leave, shave or paint...

i've been playing with the idea of shaving the badges on the car and air brushing them in duplicates. using alsa corp chrom f/x as a base with a sebring silver metallic top coat makes them stand out and look just like factory but they are smooth and painted on the car.

what do you guys think about such an idea.... have also toyed with ghost settings on the air brush but i never liked the badges that matched the color of the car... for example red z28 on a red z28.

 

I really like stock badges. My vote is keep em

 

if you saw how these painted versions are coming out it would be atough decision... imagine no more detailing when polish... no more replacing badges.

they look absolutely identical to the factory badges... just smooth.

 

Any photos? That sounds really sweet!

 

Ha, sounds like you really like em buddy. Dare to be different then. Not like you havent before:lala:

 

photos soon enough... just trying to paint the picture for you guys to get an idea as i'd rather not post pictures unless i go through with it or don't.

considering factory badges are sort of permanent anyhow with the recesses in the gfx i've been contemplating the paint work. once they are shaved although clean the car begins to miss something.

 

Well I know they will give a very smooth touch to the lines, I can visualize how well it would go with our cars.
The only thing would be if you could make the area in the gfx flush so it's smooth there....I think for someone who pays attention to those little details it would be fantastic!

Outlaw305:
Actually I perfer to go along with the masses, follow trends and be as unoriginal as possible. I hate taking any chances.....

 

I must start out by saying I took the time out to look at Kandied91z and I must say my hat is off to you for do such justice to one of our beautiful 3rd generation vehicles!!!
Now for the problem I am faced with which is somewhat similar to yours Kandied91z. I am getting ready to get the body work done on my 1991 Z28 and when it comes down to emblems I cannot find the Z28 rocker panel emblems in silver and black anywhere.
I have been in contact with Edgardo @ BBSDesign and he says he can make the two rocker panel "Z28" emblems, the rear bumper "Z28 with bowtie" emblem, and the "5.7 Tuned Port Injection" emblem for my car in the laser cut mirror finish stainless steel. I believe this would look real good on my black paint.
The other idea I am considering is to have the stock locations on the rocker panels filled in and smoothed then add the "Z28" emblems from a 1969 camaro to what would have been the stock location on a 1969 camaro to my front fenders just behind the wheel wells and adding the factory 1969 Tail Panel Emblem to the rear bumper cover along with the factory "5.7 Tuned Port Injection" emblem to the other side.
So if everybody would please give me/us your opion on what you think will look best on these cars!

 

I'm not saying anything till I see some photos

 

thank you for the kind words...

have you tried the gm dealership because they still sell them here near myself. if not i have the original set that was on my car before i painted it the first time back when it had around 60,000 miles. they are not faded or damaged but you would need to re-apply the sticky material to make them work. give $1 and shipping you can have them.



with that said though i have yet to see a metal or even 3d style badge on a thirdgen that was pulled off well.... not to say it can't be done but i don't know if i would try it. all the more reason to try it though if you like it.

 

sounds like a sweet idea

 

my vote would be for "ghost badges" that would be freaking sweet...either ghost or leave them...i dont know how identical badges that are smooth would look...

 

I'm experimenting with forging and fabing some out of steel, then chroming. If I do it right it should look great.

 

I say smooth it out and leave them off. That's what I had did for mine anyway. The only badge I replaced was the front nose emblem. The sides and rear have nothing. I think it looks better that way...

 

Ghost badges, an interesting idea. Not having ridges or interruptions to the flow of the surface would enhance the smoothness and body lines. Would be nice IF the other body panel lines were held to a closer tolerance. There are some huge gaps in stock body assembly that would appear larger if some visual accents like badges were improved to enhance visual flow.

 

I really appreciate the offer on the emblems for $1 plus s&h but I think I'm gonna have to pass on them. You see I'm really wanting to do something nobody has tried before but I can't figure out if I want to have our stock emblems made in a mirrior polish stainless steel which I know would look great on my black 1991 Z28 or if I'd like to fill in the areas on the rockers and rear bumper where or factory emblems go and put 1969 vintage Z28 emblems there in the factory locations. Wish I could make a desion but I still got a few months. Have you ever seen anybodt try either one of these. If so got any pics?

 

i think your right jeff, the car looks very plain if you shave all the emblems off....i think of that everytime i look at my car now....

 

"badges? we dont need no stinkin badges" sry had to do it.

 

lets see some pictures then...

 

yes the vintage thing is best left for those cars... doesn't work. as far as the mirror finish. the factory silver z28 emblems are not mirror but very sharp looking. mirror finish on the emblem would almost look cheap. however it's all opinion... either way good luck.

 

pat you shaved them off? have any close up pictures as i never noticed.

 

dont really have a good close up pic, but here is one that shows it ok.....the front emblem is gone too, but when the car gets repainted i think i might add some side emblems back on

 

i would say, stock style, but with a custom complementary color..

for example, on your old kandy red car, a silver monochromatic emblem would look nice... or black..... since either one go nicely with red...

 

well this is factory as it sat... silver emblems. with the paint it is a similar look only smooth. it's very hard for me to explain visually but although a completely different look for this distance it is the same. just up close you can notice the smooth lines, more or less in reflection purposes.

as i had said it's just and idea... still playing around.

 

chip foose did those painted on badges on a bel air on that show on i think its called "Rides" on the learning channel. it looked awesome, if you can get it done im sure it would look sweet.

 

Keep them!


Kevin

 

Personally, I think removing badges and filling the recesses looks SO much nicer. Much more smooth that with stock badges. Looks 'cleaner' I guess.

That being said, I haven't seen the ghosted/painted on badges before in person so they may look good.

 

Badges? we don't need no stinking badges!

Airbrushed badges

 

Guess I'm pretty lonely over here, but I think the factory badges with the insert look is a good looking deal. Maybe a little too much on the rear with the TPI and the IROC badges, but the rocker inserts look good to me. Nose emblem, I could take it or leave it too.

 

On the home page of TGO, there is a link to a "how to" on clear badges lit by led. I think it looks cool, but I haven't seen it in person. It really looks pretty labor intensive tho.

I was toying with the shaved look, but I agree it makes the car lack something. I still like it, but it just seems more plain. The main reason for me changing is my gfx and bumper just say CAMARO. It lets people know my car started out life a base model.

I would like to see some pics tho...........

 

my car came black with red badges, but when i sprayed it nassau blue the red had to go, went with 88-90 silver /black embs.. turned pretty cool

 

have u ever looked into doing that LED clear emblem idea they made on the front page? Thats what im thinking about doing. And do u have any more pics of that camaro without the front emblems?

 

my factory where silver on the last car... plan to keep a similar theme.

lighted badges won't do. i may just use the name of the car instead of the badges... still deciding.

 

You could get a set of billet ones made if you planned to use other billet accents on the car. I thought about doing that but I like it better when its flush.

 

yeah flush is the way to go.. billet is nice but would look out of place i think.

 

I like your idea of having it painted on. If it was flush but still painted on in the same locaton I bet some people would do a double take (since they would expect to see it recessed).

 

yeah, in fact with the right shadow and effect from an honest distance of course it looks recessed like stock. i think i've decided to go painted.