Hitchcocks Forum

Hi all

I have a 54 bullet with the chrome badges on the tank, these had the characters and flashes painted red. Does anyone know of a restore. It's easy enough to get them re-chromed but it's the painting that's the tricky bit....

Dan, I got my wife to do mine, she has a steadier hand than me! Post Office red for the Royal Enfield bit and Gold in the horizontal bars. You can do it yourself, it's easy enough. I used small Humbrol pots (as sold for model making) and a suitable fine brush. These are available from craft or art shops. One tip, make sure the badges are curved to the correct tank form before you paint them as the polishing during chroming will flatten them out a bit.

REgards, Mark

Did the paint adhere to the chrome OK, that was my main concern.

You could get a small tin of etching primer and use that first. If you can't get a tin, you can buy aerosols from Halfords, just spray some into the cap and brush onto badge, leave to dry then put on enamel. A coat of clear laquer would help to stop the gold wearing off.

Yes it did, years have passed and no sign of peeling. The Humbrol stuff is very good quality. You won't need lacquer (which would be useful in other situations,) because the areas you want to paint are recessed and don't get rubbed or abraded. You can do the words Royal Enfield on the timing cover while you've got the brush out!


REgards, Mark