ricky30dk Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 Finally having a house with a garage has enabled me to get up to all sorts of shanigans (including painting my own car). one project I finally finished was creating magnolia-faces gauges for early Spitfires - sadly several years late for any of my own cars.....what d’you think? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 You have produced an excellent job there and they look very striking - well done. Regards. Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 They are lovely! Too good for a car, I’d have them in a display cabinet. 😊 Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 3 hours ago, ricky30dk said: Finally having a house with a garage has enabled me to get up to all sorts of shanigans (including painting my own car). one project I finally finished was creating magnolia-faces gauges for early Spitfires - sadly several years late for any of my own cars.....what d’you think? I'd write what I think but it would take too long so I'll condense it right down - stunned. Those are superb. You can't leave us like this - how was it done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Faulds Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 10 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said: I'd write what I think but it would take too long so I'll condense it right down - stunned. Those are superb. You can't leave us like this - how was it done? brilliant work looks very period. can we also have a write up of painting your car aswell please. I love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky30dk Posted March 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said: I'd write what I think but it would take too long so I'll condense it right down - stunned. Those are superb. You can't leave us like this - how was it done? Thank you all for your kind words! I think the hardest part was creating the graphic file for the UV printer - that took forever. The rest was just grunt work : stripping down, cleaning, painting, etc. I managed to track down some modern material equivalent for some components. Also managed to destroy 18 needles in one go - acetone strips the paint but also eats plastic ...... I have a few spare sets - am also experimenting with different needle and bezel colours : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky30dk Posted March 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Ian Faulds said: brilliant work looks very period. can we also have a write up of painting your car aswell please. I love it I painted the car with cellulose and my own compressor and gun in the garage. Bloody hell was that a lot of work, but also satisfying - plus I saved the 150,000 + danish kroner that I was quoted by a local professional ( yes, I had at least 15 conversations along the lines of “I know a guy who could do it for (insert significantly lower price here)”, but they never came to anything - I even stayed home all day for one painter who never arrived to collect the car). I was quite happy with my own painting efforts at the time of finishing the car (last year), but after 6 months or so sitting in the garage, the paintwork has gone quite dull, which is a bit unsettling. I’ve polished a small area with T Cut, which brings most of the shine back, but I don’t understand why it won’t stay shiny. Do you think I cut the paint too soon and if I do it again it will stay shiny? I don’t need high gloss, just something period appropriate and that doesn’t need me to T Cut it every 6 months..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Faulds Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 I'm no expert but you can't keep t cutting all the time as your removing paint. Was the last coat (paint) you put on mainly thinners I read that the top coat should be a high mix of not much paint and mostly thinners but I can't remember the mix. I had a book which I lent out and it got lost. Someone on here will know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 Happened on both my first Spitfire and my GT6 MK3. No matter how many times the sprayer resprayed the new panels they faded very quickly, and it was no doubt down to his technique - he was no professional by any means but could spray motor bike helmets, and tried to touch in both cars in my old garage. Both spitfire sills, and GT6 rear wing faded very quickly, within days, and whilst he tried to fob me off that they needed cut back, it never helped. It probably means the paint has not been applied correctly, either through incorrect mix, technique or temperature. I spotted my old GT6 some years after I had sold it and the rear wing was a nightmare, with the current owner attempting repairs or top coats when it should have been stripped right back and restarted. Incidentally when my GT6 Mk1 was professionally sprayed it arrived home looking quite orange, but then faded to a still-bright signal red that has lasted for years now. But: sorry for hi-jacking the thread, I have a few old magnolia Herald speedos that I'm debating using, if I can clean up the face or as a last resort, replace. Problem is that i can't find any kind of cleaner that won't remove the figures too, hence my interest in these superb looking gauges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky30dk Posted March 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 Hi Colin, I think just about anything that isn’t soap and water is going to remove the printing. The Herald speedos were my initial inspiration - I just couldn’t get the temp and fuel gauges to exactly match (I guess they fade differently depending on where they’ve been) and then of course there was the missing tachometer - but yours are presumably destined for one of your Heralds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted March 10, 2020 Report Share Posted March 10, 2020 1 hour ago, ricky30dk said: yours are presumably destined for one of your Heralds? Yes, a single-dial 1200. They originally had the black speedo as a single gauge, but I bought quite a dark dashboard a few years back and reckoned the white gauge would look nice against it. Problem is that there are stains on the face and the paint is quite crumbly, so any kind of cleaner takes it straight off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky30dk Posted August 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2021 Now available in a km/h version (also in original black/white) 😀 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted August 19, 2021 Report Share Posted August 19, 2021 https://www.smiths-instruments.co.uk/-classic-/classic-magnolia they make them have always been available in a variety of designs pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted August 19, 2021 Report Share Posted August 19, 2021 I couldn't get mine clean enough so I ended up spending a whole £19 on a new speedo... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky30dk Posted August 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2021 3 hours ago, Pete Lewis said: https://www.smiths-instruments.co.uk/-classic-/classic-magnolia they make them have always been available in a variety of designs pete Hi Pete, I think these might be a relatively recent development - at least I haven't been able to find original magnolia speedo and tacho faces for early Spitfire. There is one for Herald, but only goes to 100mph and isn't 1248tpm. I don't believe anyone makes anything like the originals. Heiler-tacho will make you a face for the speedo, but you need to send your old face to be printed.....and then part with 90 Euro.....for one face : Dials Jaeger Oldtimer for the conversion of US models, 59,99 € (heiler-tachodesign.de) Cheers Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky30dk Posted August 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2021 2 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: I couldn't get mine clean enough so I ended up spending a whole £19 on a new speedo... Wow - that was a bargain! What a beauty 😃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted August 19, 2021 Report Share Posted August 19, 2021 16 minutes ago, ricky30dk said: might be a relatively recent development - they have done them for years when on warranty their rep had to accept /reject warranty in fact he had a Bond Bug and magnolia were around and we closed in 2002 as he got one for my sons mini on the good will exchange scheme a couple of years earlier as for tpm thats got to be specified with an order no idea of costs Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now