Vendo 81 medallion wanted

[cokecolaman]

I'm looking for a decent, original white bottle door medallion...anyone have one they might sell?

[Creighton]

Been looking on and off for years for same. When originals show up in nice condition very spendy ($200+). There are reproductions available from one of the vendors. Regret know not who.
Creighton

[Jared]

Mine was  missing found  it  inside  of  machine. Good luck

[MoonDawg]

          http://www.fun-tronicsllc.com/index.php?crn=262&rn=753&action=show_detail

[SIGNGUY]

I have several but all are not in good condition.. would like to find a way to restore them.
some painted over, scratched.?
thoughts/

[vendo81d]

The plastic on those medallions is very easily scratched or cracked if you are not careful.  Model railroaders use a product called "Rinseaway" that is made by Scalecoat to remove paint from plastic models.  It works well on colored plastic, but can craze or crack clear plastic like the Coke medallions.  I am working on re-stripping a medallion that I painted about 20 years ago.  I have been soaking it in Glass Plus for several weeks and the paint is slowly coming off.  I use a toothbrush periodically to remove the paint.  I have found that the best way to remove scratches if they aren't too deep is to use toothpaste and a soft rag (I use old t-shirts).  The commercial plastic scratch removers can cause cracking because they contain petroleum distillates.

When I get my medallion stripped completely, I am going to apply silver paint using a fine brush.  Next, I will airbrush white acrylic paint over the back.  Finally, I will airbrush gray acrylic paint over the white on the backside.

Recently, I had an original medallion that I stripped and it was perfect.  I took it to a local sign painter and he ruined it.  He tried to apply the silver by spraying it and then wiping off the excess.  He never got all of the silver out of the grooves and the repeated wiping with solvent cracked the medallion near the "v" in "Have a Coke."  The crack appears to go all the way down to the "v", so I can't sand it off.

[sodahunter]

vendo81d......would like to see some before and after photos of the medallion restoration.. Thanks.

[vendo81d]

I still haven't done my "Have a Coke" medallion.  I did practice on one of the "Ice Cold" medallions sold by Soda Jerk Works.  The SJW medallion is not made of the same plastic as the "Have a Coke" medallion and it lacks the circle around the perimeter and the circular grooves.  I started by doing some polishing with toothpaste and a damp t-shirt rag.  I then washed the medallion in Ivory liquid (I have read that brands like Ivory that are almost pure soap work best before painting).  After it dried overnight, I used a fine brush and applied silver paint to the lettering.  Any time the silver went in the wrong place, I used a rag and removed the excess immediately.  The best two paints I have found so far are Wicked Colors Wicked Aluminum (bought at Hobby Lobby) and ALCAD II lacquer chrome for Lexan (bought at a local RC car hobby store).  I chose the Wicked Aluminum for my project because it had a brighter appearance (although it was a pearl coat and therefore had some grain to its finish).  I applied multiple coats over two days.  Next, I masked off the front and sprayed the back with Modelflex Reefer White (bought at a local model train store).  The next day, I sprayed Modelflex Southern Pacific Dark Gray over the white and I was finished.  All of the paints I used were water-based acrylics to prevent crazing of the plastic.  I have several pictures of the process and it will take two postings to show them all.  I also have a picture of an original button where I kept the original silver and just repainted the white and gray.  If you have good silver on your medallion, don't remove it.  You can carefully remove any bad white and gray using a rag and toothpaste.  I think the original medallions used a vacuum plating process to apply the silver and that is why it is so shiny and mirror-like.  I am going to check to see if anyone can vacuum plate my original medallion after I finished stripping it.

[vendo81d]

Here are the rest of my pictures.

[brasskey]

Those look great. Might have to try that with my few extra.