[Milsurplus] Wrinkle painting an engraved panel

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 16:04:24 -0700, Robert Goff
<robert_h_goff at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'm working on re-painting an engraved panel with black wrinkle that was
> stripped by the previous owner.
> 
> My trouble is that, in order to wrinkle properly, the paint has to be thick
> enough that it fills the shallow engraving making it impossible to
> re-letter.

I suspect this is why a lot of gear had raised lettering, easier to
clean off the raised letters than to deal with filled lettering.

One of the odd things I came across while restoring an old broadcast
console was the process used to first paint the panel with several
layers of paint, then to engrave the letters through the paint. I
thought I was imagining it, but one area where the paint was worn down
around an often-used switch confirmed this by very shallow engraving
in the actual metal, while it was much deeper elsewhere. What a pain.

This leads me to suggest the only alternative that comes to mind:
repainting the panel (power coating or baking to make the paint hard),
then taking it to a professional engraver to have the lettering done.
Obviously it would be pricey, so it would depend on the item ad your
desire for authenticity. Take a good picture before painting if you
choose this route, with a closeup of the font used.

I have a BC-191 that I believe has engraving as opposed to raised
lettering and needs paint, so it will be interesting to see what the
old hands here suggest. Someone probably has a simple solution,
usually discovered after trying all of the obviously difficult
approaches.

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ