Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior What to use when painting needles?

I wanna make my needles as bright red as the ones in this picture, what do i need to make them look like that?

http://rjautoworks.com/custpics/114-1477_IMG.jpg

I know you can use a Sharpie marker

nail polish
vynil
marker
testors paint

transparent paint

you have to remove the orange paint firts. then do a coat or two of sharpie. i dont think it will glow bright red, but itll look red. the posted pic looks enhanced probably because of the camera.

but anything looks better than orange... imo.

you take off the orange with nail polish remover non acetone works...
red sharpie will make it too dark and won't allow the light to illuminate the needle fully
i went with red transparent paint and like it..but i'm gonna fix it and see how it turns out when i get my rj autoworks gauges in a few days.

imo, i think a needle led kit was added behind the needles to make it brighter like that..
what can be bought from http://www.importintelligence.com/FMPro?-db=Cart.fp3&-format=listnew.htm&-new

it's great if you have the gauges lit and the needle the same...blue on blue...red on red...

the needle kit inhances the circle that holds the needle... the lower part of the needle will be bright, but it fades as it gets to the tip.

No way a sharipe sucks, and you cant even do many coats, cause the markers felt tip will rub away previous coats. i dont think you can notice how they look in this picture but thats my needles "painted" with a sharpie, i need to re-do it with some testors paint or something like the stock needles darker and sharper.

heres a picture of the needles not lit up, ya they look "alright"

and here they are lit up, you can see how transparent the coloring is on the rpm gauge, and quite possibly on the mph needle too...

I heard all you had to do was put some white paint on the underside of the needle to make it not so transparent if you already have the sharpie color on the front side. Double check before doing this though.

so you have to buy gauge needles to make them look nice when they're turned on?

transparent testors paint.

snapped a couple pics; click to supersize...

daytime:
[img135.exs.cx]

city lights on:
[img135.exs.cx]

key in, lights on:
[img152.exs.cx]

took the orange off with fingernail polish remover and then used a blue sharpie.

anyone have pics of needles with transparent paint?

I installed RJ Autoworks silverface with blue numbers. I tried the red sharpie but since the leds for the speedometer are blue then the needle did not glow at night. The tach needle did glow because of the red led behind the red zone. I ended up painting both needles with a mix of transparent and flourescent blue paint that you can purchase at any hobby shop. I will post pics after I get off work this evening.

i used white out for temp. I need to find a bright white paint(i used white LEDs)...dunno where to find it. I looks good do far...just doesnt shine as bright as the ones in these pics.

Testors paint.
I tried the shaprie way. Lets just say it wasn't too sharp...ie.

Here is the pic!

is that with testors?

nope, i mixed flourescent blue and transparent blue together.

pretty nice dude!

thanks!

what kind/brand of paint(s) did you use and how did you mix? that would look sweet on my gauges!

think you can go to Michaels

use like model paint.

I can't remember the brand name but it is typical craft paint that you can buy at your local hobby shop or arts and craft store.

ttt