HX 52: Td5 D2 Discovery - Rear Door Badge

Today I sprayed the silver 'DISCOVERY' back door badge in black.

For some time the 'LAND ROVER' bonnet badge and the rear door 'DISCOVERY' and 'Td5' badges have been crying out to be painted black. I feel this will give Hx a lift and be a bit more tactical!

New replacement badges are still available in a wide variety of finishes from aftermarket suppliers, but I fancied having a go myself just to see what's possible.

The general tone of all the faded black plastic trim panels on Hx has been bothering me for some time and changing the badge colour to black just seems to fit in with the process.

I have already tried various 'black trim restorers' with varying results and have come to the conclusion that matt black spray paint is more suited and durable to the task ahead.

First task was to clear away the cobwebs (!) And wipe the immediate area down using a wet-wipe paying particular attention to the ridged outlines of the letters. I then had to decide how to go about masking the letters to avoid any over-spray.

I settled for using low-tack masking tape and set about the laborious but enjoyable task of laying down a 'mosaic' mask.

I did consider just taping over the letters and using the scalpel to cut them out, but feared the blade slipping and the resulting scratches.

I used the scalpel in the end just for positioning the small cut pieces of tape. I found the tape was easy to cut and capable of being 'shaped' by finger nail pressure. It's a technique I would use again.

With a cup of tea and a piss break, it took about an hour to get to this stage ..

The blue tape 'mosaic' mask is composed of lots of small overlapping pieces of tape which can be seen when the above photo is enlarged.

The differing tones of the letters in the two photos above is down to exposure levels in the camera. The letters on the red background are a true representation of the original tone.

The actual letter pieces are made of some kind of flexible material. I assumed them to be made of hard plastic, but noticed that if their surface was marked by my finger nail, the mark would quickly disappear and the original surface finish would be restored.

After the mosaic masking was completed, I gently rubbed the letter surfaces down with some 1200 wet and dry just to provide a surface the paint could hopefully better cling too.

Final masking of the general area using bubble wrap and lining paper. After a quick wipe down with Meths its now ready for paint.

As mentioned earlier, I am using 'Pro-Cote' matt black spray paint sourced from 'Toolstation'. After a good shaking I placed it into a pan of hot water to warm it up before spraying. This increases the pressure inside the can, but be careful it doesn't blow up!

First coat applied. Always best to build up the finish with multiple light coats then with one heavy coating. Allow drying off time between the coats...