[tinman080]

My brother-in-law wanted a set of vintage plates for his 1930 Tudor. Old Virginia plates as a matched set are difficult to find and pricey when found. Anyway he found a set. Cracked here and there, and a couple of extra holes where nailed up in a barn somewhere, I imagine. They had a mild case of rust pitting, but enough color left to accurately repaint them. He brought them to me and I started by cleaning them up. I wire brushed and sandblasted them a little, then welded up the cracks and extra holes. After grinding the welded areas I skimmed them both with body filler. A good sanding, about 3 coats of lacquer primer. I scuff padded both with red pads then shot the backs with black, taking care to cover the outside edges completely. Once the backs dried WELL, I taped all the holes from the backside to prevent blow- thru overspray. I ran a piece of tape around the outer edges facing up, then laid the plates on cardboard and taped that line of tape down from the front to prevent overspray around the edges. Clear as mud....Then I shot the fronts with black. I was fortunate that Rustoleum makes an orange color that's a dead ringer for the original color. I actually masked all the letters and numbers off, I've developed a tremor in my rt arm since I retired and free- handing a paint line ain't gonna happen no more. lol I shot the orange on and pulled the tape while wet. Enamel leaves a clean line like stripe tape if the masking tape is pulled before the paint dries. Be careful! Jon was happy with them. Gary ***A license plate WARNING*** Virginia and many other states allow registering your vintage car with original year plates, BUT check the numbers with DMV because this set of plate numbers were reissued on on a modern Va tag, The modern tag takes priority so these tags can't be actually driven on.....