Any Luck Restoring a Hood Ornament?

[Horse Play 393]

Has anyone had luck restoring a hood ornament?  Mine has some pitting and one of the tabs broke off while I was removing it from the hood.  I tried some Nevr-Dull - gave shine, but still is pitted.  

[AMC RULES 37,196]

Glen has some neat replacements available.

 

[Tankman 3,523]

My '68 Raider 12 had one broken mounting tab but, was shiny.

I mounted the ornament on one tab, a little Locktite kept (and keeps) the once loose end in place.

Good luck with the finish. I don't have a clue.

[Anglo Traction 761]

I reckon the answer will be no !. The castings are 'Mazak' , a low quality base alloy. Once the impurities are exposed to oxygen/water under the Plating, it creates the pitting that you/we have.

I have spoken to some Platers  and searched the Web for info and the concensus is that it will not be practical to try and repair the pitting and re-Plate it. Attempts are made to drill out the pits to good metal and fill with copper/metalic fillers etc, then heavily Copper Plate it , followed by Chroming.

Restorers use this process with some success, but is very expensive.

 

The best I could get mine, was to strip the Chrome off and polish the casting, followed by Lacquer. There is only slight pitting, but you'll never polish out the discoloured 'Halo' around the pits.

 

I'm thinking about carving/maching one out of Brass and having it Plated.

 

Regards

   

[woodchuckfarmer 333]

Make one out of stainless steel

[Fun Engineer 859]

Buckrancher, would this be possible??

[SousaKerry 503]

Anything can be machined given enough time and money.....

 

Given the complex angled geometry of this piece it would involve multiple setups and fixtures, or it could be 3D milled on a CNC mill but it would take many hours and shop time is expensive. 

 

What would be awesome is if a member here worked at a die casting shop, then we could have a mold machined and make them cheaply, but again requires a 3D CNC mill and lots of expensive tool steel. 

 

Glenn was working on a lost wax brass casting process last I heard.

 

 

 

Wouldn't it be great if Toro found a deserted wharehouse somewhere full of the orriginal dies patterns and molds for all our favorite parts and said "Hey RedSquare you guys want this stuff?"

:sleeping-drool:

[wildbro 14]

I use a buffing wheel with mild rouge (green) to bring back as much of the shine as I can.

You have to be careful so you don't strip off the chrome. Then hit it with automotive clear coat.

 I have done this for all of my hood ornaments and so far the result is presentable.

[dodge78 94]

spray on chrome

 

not the cheapest route

 

http://www.alsacorp.com/products/chromefx/

[mrc 937]

hi horse play,  a few years ago i took a hood ornament to a local shop that restores vintage cars. this place does chrome and can restore virtually any metal product.  their motto is "we turn junk into jewelry"   as mentioned above they drill each pit a bit bigger and start by replating with copper.  then buff, replate etc til the part is built up enough.  not cheap.  cost me #50.  but it looks fabulous!  regards.  mike in mass.

[KC9KAS 4,744]

Wouldn't it be great if Toro found a deserted wharehouse somewhere full of the orriginal dies patterns and molds for all our favorite parts and said "Hey RedSquare you guys want this stuff?"

:sleeping-drool:

 

Dream On!

[groundhog47 347]

 , I'd have to spend the day just lookin at the stuff like in a candy store, They do some of that for cars. TORO if you read this HEAD this, we want some repro parts, GET IT DONE, P L E A S E

Wouldn't it be great if Toro found a deserted wharehouse somewhere full of the orriginal dies patterns and molds for all our favorite parts and said "Hey RedSquare you guys want this stuff?"

:sleeping-drool:

 

Dream On!