O.K.I ve had my lamps blacked out with VHT nightshades well over ten years now.Since alot of people seem to going this route lately.I thought i would try something a little different.They are'nt done yet.Masking one lense took almost 7 hours.Here it is with the tape still in place(no paint yet).Hope to have them both finished sunday,but i doubt it.Anyway the pic should give you an idea what it will look like.It looks blue because of the masking tape.Comments welcome!

 

interesting thats for sure....but will it even be that noticeable once on the car and in daylight?....what about lit up?

 

I WANT to see this done, this looks very promissing!

 

I did a mock up years ago on a busted tailamp.It is noticeable when lit.I am mostly concerned with dark/night conditions though.So i am not too concerned how it looks in the daytime.Plus these are blue right now because the masking tape is blue.With nightshades being black it should stand out even more.The mock-up i did way back looked almost as dark as my current blacked out lamps with nightshades.Also after i remove the masking i may still go over the entire lense with a very thin layer of VHT(if i want to make it darker).

 

wow thats pretty sweet looking, almost has a led look to it, i get em done i wanna see em on the car

Camaroguy who does your sigs?

 

When I read the title, I shook my head no, when I opened the thred, My jaw dropped! I like it! Very unique. I think you should definitely go for it.

 

im not really understanding what youre doing here. i would like to see it though.

 

I am going to paint the clear sections(unmasked) with VHT nightshades.Afterwards i am removing the masked area(blue sections).Leaving alternate black/white(or clear) squares(actually rectangles).Which will leave a checker board pattern on the lenses.

 

oh, i didnt notice tape on the surface. or is it on the inside?

 

Its on the inside.

 

that's awesome. how did you mask it like that? i was sitting here trying to figure it out did you cut each strip or make the line then cut out the piece? Either way can't wait to see these. You might just make the non grid lights just as popular as the grids.

 

That looks pretty cool man, should try it with a pair of grid tail lights

 

i think that's gonna look sweet. i would do the taped off section with several coats nice and dark and then one coat over the whole thing. That way the checker pattern will show up when lit. I can't wait to see the finished product

 

I applied masking tape over the entire lense sections that have rectangular "grids".Then i outlined the rectangles with a pencil.After that i cut each outline.I then removed every other rectangular piece of masking tape.Each section(above or below the black divider)took over 1 hour.On the corner section there are no "grids".The lense is smooth(plus there is an inner reflective lense that i had to remove)so i used the little pieces of masking that i removed from the rest of the lenses to create the same effect.The corner section is going on 4 hours & Im still not done with the first one.Maybe later this week i will have them done & hopefully painted.I also need to buff the outer lense,since these are junkyard items.

 

Thats my plan as i mentioned above.It all depends though on how it looks first with just the alternate areas painted

 

Cool, you should do that on the grid lights!!!

 

Very nice. The early 4th gen firebirds have something similar. They have large ractangles that light up.

 

While i would like to gove that a try.There is just too many hours in this.This is what i have so far.I just finished the corner section this evening.So far ive got between 22 & 24 hours on this.The remainder of the corner that i started yesterday took me another 4 1/2 hours.Ive still got that one other corner to go so Im guessing 7-10 hours more.

 

wow, that looks like it did take alot of time! congrats on the fine work so far. i think it will look pretty good when its all done

 

how did you get the back of the housings off/back on?

 

There are 2 plastic rivets along the top,3-4 metal clips along the bottom,plus 4 torx screws.remove all these.Then VERY CAREFULLY pull apart the lense from its housing(try to save the sealant if possible).When done just re-attach the two.The hardest part is seperating the two halves without cracking the lense.

 

interesting.. but 7 hours for one?!

 

Yes,not that i wanted to take that much time.Thats just how long it took/taking.Taking all those little pieces of tape off without ruining the edges on the remaining tape is a slow process.Appling the tape,outlining the edges is a little quicker.Its removing all that tape that takes the longest.There is around 180 rectangals in one section.With 3 sections above & 3 below the black dividing line.Thats ALOT of tape!!!

 

*posting to see results*

keep up the great work!

 

what he said cept putting them back together just re-silcone all of it dont even worry about the old stuff.

oh and on a side note my tail light mod will be coming soon...

 

Great work man keep it up. I wonder how it would look if you just shot straight black rather than the nightshades to get a true led look?

 

i can't wait to see this done

 

I thought about that, but figured it would be too dark.You can go to far with nightshades & make them too dark.Ive done that before so i dont want to repeat that.Considering the amount of time ive spent on these so far.BTW thanks to everyone for all the feedback.Ill post pics when its done.

 

Well the painted area being too dark is the logic behind my idea. If you paint the unmasked areas to the point that no light can shine through, you will create an illusion of there being thousands of tiny led's inside the housing. Just a thought though...good luck with it I look forward to seeing the finished product.

 

To be honest what im trying to do here is to get the lamps to look black when off & not too dim when lit.The checker board pattern is just a method of trying to achieve this(plus its different).If it looks or you can see the alternate black rectangles(either when off/on) all the better.

 

^ oh

i thought u were tryin to make the checker look when the lights come on

either way its a cool idea and should work. i personally like the black out the unmasked areas and leave behind the LED look with the checkboard setup

 

The LED look never ocurred to me till someone else mentioned it.That would be interesting i think,but i guess what i was trying to say.is i would like the tailamps to look black when off & not as dim,but different than just a dark/smoked look when on.I hoping the checkerboard look will shine thru when the lamps are on, but if not as long as its not too dim.Since i do plan to go heavier on the nightshades than i did on my current blacked out lamps, but still i dont want to go too far with the nightshades.

 

yeah that could be bad. But it looks sweet so far. Can't wait for the pics

 

i think you'lll pull it off. not to many coats tho.

just enough black to create the black out look when off, but not too much so it blocks out all the light from the bulb.

i see what ur doing now. the checkboard look will act like a camo... helping the lights look dark when off, but making them look bright when on like it has no nightshades on it.

 

Basically yes,thats what i shooting for.The checkerboards will be noticeable maybe if your stopped behind me at a red light or if your standing next to the rear bumper.Whats matters though is that ill know they are there.

 

man that is some SERIOUS attention to detail, i cant wait to see this i think its gonna look great, you got some wicked patience man

 

i was gonna say, i dont have NEAR the patience to do something like that

 

Thanks guys,actually i usually dont have the most patience myself.I'm always wanting things NOW.This however went by pretty quick inspite of all the time it took.Which by the way i just got done with that last corner today.Tomorrow i'll be applying the VHT stuff.

 

Wow, i think that this will look great and unique... good job

 

this would be one of those thing i would start doing.. get a few squares on and say screw it, looks really nice im excited to see how it will turn out!

 

great job, i dont have the patience for stuff like that.

hope to see good results!

 

Still not done,but They are painted.Ive already de-masked one.There was some bleed thru that i had to fix.Here is a pic without the housing,but its 99% finished,still need to polish the lense & install it.NOTE- it looks slightly curved because of my wide angle lens.....

 

Corner shot.

Image removed- Three uploaded pics per thread please

 

Looks amazing. It would be nearly impossible for the untrained eye to notice. I cant wait to see pics with them on the car and lit!!!

 

You just made that style of taillights look alsome

 

Wow man that looks really, really great. I'm interested in how they look lit up.

Where in so cal are you located by the way?

 

Im in Or.county(tustin).So far Ive only put a flashlight behind them.They look like they may be brighter than my current lamps!

 

nice job!

im always looking for different ways to change our tails and this is defenitly different and it looks good

 

WOW!!

 

wow just like i had pictured in my mind! that does look pretty good!!!