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MG TD TF 1500 - Hubcap medallion rehab

I'm prepping what I believe are four original hubcap medallions to install on new repop hubcaps from noslocators for my '55 TF1500. The large medallion on the spare tire is in good shape. I want to paint and polish the four medallions to original appearance. They appear to be pot metal / not plated.

Don't want to screw them up with my lack of knowledge about them or about their original appearance.

Here is my plan. Any problems with it? Suggestions?

> Strip any remaining paintt.
> Flatten the facets with 800g / 1200g / 1500g wet-dry paper.
> Buff with white rubbing compound on a cloth wheel. (what degree of shine should I try to achieve?)
> Spray the entire medallion with rattle-can paint. (red? recommended brand? color name? or use OneShot sign painters paint?)
> Wipe paint off of all except the recessed area behind "MG"
> Buff again.
> Top coat? Necessary? With what?

Bought some "wavy" washers, and other washer to secure them.

Thanks for your help,

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

Lonnie, someone in the past had mine chromed and they look pretty good. I used an artist brush to paint the recessed area much easier than spray painting.
Rich (TD 3983) Taylor

Here is a pic. The hubcap came from NOS.

Regards,
Rich


Rich (TD 3983) Taylor

Lonnie. Process sounds fine. I had to use a hammer & file on a couple of mine as the dings were quite bad. One too many arguments with the kerb. Progressively finer paper then buff to whatever level of shine turns you on. It'll tarnish over time anyway. I used red enamel Humbrol model paint. Comes in a tiny tin. Don't spray or brush just dab to fill in the recessed area & the sides of the letters with a matchstick or toothpick. No need to be cautious & don't worry about getting a bit of paint on the raised letters, simply use a clean match kept parallel to the work surface to wipe off the excess. I ended up with a perfect result in no time at all. See the other thread on suggestions for securing them. I thought it was worth making them waterproof. Cheers.
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Guys right above- use a brush or something and just fill the recessed areas. Painting the whole thing may get paint into porosity in the metal and be a pain to remove.
George Butz

Not sure about TF, but Moss sells repro medallions for $8.95 each. If the quality isn't bad, it might be the easiest way to go...
Geoffrey M Baker

I tried the spray and wipe with marginal success and then used a paint brush and allowed the paint to flow in. Came out perfect.

Dave
Dave Rome

I always assumed the finish should be a matt finish. So I sprayed my medallions with Rustoleum aluminum metallic finish. Then, I took some Testors Model paint and filled in the MG. Of course, I had a lot to work with because I kept collecting hubcaps until I found five satisfactory ones, and each seemed to come with a medallion.

I gave quite a few away to friends.

Picture from my website.

Warmly,
dave


Dave Braun

TF medallions are plain metal. TD ones are filled with red paint

Jan T
J Targosz

I dislike thread hijacking, but here I go. Was there any red in the logo cast into the air cleaner manifold? TIA, Bud
Bud Krueger

Thanks for your replys. I hope to start the process next week.

Dave - I have two sets of medallions. One set was painted with aluminum-color paint like yours then the recesses filled in with cream color like the spare tire medallion. The other set are natural metal with traces of red in the recesses, and may have had a top coat over them at one time.

I'll buff as I described. I'll test to see which type of paint works best - spray or bottle.

Regarding color of the background in TF medallions, there seems to be two conflicting camps.

> Bud Krueger quoted Anders Clausager's [Original MG T Series: The Restorer's Guide to MG TA, TB, TC, TD and TF] in an archived answer to a similar question on the BBS: ... "TF with the MG medallion left plain - on a TD it would have been filled in with a red background to the letters."
http://www2.mg-cars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgbbs&access=&mode=archiveth&subject=early/96&subjectar=8&thread=E199808151832180

> The guys at "The Original TF midget" say the metal on the TF medallion is polished and the background is red.
http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtf/mgtf_finishes.htm#brightwork

The background on some of my medallions is slightly scratched where someone tried to scratch off the paint. So I will probably have to paint the background to fill in the scratches. I can choose a color that will look like unpolished metal or I can choose red. Both will look good.

Is there a definitive answer as to which color I should use?

Thanks,

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

Filling with pigmented resin is very easy and effective.


Jim


J Barry

We seem to have a difference of opinion on the TF hub caps. However, we seem to be blessed with a significant number of folks with virginal TFs. Perhaps one of them will jump in and resolve this issue. Bud
Bud Krueger

"I dislike thread hijacking, but here I go. Was there any red in the logo cast into the air cleaner manifold? TIA, Bud"

Not to my knowledge, but that logo, and the one on the end of the dipstick seem to receive the red treatment as well on a lot of cars, Tommy included.

Warmly,
dave


Dave Braun

As I understand it, the MkII hub cap medallions were filled with black, not red.

The enamel medallion on the spare wheel was also black.
Ian Bowers

The hubcap medallions on my "survivor" TF 1500 appear to be original to the car and showed no signs of ever being painted.
Mark Stolzenburg
Chesterfield, Missouri USA
Mark Stolzenburg

This thread was discussed between 04/02/2014 and 05/02/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.