Nanuq Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 I had a repacement green/fresh pearl on my DRSD and it just looked too "new". So I replaced it with an aged Yuki pearl and now it looks too yellow and aged. The dial indices are a nice ivory color. Is there a way to bleach the Yuki pearl to a lighter shade of "aging"? I figure as long as we're experimenting with aging inserts, perhaps there's a way to lighten up that Yuki pearl. It's hollow with yellowed goo lining the inside of the pearl. Maybe a little bleach bath will turn it a similar pale ivory color to match the dial? Has anyone tried this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 What I did on a WSO990 pearl was drilling it out and filled it with new lume. worked fine and made a really ugly crappy pearl into a really nice Yuki-like pearl. looked like this afterwards: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted March 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Now we're getting somewhere! I figure mine is already hollow so it will be easy to get the yellow goo out. Or maybe I can just dig at it with a pin to fracture the goo, then drip some espresso in there to tint and speckle it darker? Failing that, what do you fill a pearl with if you don't want it to glow? Just a drop of paint? Ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 I suppose that will work Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Some have painted or varnished the pearl, but I think the best (most natural looking) method is, as Gorilladame suggested, to drill (or pick) the contents out & refill with your choice of colored substrate/paint. Here is a gen that is probably close to the color you are after Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 I use iodine tincture for vintage color (IMO one of the nicest patina looks) and Revell Night Color for base, as I want it with a bit of lume. But if you don´t want it to lume you could also use Chinese White, I guess. I had to drill my pearl as the hole was only like 0.2mm which looked stupid, after drilling it to 1.3mm(or so) it looked fine. But if your hole is wide enough (sounds funny) you could only scratch it out or add a drop on iodine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 I use iodine tincture for vintage color (IMO one of the nicest patina looks) and Revell Night Color for base, as I want it with a bit of lume. But if you don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted March 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Ahhhh, good advice. The pearl is already hollow, you can see inside it. So I can pick the stuff out with a pin, then try other fills until I get the color I want. Thanks for the photos of the gen, Freddy. Can you tell me if the pearl hole in a 6536 insert is the same diameter as a 1665 insert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Great tips... do you mean you dye the Revell paint with iodine, as in dip the painted pearl in the iodine? I think there are two ways: 1. the pearl is allready filled and you want it a bit darker/browner/vintage you could add a drop iodine from behind into the hole, which should coulor the pearl inside a bit. 2. You scratch everything out und mix iodine and Revell up to you desired colour and fill it into the pearl. Both ways should give you a new coulor, way number 2 should give you the exact coulor you want, way number 1 is try-and-error, but ether ways you can´t destroy anything, so you could try way 1 and if it fails try way 2... BTW: iodine also works perfect on hands ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 an example of how good you could mix up the right coulor is the 10th hour marker on the dial above. it came of and I restored it with Revell and iodine. You see the coulors match nicely.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Can you tell me if the pearl hole in a 6536 insert is the same diameter as a 1665 insert? No, slightly smaller (both the pearl & its hole in the insert). From what I have seen, these early pearls tend to vary a bit in size. The later pearls on the 1665 & 551x slightly overlap the triangle's outer bounds while the 1 constant seems to be that the 55xx/653x Sub pearls always fit within the confines of the triangle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted March 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Nice pearl! So is that one modified from MY? The one I've got on the Sub is still greenish after all these years and I'd like to darken it like yours. And, the pearl from Yuki on my 1665 is about that color. Too dark for my ivory and tropical dial?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Nanuq - The pearls in the pics I posted above are gens (the '6200' insert came from MY). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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