painting the deuce grille

[hot ford coupe]

This is a relatively easy one. There are two ways of doing this, one much easier than the other. The first way is to get rid of the chrome on the vertical bars of the grill with sandpaper and carefully smooth out the plastic. You should leave the chrome on the edges of the grill. Make sure it fits the grill shell well before you paint it. Then prime it and spray on whatever color or design you want. Then depending on the color, use a diluted wash of water color paint (dilute 5 or 6 :1 water to paint) with a drop of detergent (not too much) and flow some in between the bars with a thin brush. Excess can be wipped off with a tissue. Practice it on the unpainted grill before you commit. The stuff will wash off with water if you make a boo boo. Now for the color of the wash. For dark colors, use a straight black wash, for red use a dark brown wash, for yellow use a slightly lighter brown than for red or orange, for white use a dark gray, and for green use a very dark green or straight black.

The second technique was shown to me by good ol' EstebanLoco on SA. First, dechrome the heck out of the grill. Very, VERY , carefully on slow and I do mean slow, use a Dremel motor tool with a medium to coarse sanding disc and thin out the grill until you get to the spaces between the bars. If you are too nervous to do that, (I can always send you another grill) take a #11 blade and very carefully score in between the bars until you break through. then take a strip of sandpaper and san the space on both sides until you have smoothed out the bars. Be very carefull because you can under or over cut with the paper and the bars will come out uneven. Don't try this if you want a quick result or haven't got the patience to sit with it until you're done. Then prime and paint. Finish off the trim around the grill with BMF and install the grill with CA or epoxy . Don't forget to paint the shell first or you will mess up your grill.

A third way which I'm eager to try is to scratchbuild a grill with rods and solder. I've never done this but I'm going to try. The best way to do this, as I surmise, is to anchor two horizontal rods to a base a little longer than your grill. Then solder one rod directly in the middle exactly perpendicular to the cross pieces. Then solder a bar at the furthest end of each side continue to add bars by bisecting each space that way you will get very even and correct and tight spaces between the bars. That's how I'm going to try and make a 34 grill. I should be so lucky. Hope this helps.

[Don Garrett]

Great stuff HFC.....But I don't think you are going to be happy until you can justify the cost for a hi-tech drill press, lathe, band saw, milling machine, CNC, torches, buzz box, tig & mig, plasma cutter, CAD and some basic robotics. Then you can make all those goodies that are floating around in your head. :D :D :D

[EstebanLoco]

Very good answer Jeff. The deuce grill has been a problem for me since I first opened the box.

The scoring method is time consuming but definitely an improvement over the stock unit. You'll find that the plastic is very thick and resiliant so you don't need to be as careful as you might think - but still be careful.

So I wouldn't get bored and frustrated I only did about 5 grooves a day until complete.

Stevie

[robjos32]

Stevie, Which way did you work when scoring the grille, right to left of left to right, as I am going to try this method.

[EstebanLoco]

hey Rob. You'll probably need to go at it from both directions. Remember, you're using the [U]back[/U] side of your Exacto knife to do the scoring. Each pass of the blade through the groove will cut out a very tiny sliver of plastic. I found it easier to start at one end of a groove and work towards the middle and then before you score all the way through - start scoring from the other end in the same groove. You'll find it pretty straight forward once you get going but if you have trouble let me know.

Stevie

[robjos32]

Thanks for the advice Stevie.

[hot ford coupe]

Great stuff HFC.....But I don't think you are going to be happy until you can justify the cost for a hi-tech drill press, lathe, band saw, milling machine, CNC, torches, buzz box, tig & mig, plasma cutter, CAD and some basic robotics. Then you can make all those goodies that are floating around in your head. :D :D :D

You forgot the laser high heat casting machine and digital oven. I think I can get that cheaply at somewhere between 30,000 and 20,000 boxes of clams. :eek: :eek: :eek: I called up Donald Trump and tried to sell him a deuce for half a mil, but I don't think he liked my price. What's a 1000 mile restraining order?

[hot ford coupe]

Hey Steve, I can't take credit for that grill technique. You taught me that one on SA. Thanks. :)

[Deuces-wild]

Hey guys. is there a company that makes photo-eched grills for the 1/8 scale duece?? Guido

[Mike1981]

www.modelcargarage.com there you go :)

[robjos32]

What I've decided to do is de-chrome the front grille, which is being done as we speak in a 50-50 solution of neat bleach and water, then I'll cut the pieces out with a knife and finally paint it Garden Green. It may take a bit longer this way, but at least i am saving money.

[hot ford coupe]

You better believe you're saving money. The photo etched set costs about $40. I'm not sure what it is in pounds but that's pretty high for photoetched stuff. I bought a set about a year ago and I'm not nuts about it. The only thing I really like in the set are the keys. Steve's grill looks a heck of a lot better. And I really mean that. All the photoetched parts are flat inccluding the grill bars. :(

[Deuces-wild]

You better believe you're saving money. The photo etched set costs about $40. I'm not sure what it is in pounds but that's pretty high for photoetched stuff. I bought a set about a year ago and I'm not nuts about it. The only thing I really like in the set are the keys. Steve's grill looks a heck of a lot better. And I really mean that. All the photoetched parts are flat inccluding the grill bars. :(

And the duece kit cost me $69.99 plus 6% sales tax.....Guess I'm better off doin' the black wash thing with my grill. Ok thanks guys.....:)

[Don Garrett]

Guido, if you have the time you can make a grille insert from fine plastic rod. It's kind of a pain in the butt but looks good when finished. Need info?