Refinishing a blue tip

[Bk124tt]

I am looking for suggestions regarding the blue tip of my blue tip. I took it to a local nickel plater to get it cleaned up. The company is a plating commercial plating company not a group of razor experts. It is kind of a gamble but I couldn't pass up the price! $000.00! For the first razor anyway!
when I get the razor back there will be no blue tip. Any ideas on what type of paint to use to redcoats the tip blue? I am guessing model paint...???

 

[tacchini]

one of my red tips had most of the enamel was missing, what i done was remove the rest and gave it a couple of coats of humbrol model enamel, i had to take the razor with me to the model shop to colour match, its held up fairly well.

 

[bakerbarber]

I don't think anyone has been able to consistently agree on the blue.

There are a few agreed upon shades and brands of paint for the red.

Regardless of what you decide to paint it with, it will be close enough and the fact remains that the originals were varied a bit from year to year and batch to batch. There's even a bigger question as to whether it's and American or British blue tip. I think any good enamel will work and if you really want it on there good pop it in the oven on 200 f and bake it on for a while.

To avoid brush strokes use a small container or paper cup and actually dunk the tip into the paint. Especially if you buy spray paint to do it.

be sure to post pictures when it's done being plated - before and after you paint it too.

 

[StuMcB]

My blue tip colour is fairly close the light blue UK FOrd badges have from the mid 70's that came wit the 3.0 Capri. Nor sure if that helps but my mates Capri sure does go.

 

[Bk124tt]

I don't think anyone has been able to consistently agree on the blue.

There are a few agreed upon shades and brands of paint for the red.

Regardless of what you decide to paint it with, it will be close enough and the fact remains that the originals were varied a bit from year to year and batch to batch. There's even a bigger question as to whether it's and American or British blue tip. I think any good enamel will work and if you really want it on there good pop it in the oven on 200 f and bake it on for a while.

To avoid brush strokes use a small container or paper cup and actually dunk the tip into the paint. Especially if you buy spray paint to do it.

be sure to post pictures when it's done being plated - before and after you paint it too.

Thanks! Just one question, in the oven @ 200*F would that effect the new plate job? Also would I bake it just after painting aka while the paint is wet or should I let the paint achieve initial set?

 

[bakerbarber]

It shouldn't hurt the plating.

Let the paint air dry a day or so first.

 

[chongo gordo]

Testors enamel, the old school model paint is really tough. Get gloss white and gloss sky blue, mix on a piece of cardboard to match, and remember it darkens a little when it dries.

 

[mistercitizen]

Regarding the replating.... what happens with the aluminum handle? Does the plating not "stick" to the aluminum? I've seen some razor restorers say that they don't do the black tips and the blue tips.... I guess I always figured it had something to do with the aluminum handles.

Ben

 

[Bk124tt]

Regarding this guy he is a production dipping facility and doing me a solid on this razor.
Great info here though, thanks guys!

 

[Copierguy]

You may wish to contact some of the replaters here on B&B about the aluminum handle.....

 

[Bk124tt]

Well the bluetip replate and repaint is complete! I got it back relatively quick from the plater, but it took me a while to repaint ghe tip. I took a sampling of advice. I used testors model paint. I custom mixed blue and white to my best guess of a match. Then i baked it at 200 degrees for about 2 hours.
I am happy with the results.

 

[bakerbarber]

Nice

 

[Graybeard57]

Beautiful. Good job.

 

[mistercitizen]

Looks very nice. It's funny how the blue looks so different in the two photos even though it's the same razor. I've had two different blue tips that I'm almost sure both had the original paint on them and when compared side by side they were a little different shade of blue. I think that just goes to show how over the years the paint can fade differently under different conditions. People always seem to worry about getting the shade of blue just right.... but in the end, does it really matter as long as you are happy with it? I suppose from a collector's standpoint it does, but from a user's standpoint as long as you are happy with how it looks, then IMO it's the right shade of blue.

Ben

 

[ERVARGASNY]

Look for.a paint shop that sells paint to a body shop, they usally have a machine that can read the color and get as close as possble to it, They may ask you to give them a sample "Chip" or maybe they can read the paid right from the blue tip )

I did it one.time for a blue i had on a car i bought but it wasnt the original paint on it, So i took it to an auto paint store and they matched it perfectly )

 

[ras120]

Look for.a paint shop that sells paint to a body shop, they usally have a machine that can read the color and get as close as possble to it, They may ask you to give them a sample "Chip" or maybe they can read the paid right from the blue tip )

I did it one.time for a blue i had on a car i bought but it wasnt the original paint on it, So i took it to an auto paint store and they matched it perfectly )

Wouldn't you feel a bit (feel free to replace "a bit" with "a lot") silly taking a razor into a car paint shop? And do you really think they want to waste their time with something like that?

This ain't rocket science. Mix some paint and slap it on. If you don't like it, it's easy to redo.

 

[mharris127]

Nice razor! I have a blue tip but it is user grade and I haven't repainted the blue tip onto it (the paint is chipped in places). The TTO works fine and the razor isn't bent anywhere it isn't supposed to be so I am happy with it the way it is. I have a red-tip in the same condition as well as the black-tip that has the really skinny handle all circa about the same time period. The black-tip is in the best cosmetic condition but all shave quite well (although my NEW gets the most use).

 

[Bk124tt]

Brighter blue was with phone camera flash on.

 

[Bk124tt]

Just did the same process with a red tip. Took it to the commercial replater and just mixed up a best try color match and painted the handle.
quick question thoug, the tto function is less than smooth. I get full open and full closed (nice and tight too) but the travel of the tto seems a little sticky.
Any advice how to lube it up?