Singer 45k1 Restoration Decals

[Parfektionisto]

Hi Constabulary,

Your restoration work is excellent! Well done! I'm sure you love silver colour very much, I can imagine there's a set of cast iron warriors dressing in metallic silver in your workshop.

Tony

[Constabulary]

Sure it´s personal preference I just wondered why spending so much time on decal details. Seems I had a weak moment  - I should have been understanding - or it was too early in the morning . But of course the crackle coating makes it more difficult to apply. I think you really need a quite thin foil to "squeeze" the foil into the crackles. Even better would be some sort of "no foil decals" or what ever it is called. Is there probably some sort of gold flake / gold paint based decal foil you can run through a laser printer?

BTW - I tried VHT crackle spray paint - takes looooooooooong time to dry but when you put the painted part into an oven or apply heat it crackles even better (unfortunately I do not have a sewing machine size oven) Will do some more testing. A lot seem to depend on how thick you spray on the single coats.

[Parfektionisto]

Hi Constabulary,

LW trash treasures did mention about a setting solution which helps decal to stick better on an irregular surface, so we can try applying this solution before sticking on the decals on crinkle finish. Below is the link by trash treasure:

https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Setting-Solution-Microscale-Industries/dp/B0006O9K5Q

The VHT seller told me if I don't have an oven, I can leave the sprayed surface under the sun, it will dry to the touch overnight, but will still take a few days to fully dry. Personally I spray my machine indoor, I tried drying with the hairdryer and I also tried leaving it to dry naturally. With the hairdryer, it will get an even crinkle finish, when I left it to dry, the crinkle finish became uneven and rough, so it depends what kind of effect you want to achieve. You are right, the first coat must be thick, it's recommended to spray at least 7 layers of paint for the first time. I think I sprayed more than 7 layers. After the first spray, wait for the crinkle to form, then you can always respray again on areas you think the crinkle finish is not enough and always remember to spray in different direction unlike normal spray paint where you need to spray in one direction to get the smoothness. When spraying the underside of the machine, you need to tilt it to one side instead of spraying with the spray can nozzle facing upwards, this will help with better crinkle finish. Anyway, have fun experiencing, when it's fully dry its pretty strong and should last a very long time. Hope this help

Tony

 

 

 

[Parfektionisto]

By the way I'm living in a tropical country, so the weather here is usually warm and humid, in cold weather it will probably slow down the drying process and affect the crinkle finish. You can might want to consider using the hairdryer. 

Tony

[Parfektionisto]

 I have attached 2 sets of tracing of the decals, the 1st one is a tracing done with the reference from Constabulary's vintage decals, the 2nd one is a modification of Constabulary's decals base on Jimi's post for the 29k33 decals, hope to hear everyone's comment.

Tony

[Evo160K]

For those who like a "crinkle" type finish, you might want to take a look at Harley-Davidson's textured aerosol paint, p/n 98606BF.                                                                       https://www.harley-davidson.com/store/touch-up-paint-pa-15-98606bf--1

I personally have used it on my Harley engine for 3-4 years since it was introduced.  It develops a very fine and uniform texture without heat that I think would look excellent on a Singer.  I used to use Harley's Wrinkle Finish, p/n  98606CJ which dried with a more wrinkled texture, depending upon whether you air dried it or heated it, but then converted to the textured paint once I tried it.  Coincidently I don't see the wrinkle paint offered any longer, so others might have switched also.  The stuff is outrageously expensive for a 12 oz can, but it's the nicest I've seen.

Because it's so expensive at $23.00 a can, you might want to take a small, clean, sample piece of metal to your local Harley dealer and ask the service dept if they would mind spraying the sample for you.  I'm reasonably certain they would.  If not, take a look at the engines on the showroom floor and decide.

[Evo160K]

Tony,

Nicely done.  Thanks for your efforts.

I like the shape of the letters better in the first tracing, but the shading/half-tone? better in the second tracing.  Since the arm of the 29K33 appears slimmer than the arms of the 45K's, might that size differential be influencing the shape of the letters, or do you think it has more to do with style changes through the years?

[Constabulary]

WOW - well done Tony the font looks awesome!!!

[Parfektionisto]

2 hours ago, Evo160K said:

Tony,

Nicely done.  Thanks for your efforts.

I like the shape of the letters better in the first tracing, but the shading/half-tone? better in the second tracing.  Since the arm of the 29K33 appears slimmer than the arms of the 45K's, might that size differential be influencing the shape of the letters, or do you think it has more to do with style changes through the years?

Hi Al,

Judging from the 2 pics posted by Jimi, it seems like the 29k and 45k shared the same kind of decals. The typeface looks pretty similar, but I can't determine the size base on the pic. From the pic I feel that the typeface seems like slimmer than the one I had traced out. If you see carefully on the decals of the 29k, there is depth/shading, but if I'm to print it on decals I will change the colour to gold of course, different shades of gold so that we can see the depth. 

I doubt I can find anyone locally to input the gold leaf pigment, and I'm not sure if I'm willing to pay the price for it, so I think for now I will just stick to gold ink from the printer. 

Tony

1 hour ago, Constabulary said:

WOW - well done Tony the font looks awesome!!!

All thanks to your vintage decals and thanks to Al for sharing it with me. This is what makes this forum amazing!!!

Tony

[Constabulary]

I was not thinking.... I have a 132K on my shelf waiting for "modification" and it has a nice clear original decal - I will take pictures later and take some measures....