I hate coming out to my car and seeing the lack of presentable or even existent emblems on my thirdgen due to weather and stupid people who steel them. Idk about the rest of you but I try to do things on a reasonable budget, and buying new emblems is pretty pricey, and for the 82 Berlinetta sometimes damn near impossible. I am thinking of molding the emblems I have now(Camaro on ft qtr pnl, Berlinetta on the body behind the door, and the rear bumper) and making new ones out of something cheap but durable, most likely an epoxy resin and then painting them appropriately. Just curious if anyone has tried this or has some suggestions. I will make a tread with instructions once I start the project.

 

Even if nobody replied someone might have interest in this haha so I'll show the process and results.
I used oven baked molding clay from walmart to make the mold, it was around $5 and my new emblems are made of fiberglass resin. which I keep around for various projects, but you can buy a small amount for pretty cheap. I used a total of maybe 4 oz and I had a good amount left over.

Just pressing the old emblem into the clay worked fine, the black is whatever was eroding off the emblem. I baked this for around 18-20 min and it was ready.


I let the resin sit for maybe an hour and a half before removing to finish the drying. At an hour and a half it is a little flexible and is easier to remove from the mold.



After a little etching with a dremel and then a fine file it looked spot on besides color. Sorry, forgot to take a picture of it.

After painting it with krylon briliant gold paint and some black nail polish it looked like crap to me and not original.


I decided to just use gold leaf and then hit it with black acrylic paint. much better IMHO.


after making all three, carefully, and I mean almost no pressure, rubbing the leaf to really smooth it out and getting any last parts with black I clear coated them with an enamel. They could have come out better but I'm pleased for now, and with a total cost of less than half of what I would pay for one emblem I got 3 that I can replace no problem the next time some punk steals them.

Opinions, kudos, critiques, all are welcome!

 

Tell me more about this clay...where at in Wal-Mart?? Is it safe to put in your kitchen oven or do you need a oven not to be used for cooking??? ..like home powder coating...and its just resin that you would use with fiberglass matting ???? Looks good ..but I dont think someone is out stealing your emblems ..maybe there just falling off...I have had hood pins and skull valve caps taken....

 

Yes the clay is kitchen safe no fumes or anything, its found in the craft section like with hot glue guns and bedazzelers (sp)
Yes it is for the matting for fiberglass. It's just the glue for it, not terribly strong but I have used it with anything from coating longboards to cosplay chest pieces and it holds up great. I almost did JB weld as I knew it would never break, but that would also defeat the idea of a cheap fix.
I've had valve stem caps taken, a single wheel was taken with the previous owner, license plate covers, and one emblem haha. One emblem came off with natural causes, but the other was scrapped off, there are little marks from the tool and all the paint behind the emblem came with it. People have not messed with it in a while except a kid tried breaking in a few weeks ago. Who knows, maybe our crime rate involving cars here is higher or people here have less respect for a classic.

 

Pretty cool!

 

That is pretty cool.

 

Nice!! ill have to add this thread to favorites