My buddy has a 59 Bug that he wants me to paint his Grandpa's concrete business logo on. It's a barn find and he wants the logo to look as old as the original paint. Any tips?
Paint it just like you would any other (lettering paint, enamel, whatever wears well). Take a fine grit sand paper to get it to the weathered look. The reason you want to use a really fine grit (1500).. is to better control the degree of wear.
Paint it on with thinned paint, such as reduced 1 shot. Let dry completely. You can wipe over with reducer or thinner to get some wear patterns and paint wash ( where the old paint eventually washes off and runs down the panel). I like to use compound and work it very slowly to burn through and wear out. Lookfor old pictures of worn signwork and wear it out from the top down. Compound will give a nice smooth wear. 1500 grit will aso wear smoothly, take your time and don't leave any scratch marks that look like it was worn with sadpaper.
I like to use paint mask for the base lettering. Then thin out some one shot. Paint it like you would normally making some spots heavier where the brush stroke would have started then make it thinner at the end of the stroke. The paint mask allows you to move faster with out the much needed control of free hand. Before you start, sweep the floor in a close spot. Once the one shot starts to tack up, rub your hands on the floor then rub it into the paint. It will instantly add years of patina. You can do all of the base lettering that way, then do the out line or shadows free hand, using the same effect of the floor dirt. Look at effects you want to mimic, study them and try and re-create it as best as you can Sanding and compounding can effect the outer areas that you want to leave alone, if not very careful.
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