Painting Nixies

Kyle Jones

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Oct 21, 2015, 9:43:56 AM10/21/15

to neonixie-l

I'm new here, but thought I would share something I found a few weeks ago.

I noticed when people ask about painting nixies red there is a lot of talk about dipping them and such but I found a spray that is working wonders. It's VHT Niteshades and meant for use painting tail lights. There is a black one that all the annoying people that cover their tail lights with black paint use but there is also a red one. The can sprays a nice vertical line of paint so its easy to cover where you want. It must have a chemical in it to make it cling evenly to surfaces because even spraying a side of a round tube, turning it, and repeating until it was all covered the coating was immaculate.

It's a tough material and doesn't scratch off easily at all. When you spray it the liquid goes a bit hazy for a couple of minutes and then clears right up.

Attached are photos of IN-12s(my sucker group, can't stand the upside-down 2 for a 5) with no paint, 1 coat, and 2 coats and a 6CB6 with two coats I painted next to a Z574M factory paint tube.

Nicholas Stock

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Oct 21, 2015, 9:56:13 AM10/21/15

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Nicely done Kyle. I tried with a can of Krylon glass paint (If I remember correctly) and the finish wasn't great....I have had great success with the dipping method (thanks to M Barile for all his advice on that one!). I would advise anyone who wants to try it not to paint IN18's blue....doesn't look good at all with the neon...;-)

Cheers,

Nick

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Dekatron42

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Oct 21, 2015, 3:05:59 PM10/21/15

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Would it be possible for you to show an original painted Nixie and one painted with this paint when the digits are lit up? It would be nice to see how the original paint compares to this paint with the digits lit.

/Martin

Kyle Jones

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Oct 21, 2015, 5:42:05 PM10/21/15

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I will try to get a pic tomorrow. Tonight is a busy night! I can try to get one of the unpainted ones running in the picture too to show brightness differences.

Terry S

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Oct 22, 2015, 10:47:19 AM10/22/15

to neonixie-l

Sounds like a good paint for repainting neon sign tubes as well.... what other colors did you find?

Terry

Kyle Jones

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Oct 22, 2015, 8:51:34 PM10/22/15

to neonixie-l

As far as I know there is only red or black... Here is the requested photo of a factory painted vs the one I painted.

Factory is on the left, Russian IN-12 is on the right. Used the front elements since they are easier to see.

The three next to each other is unpainted, single coat, and double coat from left to right.

Kyle Jones

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Oct 22, 2015, 8:56:12 PM10/22/15

to neonixie-l

The factory color is a bit more orange so it lets more of the yellow out and is a bit brighter because of that but the spray-on paint does cover up the blue tinge from the mercury well. Especially with two coats, one kind of gets you there.

On Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 8:47:19 AM UTC-6, Terry S wrote:

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