And One More Project! My Fantazy Pam

[speedy1]

I halfway finished this dial (finished the lume portion but haven't doctored the face yet) and even though it isn't authentic, I liked the way it looked as I added a good bit more orange to the lume. So I slapped it on a CN 6497 that I had lying around and placed it in a case that I have been saving for a bit. And finally added a Pal crown for that last bit of oomf!

TO tell the truth I REALLY like the look of this watch.

Right now it has an 001 caseback but I think I am going to sand that blank and wear the crap out of it.

Here is a pic of the 202a with my first completed dial. You could see the difference in color and texture if I took pics with a better camera.

Edited July 23, 2006 by speedy1

[fitmic]

That's a beauty, even if it's a "fantasy watch"!

[sssurfer]

Congrats on your beautiful, balanced and unique timepiece!

I too am a lover of personal mods. May I ask you what did you use acrilic paint for?

[speedy1]

Congrats on your beautiful, balanced and unique timepiece!

I too am a lover of personal mods. May I ask you what did you use acrilic paint for?

I used acrylic paint to tint the lume. Since it is water based, I could thin it out as little or as much as I needed too and not have it set up while I was getting the color correct! I also found that for tinting purposes, the CHEAP (apple barrel brand) paint works the best for tinting (imho) with the FasKolor glow paint for vintage lume as it leaves a tiny amount of shading and non-uniform coloring.

[chris5264]

I like yours better, I might try a few of your suggestions on this project

[V]

Nice watch speedy.. What's the strap in the first photo and how you made it black on the sides?

[speedy1]

It is an older mario paci that I put red leather die on and then used a dark furniture oil to make it look older. Unless you go in the water a ton, I think leather tends to darken with wear and not lighten, at least in my experience.

I then use Shoe edge dressing/dye on the edges to die them black and also protect the leather from dings and such. If I want to the black to "run" or "fade" into the leather, I use a furniture cover up pen before I use the shoe edge dressing. This is what I did on the mario paci. On the Dirk, I used just the shoe edge dressing. I like the color contrast of the black edges with my straps.

I hope this helps

[sssurfer]

I used acrylic paint to tint the lume. Since it is water based, I could thin it out as little or as much as I needed too and not have it set up while I was getting the color correct! I also found that for tinting purposes, the CHEAP (apple barrel brand) paint works the best for tinting (imho) with the FasKolor glow paint for vintage lume as it leaves a tiny amount of shading and non-uniform coloring.

Thanks for the reply, speedy.

Just two more questions, if you like:

Does not acrylic reduce the glowing of glow paint?

Did you select FasKolor glow paint after other experiences? I am asking this as I am going to try GlowPaintPro (actually, I already tried their water-based paint and it did not work well, not sticky enough -- going to mix the powder with some oil medium by myself now).

[V]

Wow.. thanks a lot for your reply.. helped a lot

It is an older mario paci that I put red leather die on and then used a dark furniture oil to make it look older. Unless you go in the water a ton, I think leather tends to darken with wear and not lighten, at least in my experience.

I then use Shoe edge dressing/dye on the edges to die them black and also protect the leather from dings and such. If I want to the black to "run" or "fade" into the leather, I use a furniture cover up pen before I use the shoe edge dressing. This is what I did on the mario paci. On the Dirk, I used just the shoe edge dressing. I like the color contrast of the black edges with my straps.

I hope this helps

[speedy1]

Thanks for the reply, speedy.

Just two more questions, if you like:

Does not acrylic reduce the glowing of glow paint?

Did you select FasKolor glow paint after other experiences? I am asking this as I am going to try GlowPaintPro (actually, I already tried their water-based paint and it did not work well, not sticky enough -- going to mix the powder with some oil medium by myself now).

Ok quick detail:

YES, the acrylic reduces the glow. But A. it is 10 year old tritium so it glows only just and a for a short period of time. and B. the acrylic blend isn't the final step.

FASKOLOR was the only water based paint that would stick like hell. The reason is that is is basically thined out elmers glue with glow powder in it. This is an over simplification yes, but it was made to stick to shiny smooth lexan without pealing off when flexed so it is tough as hell. I tried probably 4 oil mediums and at least 6 other types of self mixed glowpaints and this has by far worked the best.

BUT, the correct way to get the desired effect was this:

You mix a bit of glow paint with your acrylics until you get the desired color. Then go a TINY bit darker and If you are going for an orangeish color, don't freak out when you get yellow once it is thinned and painted (you will see why is just a sec) because the feaky burnt yellow color is exactly what you want. I know this becuase I tried probably 50 different color patterns before finding the exact one I really liked)

Paint a thin layer coat over the exisiting lume. it may take more than you realize but you need to use super thin coats anyway. REMEMBER!!!!! you are not trying to cover the lume but only tinit it a desired color!!!!!!! The thinner the coats the more the orginal glow will show through too.

then after you have your color coat down and have let COMPLETELY dry, you then paint 2 thin coats of the glow paint alone over the top of the color. Th color will show through pretty well an be only slightly muted. ***NOTE*** this is ONLY if you are using the faskolor paint as all others are too thick or simply not transparent enough.

Then after letting all this dry, you put a couple of drops or medium brown paint into a soda bottle cap of water. You are just making a slightly colored wash here. you then paint this over the lume and make sure it is a wee bit uneven to look like aged tritium and turning the burnt yellow an orangis tinge. This works well on hands to turn them a nice off white instead of green.

you end up with this:

Edited July 26, 2006 by speedy1

[speedy1]

The next lesson installment will be how to refinish the rest of the dial I guess..

Here isa quick and dirty shot of the top portion of a sandwich dial I am working on for another member who is wanting a 202A built. It has been retextured and the tswisst is now gone as well as the lumed being redone to vintage orange as well as trimming the entire dial down to fit a JimmyZFu case. After I finish the lume tommorw I will get a shot of it put together. The dial in my watch has been relumed but the dial top is the nice smooth original finish that all Davidsen dial come with.

And before anyone else pm's me about doing a dial for them....don't contact me if you are going to be [censored] off about the price. It takes a good 4 hours of work to get it all correct if i screw up I eat the time and dial. Davidsen dials are kick ass right out of the box, and VERY inexpensive as a bonus. It doesn't take a whole lot of time or money to make a great watch but it take a good bit of one or the other to make a KICK ASS watch!

[sssurfer]

Wow, thanks for the lessons speedy! Much appreciated, I'll make a wise use of them.

And congrats on your work(s)!

[speedy1]

Wow, thanks for the lessons speedy! Much appreciated, I'll make a wise use of them.

And congrats on your work(s)!

Glad to help! Let mw know if you have anyother quesitons. No reason you need to make the same mistakes that I did.

[speedy1]

Here is one that was dry enough to put together. (yes this is how I spent my lunch hour today)

here it is....

this forum member wanted it to be a bit more "worn looking" and wanted it to look used sooooo...

Edited July 26, 2006 by speedy1

[sssurfer]

Here is one that was dry enough to put together. (yes this is how I spent my lunch hour today)

here it is....

this forum member wanted it to be a bit more "worn looking" and wanted it to look used sooooo...

Beautiful!!

[olreon]

@speedy1

which one of these 3 davidsen dials is the base for your work. i assume that it is the one in the middle?

best wishes

olreon

Edited July 27, 2006 by olreon

[olreon]

...or is it the one in the left down corner?

best wishes

olreon

[speedy1]

The lighter the lume the better off you are trying to modify it. If you use orange the glow gets really wierd after a while.

The yellow is nice to start with, but the BEST results (like the one I posted earlier) is to paint it totally white and start with a clean color slate.