Hi Team,
I had a crack at restoring the horn button a while back and it turned out OK, but not to the standard I really wanted. I have since acquired two addtional horn buttons original grille badge and the boot badge. One of the horn buttons and the grille/boot badge were worse for wear colour scheme wise so I am having a crack at restoring them. I thought it may be well worth showing the progress step by step and also getting advice from those that have travelled this path previously for ideas on how to get the best finish.
The three items I am restoring were in various states of decay. The boot badge had most of the paint missing, the horn badge was flaking badly and the grille badge had some of the red turn silver but the paint was still adhereing well.
My research identified that Isopropyl Alcohol does a good job on acrylic paints but does not affect the cast resin. I tipped some in the horn cap a couple of days ago to see what would happen. Nothing spectacular but after about 48 hours I was able to wipe away the colour where the base seal (the final white coat) was missing. Given that was a promising result, last night I removed the remainign base paint from the horn button and the boot badge with a blade and then hit the horn with some "0" steel wool. Took me a couple of hours but the red and blue was all but gone - all that remained was some of the stubborn silver paint in the crevices of the lion, the rings and of course the HOLDEN lettering.
I did not try this with the grille badge as the badge relief for the most part is not lines like the other two but cross hatched so my ability to get into the "grain" of the red was really poor. So I decided to use a different approach here to contrast against the other two.
Last night I submerged all three in 100% Isopropyl Alcohol (IA). They were in the IA for ten hours and this was the result after 5 minutes with a toothbrush on the backs this morning.
(https://i.postimg.cc/qt1YXvKG/10-hours-IA.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/qt1YXvKG)
The horn button and boot badge have bits of sliver deep in the crevices still - but significantly reduced from when they went in. The paint on the boot badge has come away in some places (primarily where the paint had started to fade to silver (possible just came away from the resin casting). My gut feel is that if the white backing is sound it protects the paint from the IA so I suspect that the sealing coat is a different paint compound to provide durability. It isn't doing a bad job after about 65-70 years.
The bits are back in the IA and I will have another crack at them tonight.
Any ideas on using something more agressive than IA that won't destroy the resin?
Cheers
After four more hours in the IA I took to them all with a toothbrush again.
The boot badge and the horn button are all but done; however, the grille badge had not changed from this morning. I grabbed a sharp pointed knife to see if I could loosen the white protective paint. It had become soft and came off pretty easily so after a few minutes I hit it again with the toothbrush. I am using a soft bristle brush so that I don't scratch the resin casting but I could probably use something stiffer to get quicker results.
The grille badge is not quite there yet. Here it is at 14 hours showing the white protective coating removed through a combination of the IA and the use of a knife.
(https://i.postimg.cc/64rcbXcF/20260209-141401.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/64rcbXcF)
Front view - pretty much just the red paint to remove now.
(https://i.postimg.cc/dZ26NYnw/Grille-Badge-14-hours.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/dZ26NYnw)
After 20 hours I removed them all from the Isopropyl Alcohol.
The boot badge and horn button were 99.9% good to go - just needed to scrape off a couple of silver flakes.
(https://i.postimg.cc/PLHmdz0t/Horn-Boot-Badge-20-hours-IA.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PLHmdz0t)
They are now ready to be painted. The horn button for some reason has a circular depression in the centre. I plan to rub that out after I finish painting the colour of the back. I then plant to apply headlight clear to the exterior once it has been sanded to remove and defects in the surface.
(https://i.postimg.cc/LJLtd0Cb/Grille-Badge-20-hours-IA.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/LJLtd0Cb)
The grill badge is a different story. I took to it with a brass wire brush and the colour remains in places. It has been returned to the IA overnight and I will see where it is at in the morning.
I tried to mask in preparation to paint the silver - the HOLDEN emblem and the shield/button outlines are too thin to be able to mask effectively. I expect that the silver will need to be hand painted - so off to purchase a couple of very fine brushes tomorrow to see how we go.
There was a write up on repainting gauge lenses on the FB/EK forum years ago and the go to paint remover for the plastic lenses was oven cleaner. I have done a couple of sets over they years and it was a pretty effective way of removing the old paint.
Quote from: blacky on February 10, 2026, 09:59:04 AM
There was a write up on repainting gauge lenses on the FB/EK forum years ago and the go to paint remover for the plastic lenses was oven cleaner. I have done a couple of sets over they years and it was a pretty effective way of removing the old paint.
Thanks Blacky, wish I had heard about oven cleaner before I started. The Isopropol Alcohol works but it is quite slow. I was at the grille badge with a toothbrush again this morning for 20 minutes and it is close to clean. But as we know the result is usually only as good as the prep so it is back in there soaking away.
What did you use to repaint the badges? I found masking off the delicate bits to use an air brush is not effective. My plan, at this stage, is to hand paint the lion and the lines around the horn ring in silver and then air brush in the blue, red and protective coat.
Now that I am aware fo the write up on the FB EK page I'm on my way over to get some education.
Cheers
My understanding is that the silver or gold bits are filled with some stiff form of grease or plasticine, before painting with the red background. Once the red is cured the grease is washed out and silver applied over the top. The trick being to effectively get all the grease off the bits that are supposed to be red, without removing it from the deeper indents. This based on EK grille badge.
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