How to save UV (Sun) Burnt plastic

[Wheezie]

On my 79 620 the plastic ignition/steering collum cover was sun baked crispy and very fragilebut in one piece.
Using what was left, I super gel glued the cracks.
I then put tape on the inside of the holes.

Then using 100% paintable silicone, I smeared it on and evened it out smooth with a wet sponge & let sit until it became "Tacky", (You could stop here,let dry & paint).
I then tapped the whole surface with my finger creating a even rough surface, Let it dry & then painted.

Done, and it looks Nice!
 

 

 

 

I will have to take a better close up pic & post it for ya.
but not to night :)

[ggzilla]

Nice one

[floyd17]

Nice.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Good save !

[Wheezie]

Thanks!
I am REALY proud of my Anal OCD :devil:    

(Hmmm.. that doesn't read quite right..oh well..ya'll know what I meen I hope)

Here's more of the build: http://thelittleredbedtimebook.com/Datsun_620

[kb25t17]

There is another method you can use on sun burnt plastic. You can take a heat gun to the surface and the UV damage will remelt and the surface will look close to new again. It takes a very delicate touch and you need to work in good lighting so you can see changes in the plastic. Its brain surgery, not a quick and dirty operation, it is something can screw up if you don't stay absolutely focused while working on this task. As soon as you see the surface turn shiny looking quit heating it. If you over heat the surface you will loose the texture. But if you do it just right you will get very good looking results. Also you don't want to end up warping the plastic surface so you might need to do a little reshaping while the plastic is still warm if you see it deforming in shape. Heat guns are a great tool but don't try this if you are not patient and don't have good vision.

 

Don't scratch into the surface of sun damaged plastic before you treat it with a heat gun as the loss of plastic is permanent and the heat gun can't fix that loss of material, it can smooth out minor scratches.