Paint for redoing instrument needles

Ian Beale

Member
We've got a Landcruiser (dozer tender for tractor related) on which the instrument needles have faded, making them hard to read when in the shadow of the binnacle.

I've tried redoing them in a Tamiya (plastic model) red but that didn't improve things.

Anyone know of a mix to make something close to dayglo orange?

Other suggestion welcome
 
They used to have some orange glo paint that was used to put on sights of a rifle to make them stand out. Haven't thought about it in years. Might be what you need.
 
Can you post a picture of the color you are wanting. I tried a google search and they show every shade of orange in the world.
 
Um! No. I'm guessing here and winging by trial and error. The red stands out fine with light on it but just disappears into the shadow without. I'm presuming something like dayglo or blaze orange (hunting gear) should work. My most local site (300 km round trip) has a limited range of those Tamiya paints which I'll have to check next time for orange and have another try.
 
Apparently Citroen have come up with some arrangement - I presume light pipes - that uses daylight to get around this visibility problem

And the red I have used doesn't help any with the instrument lights at night either.
 
I think most of the paint I looked at when I did a google search for Dayglo Orange looked like the color orange Kubota used before the 1990's otherwise known as Kubota 1 paint. I mix that color by mixing Kubota II paint with John Deere Yellow 50/50. I tried to scan the paint chip but the image doesn't look like the real thing. In any case if you want it lighter you could add more yellow or if you wanted it more red use less yellow.
a279476.jpg
 
I googled 'gun sight paint' and found this:

https://www.amazon.com/GLOW-ORIGINAL-Super-Phosphorescent-Sights/dp/B004K56TS8

and a lot of other choices. I'll bet one of them would work.
 
Bob

Thanks - but "does not ship to Australia".

I'll check and see if the local branch has it. At least I now have an official name.

Nearest paint store has Tamiya X6 orange and X26 clear orange - the latter for painting indicator lights and similar so might work
 

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