I've been playing around with Hydrographic Printing, or 'water transfer printing' with a friend

 

So I thought i would post a couple of pics of a bit that we did (cheers markderby for giving me this to have a play with)

 

I sprayed the buttons with a chrome rattle can to give it an extra shiny look

 

I quite like this, will have a go at a few other bits (door handle surronds, fuse box cover) soon

 

Also tried my throttle cable cover a couple of times but it did not quite come out right so gonna respray it and give it a third go

 

There are lots of different patterns/colours you can print, Anyone interested in this stuff give me a shout and I'll put it in 'services to members' section.

 

cheers

Rich

Looks good rich

love it might be interested soon

We have a trader called Wicked coatings who do hydro graphics, however they havent been on for quite some time, so im sure it would be of interest to many people :thumbup1:

is this something people can DIY at home or specialist equipment?

is this something people can DIY at home or specialist equipment?

 

DIY you can buy all the stuff you need ie films, activators etc if the parts are small enough you can use a washing up bowl as a tank so obviously the size of the parts you can dip is limited to the size of dipping tank you have.

I am also looking into this myself and also hydrochrome parts too.

Seems there's a few of us with that old bling addiction.

As Ian says the the size of the tank is the limitation

 

The smaller one we used can be filled with a couple of buckets of hot tap water and a bucket of cold water and is ready to go in about 10 mins

 

The larger one (home made) uses a couple of immersion heaters and takes a good while to get up to temp but can do some reasonable size objects (plastic engine covers etc).

 

Proper tanks for larger objects (motorbike cowlings, radiator grills etc) cost about £3k as you require movable dividers to keep the usable tank size the same as the sheet size depending on what you are dipping - so there is some investment required there.

 

Then it is a matter of practicing until you get acceptable results then presumeably continuing to gain experience until you get really good results

 

Rich

OK here is another item we did - what do you think?

 

This can be done in a variety of colours and weaves. We have played with some other non-Z items and discovered that black weave over bronze background looks very nice :yes:

 

What looks like a bit of bubbling towards the bottom right is just the daylight reflecting off a slight imperfection in the Throttle Cable cover itself - you can't actually see that in real life

 

If anyone is interested give me a shout.

 

Rich

How much for one of these please Rich?

Let me just go get a price on the lettering as this one was done as a one off then i can tell you

 

Here is an example of some different colours with the same weave. There are also other weaves in gold, silver etc as well as different textures of weave

 

The lettering could be other colours too

 

So I'll go figure a price while, you figure what colours you want :cool3:

 

It would also be good to dip things like the fuse box cover, power steering reservoir cover, oil filler cap and various other caps in the same colour/weave - I could quote for a whole set of bits-n-bobs if I know what you want doing

 

Rich

OK I worked it out now - if anyone wants one, they will be £35 (you supply the throttle cover and pay postage)

 

Mostly I have noticed the 'V6 3000 24V' strips are a bit knackered and scratched up - they look OKish until you put them back on a nicely dipped throttle cover - and then they dont!

 

If you want the V6 strip respraying and re-lettering then that is an extra £5 - you can have the 'V6 strip' lettering (and/or background) and the 'Nissan' lettering any pretty much any colour you want - including silver, chrome, gold.....

 

I am also gonna try and do a version of this which uses an EL panel to illuminate the lettering on the V6 strip, with the wiring running through a small hole and underneath the throttle cover - I don't know how well that will come out as I need to order the stuff and experiment a bit. If it does come out looking good the total price with the backlit lettering will probably be around £70

 

How's that sound?

 

Rich

I finished off the Throttle cover by added something a little illuminating

 

First picture is unpowered second one is powered up

 

Pics didn't come out too well on the camera - the illuminated writing as Red not White

 

I can make these in any base colour you like, plus either carbon weave or micro carbon weave. Weave colours are generally black silver or gold over a base colour

 

Non Illuminated V6 3000 decal can be any colour as can the NISSAN decal. Also you can have your own text on the V6 3000 Decal, for example your forum name or whatever

 

Illuminated V6 3000 panels I can do in either

 

Aqua Blue (Tron)

Blue

White

Red

Orange

Pink

Green

Purple

 

Anyone interested then

 

Throttle cable covers Aquaprinted with Nissan Decal in your choice of colour £35

Same as above with resprayed and lettered V6 3000 £40

As above with illumunated V6 3000 lettering £70

 

If you want Fuse box covers (the large one and the smaller one) , Reservoir botttle covers, or even the viscous fan dipping to match (and maybe some other bits as well) , then ask

 

Anyway I hope you like these pics - they don't come out so well on the camera as they look in real life of course

 

Rich