Ignition/lights switch

[Old Dave]

The indentation letters on my RP style ignition/lights switch are just about illegible. White letters, black background of course.

Has anyone had a go at refurbing this lettering? I thought that a small “stick on” panel might be available?

[kenkimber]

My suggestion based on past experience which proved to be quite successful is as follows :
Clean out the indentations where the letters are and then paint over the general area of the word without trying to just fill in the indentations, I used Humbrol Matt white modelling paint.
When the paint is completely dry, which may take some time as it will be quite thick in the indentations wrap a piece of polishing cloth around a small block of wood so that you have a flat surface. Then using an abrasive compound such as Tcut or Solvol Autosol carefully polish off the surplus white paint to leave the indentations full of white paint. Obviously you need to take care to only polish down to the black paint and not through it !
I did try removing the surplus paint with white spirit but found that it tended to remove all the paint not just that on the surface.

Good luck - Ken.

[Reckless Rat]

Well, it's easy enough to memorise the positions. 1 Summer, 2 Winter, 3 Side lights, 4 Headlights. Ken's suggestion is valid but one thing I would advise against is taking the switch apart to try and tart it up. You might regret it. Unless you want to do a bench top 3D replica of the "Big Bang"...

[Frank Stoll]

When we bought our RP 30 years ago, we had the same problem and I solved the problem excactly like Ken described it. Apply the white paint as precisely as possible, let it dry, polish it. I used Revell paint. Worked very well.

[Hugh Barnes]

A fairly conventional method is to clean the etched lettering out as much as you can, spray the panel with a thin coat of black cellulose. Yhen, when dry, paint the lettering with white enamel. When that is just dry-ish, wipe over with enamel thinners, carefully, cleaning the panel surface but not disturbing the recessed paint in the lettering..

That's the theory, anyway I've never actually done it! Someone who actually knows what they are talking about will be along in a minute, I expect...

[Stuart Giles]

A fairly conventional method is to clean the etched lettering out as much as you can, spray the panel with a thin coat of black cellulose. Yhen, when dry, paint the lettering with white enamel. When that is just dry-ish, wipe over with enamel thinners, carefully, cleaning the panel surface but not disturbing the recessed paint in the lettering..

That's the theory, anyway I've never actually done it! Someone who actually knows what they are talking about will be along in a minute, I expect...

Not sure about the knowing what I'm talking about thing, but the method Hugh describes is the one I use. Here's the SM5 panel I did for my Ulster-ish



For the white I use a 'trade' white undercoat; ie oil based.

[Hugh Barnes]

*like*

[Mike Costigan]

Yes, I've used Hugh's technique several times with success:


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[Lowespeed]

Didn't the RP use the PLC 5 type switch which has a different style of lettering ?

[Mike Costigan]

The same technique can be used for the PLC5 switch (unless it's a later unit with OFF/ON/LIGHTS in a window, but the RP should have the earlier type).