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Does anyone know of a company that makes replica decals for classic scopes?

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17 replies to this topic

#1 ericb760

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 03:14 PM

I know that there is a big market for replica automotive stickers. I am considering powder coating my C80. It's got a few scratches and the paint is dull where the rings make contact. Powder coating requires the enamel to be baked on, which will ruin the original stickers. I'm just curious if I can have them replicated.
 

C80 Sticker

 



#2 Russell Smith

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 03:59 PM

I would like to have new decals made for one of my scopes as well. It has been suggested that a vinyl wrap company my be helpful.
Russ
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#3 Phil Perry

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 04:14 PM

Powder coating requires the enamel to be baked on, which will ruin the original stickers.
 

Baked on? You're planning to remove all optics and lubricated parts, and repair as necessary the interior paint or flocking after baking? Then reassemble and collimate the thing. You're in for a LOT of work!
 

the paint is dull where the rings make contact.

 

How thick is powder coating compared to the original paint? Will the rings still fit?

 

If it's a matter of restoring old paint, you might be better off considering sanding down the damaged paint (just roughen it up so the new paint will bond) and spraying on a new, matching, coat. Tape over the decals and preserve them. Make sure whatever shop does this for you is well aware of what's inside and how to handle it properly. Overspray inside is undesirable! Check how thick the new paint will be and whether it will interfere with ring fit.


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#4 ericb760

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 04:26 PM

Baked on? You're planning to remove all optics and lubricated parts, and repair as necessary the interior paint or flocking after baking? Then reassemble and collimate the thing. You're in for a LOT of work!
 

How thick is powder coating compared to the original paint? Will the rings still fit?

 

If it's a matter of restoring old paint, you might be better off considering sanding down the damaged paint (just roughen it up so the new paint will bond) and spraying on a new, matching, coat. Tape over the decals and preserve them. Make sure whatever shop does this for you is well aware of what's inside and how to handle it properly. Overspray inside is undesirable! Check how thick the new paint will be and whether it will interfere with ring fit.

To paint the OTA properly, even with a rattle can, is going to require stripping it down too. It is, however, a refractor, with an objective on one end, and a focuser on the other. I have switched these components out many times. It's not that hard. 

I was considering powder coating based mostly on its durability over time as this is one of my forever scopes. I do, however, wish to retain the original stickers, and without a viable replacement, perhaps powder coating is a little overboard for what I have in mind.


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#5 starman876

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 07:25 PM

replacement stickers.   maybe you should call the manufacturer and ask them who makes them.   I know  you can get clear vinal sheets that will go into a printer.   You make the letters in a word processing program  and then print them on the clear vinyl.  



#6 luxo II

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 07:56 PM

Powder coating requires the enamel to be..

... it actually entails sandblasting back to the bare metal, first...

 

You really will have to remove the cells from both ends to do this to the bare tube. No optics.

DIY with a rattle-can will look worse than if you hadn't done it at all. 

 

What you think is a "sticker" isn't - it was screen-printed onto the OTA. And one thing Celetron wont give you for sure is the artwork, to prevent a market of fake OTAs.

 

Leave it be. A used scope is expected to have a patina, and that may include a few battle scars. What counts are the optics.


Edited by luxo II, 21 October 2024 - 08:01 PM.

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#7 Martin

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 08:31 PM

I needed some celestron decals that matched the originals.  I downloaded some pics off the internet and took them to a local print shop. They did a great job. You have to make sure that the orange letters are a dark orange or you won't be able to read the lettering against the black tube. They ran some sample for me that i could look at on their computer and we finally found the right shade of orange. 

 

Martin


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#8 luxo II

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 08:40 PM

If it really is a sticker you could lift a corner and peel it off gently, clean the adhesive off, spray it with new contact adhesive and apply.


Edited by luxo II, 21 October 2024 - 08:49 PM.


#9 Kasmos

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 09:13 PM

It's common knowledge that they were stickers on those Celestron/Vixen C80s and kin.

 

Powdercoating is not a problem if you find the right shop to do it... and or course you have to dissasemble the scope. Bomber Bob had the exact same scope powdercoated and it came out very good. He tried to save the original decals and reapply them but it did not work. If given the logo art, a sign company could do the decal that only says Celestron, but it would probably be each letter on a sheet that transfers to the tube instead of on a piece of clear with lettering on it. I did this for a motorcycle but ended up never using it, but have a friend that did it several times but he also clear coated them afterwards. It's been a long time since then so these days they might have other options and it also might cost more than most would want to spend, especially on top of the cost of powdercoat.

 

An alternate: I have two of these C80s and both had many chips and scratches and one had some very big ones. First I polished the tubes with polishing compound and then touched up the scratches.

(I used One-Shot Sign Painters enamel but Testors model paint would work)

Sure if you look very close you can see the touch ups but overall it really improved the look of them and some people might not notice until they were pointed out.

 

C80-Twins.jpg

This photo is a bit small so you can't see all of the flaws, but can see some of the larger chips on the upper OTA

 

C80s-Touch-Ups.jpg

I found a photo of when I worked on them.

I've been meaning to do a thread on the work but never got around to it.

 

C80-First-Setup.jpg

and here's the worst of the two when set up for the first time two days ago


Edited by Kasmos, 21 October 2024 - 09:30 PM.

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#10 ericb760

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Posted 21 October 2024 - 09:53 PM

It's common knowledge that they were stickers on those Celestron/Vixen C80s and kin.

 

Powdercoating is not a problem if you find the right shop to do it... and or course you have to dissasemble the scope. Bomber Bob had the exact same scope powdercoated and it came out very good. He tried to save the original decals and reapply them but it did not work. If given the logo art, a sign company could do the decal that only says Celestron, but it would probably be each letter on a sheet that transfers to the tube instead of on a piece of clear with lettering on it. I did this for a motorcycle but ended up never using it, but have a friend that did it several times but he also clear coated them afterwards. It's been a long time since then so these days they might have other options and it also might cost more than most would want to spend, especially on top of the cost of powdercoat.

 

An alternate: I have two of these C80s and both had many chips and scratches and one had some very big ones. First I polished the tubes with polishing compound and then touched up the scratches.

(I used One-Shot Sign Painters enamel but Testors model paint would work)

Sure if you look very close you can see the touch ups but overall it really improved the look of them and some people might not notice until they were pointed out.

 

attachicon.gif C80-Twins.jpg

This photo is a bit small so you can't see all of the flaws, but can see some of the larger chips on the upper OTA

 

attachicon.gif C80s-Touch-Ups.jpg

I found a photo of when I worked on them.

I've been meaning to do a thread on the work but never got around to it.

 

attachicon.gif C80-First-Setup.jpg

and here's the worst of the two when set up for the first time two days ago

My first thought was to use some polishing compound to smooth things out and then buff a coat of wax onto the OTA, so your post certainly makes sense to me. BTW, I would love to see a thread of you rehabbing these C80's.


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#11 Kasmos

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 02:14 AM

My first thought was to use some polishing compound to smooth things out and then buff a coat of wax onto the OTA, so your post certainly makes sense to me. BTW, I would love to see a thread of you rehabbing these C80's.

I'll try to get to that sometime. First I need to get access to many of my photos from my recently deceased computer and hopefully the adaptor for reading the hard disk will be coming this week.

 

Make sure you don't wax it if you are going to do any touch ups since it will block the paint from adhereing well. I use polishing compound to make them shine and it doesn't repell paint. Then I make sure any residue is buffed off before doing the touch ups and usually wipe the scratches with mineral spirits before doing so. Sometimes using a Q-tip or a small rag and a finger tip. So far I haven't waxed any of them since they aren't exposed to the elements every day like a car is and I can touch up something I did or missed anytime. If in the future the shine fades, I can always buff them again. 


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#12 Kefka1138

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 10:27 AM

Fun project OP!

 

I found a supplier on Etsy that specializes in small-batch decal runs when trying to reproduce decals for my IM. Thankfully you have access to the decal to size and scan for the work (I had to mock mine up using images found online - lots of trial and error). Chris at BeherVinylCo worked on my project. However, I don't believe he has the ability to print on clear labels. 

 

PXL 20240929 013233279

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#13 ericb760

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 11:28 AM

Fun project OP!

 

I found a supplier on Etsy that specializes in small-batch decal runs when trying to reproduce decals for my IM. Thankfully you have access to the decal to size and scan for the work (I had to mock mine up using images found online - lots of trial and error). Chris at BeherVinylCo worked on my project. However, I don't believe he has the ability to print on clear labels. 

 

I assume that these were a vinyl transfer? I had new lettering made up for my sailboat some years ago. They came on a sheet of plastic that simply transferred to the new surface. If I could get all the details of the original Celestron stickers made up in vinyl I might try that avenue. I don't remember it costing all that much, but that was ten years ago.
 

Avri Ellis

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#14 SporadicGazer

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 01:59 PM

I don't know much about it, but I vaguely recall model railroaders making their own decals.  You might be able to use that info for a search to find out how...?  Good luck!


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#15 ericb760

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 02:17 PM

 

 

What you think is a "sticker" isn't - it was screen-printed onto the OTA. 

 

 

It is clearly a sticker, and not screen printed.
 

C80 Sticker

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#16 Kasmos

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 04:00 PM

I assume that these were a vinyl transfer? I had new lettering made up for my sailboat some years ago. They came on a sheet of plastic that simply transferred to the new surface. If I could get all the details of the original Celestron stickers made up in vinyl I might try that avenue. I don't remember it costing all that much, but that was ten years ago.
 

That's probably the same kind of vinyl transfer I previously mentioned I had made for some motorcyle tanks, but like you it was too long ago to remember the cost. The biggest problem is making the art for them. I could probably do it (for myself) but the time envolved would keep me from volunteering. Not to mention, since my old computer died, I'm in the process of learning new software for such  endeavors. It couldn't hurt to see if the Vinyl shop could do it from the scope, but the time it would take and charge for that is the question.


Edited by Kasmos, 22 October 2024 - 04:01 PM.

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#17 starman876

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 05:18 PM

I used to print those clear stickers at the office for power point presentations with an overhead projector.    A good laser printer and a word processing program is all you need.  


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#18 Bungee

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Posted 22 October 2024 - 08:15 PM

Any good sign shop can recreate those.




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