The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I wanted to share some of the Edison case decal restorations that I have done using various paints and tinted lacquers. Hope you enjoy!

These look great. Can you show us how to do this? What brands of paint did you use? That's better than using a new decal.
Harvey Kravitz

Thanks Harvey. I just used various shades of Testors gold lacquer paints and a small brush. I blended them to match the color that needed filled in. I used Mohawk perfect brown lacquer with a small brush to tint them as needed. I did the painting under magnification and just took my time. I used a thin black Sharpie wherever I needed to outline in black and for the lettering. Once the perfect brown lacquer is brushed over the black, it looks original. I have tried replacing the missing sections with a pieces of a reproduction decal but, they didnt quite fit and the color wasnt right anyway. This method is not hard if you have any artist ability at all. Juts make sure to use lacquer paints and not enamel.

My method is similar. I use either Pactra, Testers or Tamaya gold leaf. For the tint, I uses Bullseye Orange Shellac. To touch up the black lettering, I either use a very fine Sharpie marker. Or a very fine brush with black Tamaya pints. Great Job.
Harvey Kravitz

This is basically what PhotoShopping a digital image is like. You magnify the image and repair small portions - the only difference is that you are doing it on an actual object.

Looking good, great job.....


Bill K