Who does enamel?

Ohmess

Ohmess

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Does anybody know what type of artists or other professionals do enamel work as part of their routine? I would like to find someone to redo old faded hood and trunk and hood Roundels.

Here's the back story:

Stevehose and I were talking to a guy from Korman about our hood Roundels at the Vintage. Steve recounted his experience trying to hand paint them, and the Korman guy said that will never turn out right because the enamel paints are heated and flow around the lettering in a way you cannot reproduce by hand. Steve and I were thinking that we might try to seek out someone who works with enamel, and speculated that perhaps certain types of artists may do this. So, in an effort to move this forward, I am hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of the forum. If we can find the right person, we can all get nice new paint jobs on those faded original Roundels we have laying around.
 
I plan to airbrush mine someday. It will honestly be one of those projects that I do long before I restore the car. The airbrush paints are enamel. I used to airbrush model airplanes as a kid (in my basement). You don't need a large compressor and it doesn't make much mess. They are inexpensive as well.

Keep in mind that you can always paint over the letters then sand them smooth again.

Lastly, you can use an airbrush to fix small rust spots with factory paint!
 
It seems powder coating would produce a similar result. I don't know how difficult it would be to powder coat specific areas that would be need to do the Roundels.
 
twistinglane said:
Some old roundels, pillar ones at least, have glass enamel - cloisonne - and would require heating in oven to make the materials meld.
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I'm no expert, but think that cloisonne and enamel are two very different processes. I think cloisonne involves melted glass - you apply powdered, tinted glass to the area and fire it at a high enough temperature to melt the material. This is much hotter than a home oven could achieve.

I think "baked enamel" is simply enamel paint cured in an oven. Don't know if you need a special paint, nor the curing temperature, but would bet it is much cooler than what is required for cloisonne.
 
gwittman said:
It seems powder coating would produce a similar result. I don't know how difficult it would be to powder coat specific areas that would be need to do the Roundels.
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That is an interesting idea, but probably not what you are thinking. In general powder coating isn't a great option for multi-color applications. For instance, it is difficult to powdercoat the centers of alpina wheels black. You need to use a special heat resistant tape. Also the powder is applied via an electrostatic process. Basically, it is hard to keep the powder from clinging to the wrong parts.

With that said, the raised roundel design is in your favor. You could just sprinkle the powder into the roundel. You can even bake it in a toaster oven. Hmm, maybe I'll order more swatches. It honestly sounds less difficult than airbrushing.
 
Alas, in prior years, I had to promise not to cook any more car parts in any of the ovens in the house.
 
rsporsche said:
oh no ... a new garage tool is becoming needed in each of our garages ... an oven.
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Seriously though think of all of those little parts that you can fit in a $30 garage toaster oven! This is just the type of poorly timed non-constructive project that I am up for.
 
What about reaching out to a art department in a community college, we call them TAFE in Australia or possibly a jewellery course?

John
 
The Maxwell site show enamels of the glass type. I am only familiar with glass enamel being used on the vintage pillar roundels.
 
Original Roundels were cloisonne on brass; I recall a discussion on such as past of the old email list, and at the time, there was a source/service/old guy who used to redo them.

If you have one of the original, brass roundels, a competent cloisonne artist should be able to restore them.

Ray
 
RJRuiz said:
Original Roundels were cloisonne on brass; I recall a discussion on such as past of the old email list, and at the time, there was a source/service/old guy who used to redo them.

If you have one of the original, brass roundels, a competent cloisonne artist should be able to restore them.

Ray
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Hi Ray,

When you say original, do you mean original to the e9? I'm not an expert on the subject but I am pretty confident that original e9 hood/trunk roundels were aluminum. The c-pillar rounders were the only ones with cloisonné.
 
Interesting, I am currently restoring an Isetta, and the Roundel needs work, appears to be copper and ? under the cloisonne
 
Markos said:
Hi Ray,

When you say original, do you mean original to the e9? I'm not an expert on the subject but I am pretty confident that original e9 hood/trunk roundels were aluminum. The c-pillar rounders were the only ones with cloisonné.
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As I recall (bit sketchy there, getting old) my front and rear Roundels were brass. I was going to have them re done in cloisonne but resto took 5 years and originals got lost along the way. And yes, the c-pillar roundels were also cloisonne.

Does not surprise me that the Isetta would also have the cloisonne roundels. I believe that was the case for all BMW's until the late '70's - early '80's.

Ray
 
RJRuiz said:
As I recall (bit sketchy there, getting old) my front and rear Roundels were brass. I was going to have them re done in cloisonne but resto took 5 years and originals got lost along the way. And yes, the c-pillar roundels were also cloisonne.

Does not surprise me that the Isetta would also have the cloisonne roundels. I believe that was the case for all BMW's until the late '70's - early '80's.

Ray
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I'm hoping that @HB Chris chimes in on this one, as he probably knows the answer. I'll just regurgitate what I know or I have seen. The BMW Isetta ended in '62 so it is no surprise (as you mentioned) that the roundels are of different material. AFAIK, the lettering was gold right? If you do a google images on roundel history you can see some of the changes over the years.

I suspect that Cloisonne roundels ended with the e9 c-pillar badge in 1974, when they switched to raised letter roundels. I've seen '74's for sale with these roundels. Some folks like @adawil2002 have them on their car. Regardless of when the change happened, I believe that it did happen much earlier than the 80's.

Hard to judge scale from this pic, but these are the little c-pillar roundels. According to realoem these started in 10/73 - which would be a 1974 model year.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...00CS&mg=51&sg=20&diagId=51_3905&q=51141828851

dscf3290-jpg.20450


This is my rear roundel. I think the originals looked like this: Soon to be powder coated :D
26560613732_e37b9c55f6_b.jpg
 
Markos said:
I'm hoping that @HB Chris chimes in on this one, as he probably knows the answer. I'll just regurgitate what I know or I have seen. The BMW Isetta ended in '62 so it is no surprise (as you mentioned) that the roundels are of different material. AFAIK, the lettering was gold right? If you do a google images on roundel history you can see some of the changes over the years.

I suspect that Cloisonne roundels ended with the e9 c-pillar badge in 1974, when they switched to raised letter roundels. I've seen '74's for sale with these roundels. Some folks like @adawil2002 have them on their car. Regardless of when the change happened, I believe that it did happen much earlier than the 80's.

Hard to judge scale from this pic, but these are the little c-pillar roundels. According to realoem these started in 10/73 - which would be a 1974 model year.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...00CS&mg=51&sg=20&diagId=51_3905&q=51141828851


dscf3290-jpg.20450


This is my rear roundel. I think the originals looked like this: Soon to be powder coated :D
26560613732_e37b9c55f6_b.jpg
Click to expand...

My CSi is '72, so that would fall within the timing.

I do not recall the color of the letters-

Ray
 
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