Refurbishing OEM backlit panels

[Mach7]

Hello All,

I have been scratching my head on how to refurbish my BAe146 panels for some time now, and through trial and error I have come up with a pretty slick solution that hopefully my fellow builders can try as well.

In the beginning I would try and clean these panels, however the outcome was questionable when exposed to any kind of soap + water. I even tried Methyl hydrate and, although that seemed to work in some cases, most of the time the panel would be left dull and unappealing.

Light sanding and painting was the best option, however as everyone knows one has to cover the legends so the little groves don't fill with paint.

I thought of a number of options, one was of course the obvious....mask off the letters, but this was tedious and time consuming and found using an xacto knife to cut around the edges would leave marks and scratches in the material.

I then thought there must be some way to somehow "fill" the engraved lettering...paint the panel...then remove said "fill" leaving the panel like new.

I tried many substances, wax, white out, water based paint, crack filler...but nothing worked...or it worked but left the panel looking worse than when i started after truing to dig out the dried aforementioned substance(s).

I then thought of something crazy...what about toothpaste??

Toothpaste...which is thick enough to fill the indents and easy to apply, not to mention very soluble once exposed to water, which is of course a necessity  following the paint application.

So this is what I did..i used sensodyne green mint...(green for the color as the letters were white and it would allow me to confirm good coverage), I masked around some of the legends, then used a flat small xacto knife to smooth the toothpase over the lettering...let the toothpaste dry, (it takes around 30 minutes), remove the masking, then inspect each letter/number and use a a dap of paste here and there to cover any exposed lettering.

The paste will shrink a tad once its dry.

Take a hairdryer on very low heat to help the process, then spray the panel with aircraft grey paint RAL 7011.

Wait 30 to 40 minutes, until the paint is dry to the touch, and use water and a soft cloth to remove the toothpaste...and voila...a brand new looking panel!!

[jackpilot]

Unexpected method but clever and obviously effective !

[Joe Lavery]

Neat idea there, an answer to a common problem. I have always spent hours remaking the panels. And they're never as good as the originals.

[jackpilot]

Hi Joe
Glad to see you still kicking 

[Joe Lavery]

Hiya Jack,

Yes still around, writing for the mag and selling a few bits on eBay.
Surprising where it all goes!!!

Hope you're well my friend.

Joe.