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MG Midget and Sprite Technical Tarting up a crackle dash BBS discussion at MG-Cars.net
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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Tarting up a crackle dash
| Hi All, My newly acquired midget mk III has a lovely crackle finish dash but its looking a little "tired" now- there are some scratches in it and the paint just looks dull. Has anyone "tarted up " their dash with out dropping / stripping & re spraying the whole thing? Is Hammerite any good to liven up the dash? Any thoughts or ideas? Cheers all Colin |
| c frowen |
| Hi, There are 3 ways to do this. 1. Hammerite or equivalent, this was what I did because I was lazy and my tin of crinkle paint hadn't arrived. 2. Buy crinkle paint and mask out the instruments and spray. 3. Remove dashboard and spray using crinkle paint. My crinkle paint arrived about 2 years ago and I haven't used it as the hammerite method looks ok. (sort of). |
| Mark Wilson |
| WD-40 gives it a nice sheen... A |
| Anthony Cutler |
| at last! A new use for WD-40 that actually puts it to proper use! Because WD-40 leaves behind a silicone, or parafin-like residue (to displace / repel water), it isn't good as a either a lubricant or a penetrating oil (but tons of people use it for those jobs, and it sort of works at those things, somewhat, such that many don't realize / care about the difference, until they try the other stuff that is designed for those tasks and then realize what they've been missing). But, it IS good as a metal surface protector (like on tools that would go rusty). Yes, it should work pretty well for sprucing up a painted dash that has gone dull. Also, a light "wipe on" wax ought to work as well (though, that requires more elbow grease). Norm |
| Norm Kerr |
| Well.... Then there is always my default answer....lets all wishper it togather on 3, 1, 2, ....3 Rhino linner ! Awe yes, the truck bed stuff Prop |
| Prop |
| I tried and tried with wrinkle finish paint all to no avail. It was probably me doing it wrong, but in the end I stripped all the paint off and primed it and sprayed it body colour. Not everybody's taste I know, but I like it. Bernie. |
| b higginson |
Here's a pic
 |
| b higginson |
| Bernie It still looks great to me...im a fan You would have to be a triumph driving, puppy hating social communist to not like it...hahaha Prop |
| Prop |
I used crackle paint and i am pleased with the result
 |
| mark (1977 1500 Midget) Preston Lancs |
| Thanks Prop. I do get a lot of comments about it, mostly favourable, but as I said, not to everyone's taste. Mark. If I could have got that sort of finish, I probably wouldn't have thought of doing it body colour. Bernie. |
| b higginson |
| My wrinkle finish spray can says, "note: the minimum operating temperature for this product is 25 degrees celcius.Below this temperature, a patchy effect may occur." So you probably have to wait at least for next summer to get the wrinkle finish effect. Pascal |
| pjw Seezink |
| it took two goes to get the wrinkle finish right - photo shows swcond attempt drying! Have snce covered half of it with a walnut dash from ebay - doh! Jeremy  |
| Jeremy 3 |
| I used two halogen flood lights to keep the panel at 25c seemed to work fine |
| mark (1977 1500 Midget) Preston Lancs |
Prop's idea isn't too bad, truck bed liner. A friend used this on his dash in his BGT and it worked great. A bit different finish than the wrinkle paint, but a nice texture and it is almost indestructable.
 |
| B Young |
Hi, I stripped my dash to bare metal then warmed it with a hair dyer until hot to touch (also on a warm day in a warm garage with the heater on, almost passed out with heat exhaustion). I then sprayed it with crackle finish paint, I put about three coats on at the intervals recommended on the tin, the crackle became better with each coat. Keep the faith and keep spraying, I was pleased with the result.
 |
| A Potter |
| Like Bernie I have done mine in body colour - midnight blue in my case. I think it looks great, and that's all that really matters. |
| Mike Howlett |
| Colin. You asked about 'tarting up' the dashboard. I did mine with a stiff stencil brush and stippled on a very thin coat of satiny black paint, just enough to cover up any marks, but thin enough that it didn't fill in the crackles. It wasn't as good as others have achieved by removing dashboard and spraying with crackle paint, but it is certainly passable. You can just loosen switches/gauges etc without having to remove them completely. One day I will do it properly, when we get some warm weather...! Jonathan |
| Jonathan 1972 1275 RWA |
| Well I recently did mine in wrinkle finish and it wasn't easy but fairly happy with the finish. I had a couple of goes using plenty of heat but the finish was patchy so I gave up and stripped it and gave it to a friend who works at a bodyworks. Even in the oven it took them a few goes to get it even. Don't know if it should have been that hard to do. The only paint I could find here is VHT Wrinkle Finsih and sometimes it works a treat other times for no apparent reason it doesn't. I also replaced the bezels. I think the small ones were £2 and the large £4  |
| Greg H |
| Took mine off the car in December 1979. Put it in a box. Put it back on in August 2009. No need to do anything to it. It is 45 years old, after all. But to each their own, of course! |
| David Cox |
| Sounds like your car has had a very shelterd life and not seen a lot of sunshine. Poor little thing, it's missed 30 years of fun. Although I can't say too much mine only has 63k miles on it. |
| Greg H |
| Greg: Yes: the rest of the car was also in boxes.. suspended animation for 30 years which is why it's now almost as it left the factory; same seats, same door cards same switches same..... |
| David Cox |
| I like mine tatty and showing it's age. I'm showing mine, so why not my sprite? I'd post a pic, but some of you might disapprove. (Of the dash that is, not me. I'm handsom as a cab. lol.) |
| Lawrence Slater |
| http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/foggythomas/newplac1a.jpg Good stuff, that cracle black. Works best in higher temperatures. This is ally sheet over thin plywood and I had to use a heat gun to get the second coat to go off fully. It goes patchy if it is done in cold weather. PS. Why does it tell me that I have a new website nickname? Rob "2 Thumbs" Thomas in Cardiff. |
| uiTomas0k |
| Strange looking Midget you got here Thomas ;) What sort of aircraft is it ? /// Jonas |
| B J Lindquist |
| Google wrinkle finish dash . Here is one of the sites http://www.mgexperience.net/article/wrinkle-paint.html pretty much says it all I will be using this on my wiper motor cover. In some of the comments and other sites they mention other wrinkle paints. The Sherwin Williams paint is also sold as Krylon in the US. |
| J Bubela |
| Rob's creation has a crackle black dash and a spridget choke cable. What more could you ask for? |
| Matt1275Bucks |
| How about another 20hp, 400m of grass and a radio that works? :o) It is a FRED, G-BMMF. The original dash was plain wood and it looked shabby. The crackle black stuck well to the scuffed-up ali sheet (1mm thick) that was stuck to the backing sheet of 2.3mm 5-ply wood. You can 'crackle' ali but if you apply heat to make it react then you might not get it even due to the rapid heat conducting, if you see what I mean. I recall the instructions saying not to use any primer. Is this still correct? |
| Rob Cardiff Thomas |
| How does it get from your driveway, adjacent to Vauxhall van M602SVT, to said piece of grass? And how does minature pilot (this must be the midget content), see well enough to know where she? is going? :) |
| Lawrence Slater |
| Sadly it is no longer legal to tow the FRED behind a motorbike, so the Morris does the job. http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/foggythomas/moggi2.jpg |
| Rob Cardiff Thomas |
| The Midget pilot is not quite such a midget any more. Strangely, Boeing use glossy brown paint on dashboards. Cr4p colour but they must have chosen it for a reason. The 737 uses grey paint. Fortunately I've never been forced to fly anything with a grey dash. Long may it remain that way! PS Prop. That isn't a toilet paper dispenser at the bottom right of the centre console, before you ask. Don't even bother thinking about fitting one to your car. :o)  |
| Rob Cardiff Thomas |
This thread was discussed between 03/10/2011 and 08/10/2011
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