Gas Guage Paint

Bruce, I have lightly powdercoated several plates in semi-gloss and they have lasted. I suspect any catalyzed urethane would withstand the vapors and occasional splash. To make the little silver level line, I have used silver spray paint (uncatalyzed) and it is still there after several years too.
 
The paint on the gas gauge shield (black) doesn't come in contact with gas unless something reallbad happens, so any satin paint would work OK It is on the outside of the gauge.
Rusty Nelson
 
Hi Guys... Sorry I didnot form a good question.....I am interested in re-painting the letterrs/numbers that are in the gas....??
Bruce
 
Again, catalyzed paint smeared into the numbers and allowed to dry a tad. Then Lacquer thinner on a rag to wipe away the excess.
 
Brent,..how about Nickel? These are new...first style too mid 1928 and the
second style from mid 28 into 1929.
 

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I've had this stuff so long (as evidenced by the $1.00 price tag) that (a) the labels have come off and (b) I don't even remember where Hank's Hobby Shop is/was. Regardless, this is Pactra hot fuel-proof airplane dope. Inasmuch as I only do rubber-powered free-flight now, I'm not certain that this particular product is still available, but there must be a similar fuel-proof dope available from your local hobby shop or on-line. I used this on my present gas gage in 1979 and have had no problems since, including using fuel from Idaho, Washington and California, so I would suspect it's safe for use with ethanol.

Pactra Airplane Dope.jpg
 
Hey Bruce,
Go to your local hobby shop and purchase some Aero-gloss lacquer based paint gloss black. It comes in 1oz bottles. This works perfect and will not come off with gasoline.
 
So far I have just used a black ball point pen. Hope it works. I have not put in back in the tank yet-still have the tank out of the car. So don't use my method as a good solution but I thought I would try it. Think I may try Brent's idea of coating it with a clear paint of some sort before I put it back in.
 
For the numbers, I tried some black model airplane dope (which had worked very well on my carb), but I noticed that its adhesion to the smooth aluminum was not so great, and I was getting some chipping as I was sanding off the excess. I ended up using epoxy spray paint (Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black), and it still looks perfect after a couple of years.

Doug
 
As I recall, the "trick" to using model airplane dope was to float the paint into the recessed numerals (I used a toothpick) one color at a time, wait for it to start to harden (doesn't take very long) and then "polish" the excess off using a paper towel on a flat surface, dragging the level indicator across the short dimension (i.e., so the excess paint is moved to the edge rather than towards an adjacent number). Once both colors are done and the paint is fully dry, any remaining "over paint" residue was polished off by buffing the level indicator on clean newsprint.
 
Thanks to all of you for your input. I will try two of the methods on spares and after curing soak them in fresh ethanol based gasoline.
Bruce
 
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