 6 months later:

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chipplake1
Posted 2017-08-06 9:37 PM (#545724 - in reply to #545715)
Subject: RE: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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Looks great, you did a good job! Love the '56 Dodges, especially the Custom Royal's trim. And, you have one of the best color combos, in my opinion.
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56D500boy
Posted 2018-10-06 2:43 PM (#571214 - in reply to #545715)
Subject: Improving pitted 56 Dodge Golden Knight badges



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56D500boy - 2017-08-06 6:53 PM
56D500boy - 2017-01-30 9:42 PM

2. The Custom Royal side "V"s. They polished up quite nicely but there was some pitting in the grooves. I think putting paint in the grooves hides the pitting and embellishes the grooves nicely. Remember that much of the middle area is covered by the "Golden Knight" (which is going to get painted a high gloss gold tomorrow (I think))


Here is the end result of that game, 6 months later:



Not that many of you care, but I did have one recent request to explain what I had done to my 56 Dodge Golden Knights.

I didn't take any before photos so I have found a few eBay photos showing a range of pits. Mine were somewhere in between, i.e. pitted but not as bad as some I have seen for sale. See below for the range of pitting.

Not knowing about Muggy Weld back then, I started by sanding the flat surfaces of the gold plated badges (Not really sure if the plating is gold but I have a fairly unpitted badge in my hand and it is definitely plated - some of the plating is coming off (see below)).

I also picked out the grooves in the knights helmet as much as possible.

I then used Bondo brand Plastic metal to fill in the pits. Once that was dry I sanded it off (maybe 220 grit wet and dry??) and checked for missed pits. Probably did a second round of filling and sanding.

When I was confident that I had filled it enough, I masked off the Knight's head/helmet (so the details wouldn't get filled in by primer) and sprayed the remainder of the badge with a high build primer. When dry, I sanded it and applied a second coat. When that was dry, I removed the masking tape and sanded one more time. Especially at the margin between helmut and the flat bits. Then I sprayed the badge(s) (I did both at the same time) with Rustoleum brand Metallic Gold paint.

Final product is better than when I started but nothing like a proper pit removal and metal filling followed by real plating. Nice but expensive. I have to watch that I don't let thing spiral out of "betterifying" to "restoration" like I might already have done by buying repro grill and trunk badges from George Laurie and AMS Obsolete.

Photos:



Edited by 56D500boy 2018-10-06 6:24 PM




(EBayGoldenKnightShowingOEPlating.JPG)



(56Dodge1646316_1647754GoldenKnight_1.jpg)



(56Dodge1646316_1647754GoldenKnight_2.jpg)



(BondoPlasticMetal.jpg)



(HighBuildPrimer.jpg)



(gold-rust-oleum-specialty-craft-spray-paint-1910830-64_1000.jpg)



(ImprovedGoldenKnightOnDaveFs56Dodge.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments EBayGoldenKnightShowingOEPlating.JPG (113KB - 169 downloads)
Attachments 56Dodge1646316_1647754GoldenKnight_1.jpg (28KB - 170 downloads)
Attachments 56Dodge1646316_1647754GoldenKnight_2.jpg (71KB - 165 downloads)
Attachments BondoPlasticMetal.jpg (49KB - 168 downloads)
Attachments HighBuildPrimer.jpg (17KB - 155 downloads)
Attachments gold-rust-oleum-specialty-craft-spray-paint-1910830-64_1000.jpg (50KB - 161 downloads)
Attachments ImprovedGoldenKnightOnDaveFs56Dodge.jpg (83KB - 166 downloads)
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60 dart
Posted 2018-10-06 3:41 PM (#571216 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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looks pretty nice , real nice ---------------------------------------------------later
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56D500boy
Posted 2018-10-06 6:27 PM (#571227 - in reply to #571216)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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60 dart - 2018-10-06 3:41 PM

looks pretty nice , real nice


Thanks. They're better than when I started. My main goal: "Betterify" (and do no harm).

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BigBlockMopar
Posted 2018-10-06 6:29 PM (#571228 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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Nice work.
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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-04 3:00 PM (#614762 - in reply to #571227)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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56D500boy - 2018-10-06 3:27 PM
They're better than when I started. My main goal: "Betterify" (and do no harm).


Fast forward 3 years and purchase of at least two more 56 Dodge Golden Knights, including one OE one, I will be adding two replated knights (one per side) to the car when I get done painting the roof (another can of worms).

I will hold back the middle one, an NOS new-in-box Golden Knight, and add the replated ones:





(OEM56DodgeGoldenKnightFlankedByTwoReplatedKnights.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments OEM56DodgeGoldenKnightFlankedByTwoReplatedKnights.jpg (94KB - 82 downloads)
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56D500boy
Posted 2021-09-09 10:57 AM (#614869 - in reply to #614762)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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56D500boy - 2021-09-04 12:00 PM
I will hold back the middle one, an NOS new-in-box Golden Knight, and add the replated ones:


Here is what one of the replated Golden Knights looks like on the car:





(56DodgeCustomRoyalWithReplatedGoldenKnight.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments 56DodgeCustomRoyalWithReplatedGoldenKnight.jpg (131KB - 82 downloads)
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Powerflite
Posted 2021-09-09 1:44 PM (#614872 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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That looks really nice. Real gold plating is definitely the way to go on them. It's harder to do on parts that you don't want to plate the whole object as masking areas can be difficult to do.
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Lancer Mike
Posted 2021-09-10 9:53 PM (#614924 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: RE: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...



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Making the most of what you have!  

 

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dels56
Posted 2021-09-11 11:01 AM (#614930 - in reply to #532748)
Subject: Re: Lipstick on a Pig. A nice pig but still...


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Good day Dave. I haven’t been following FL for a couple of weeks, well now I know who to get to do the details on my car. Nice job!
Del S
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