HQ/HJ owners. Ever driven home in twilight or dusk and cant see your gauges ? The easy way out is to replace the globes, eh ? Maybe get rid of those silly plastic shrouds ? Nah – I can do you one better. And keeps it lookin original.

Spend $3.00-$4.00 in a Model Shop and by some TAMIYA Blue Clear Acrylic paint. Borrow some clothes pegs, four is all you will need.

Remove all 4 shrouds and all 4 globes – no need to increase candle power and melt plastic anymore.

With a shroud in hand, remove the blue plastic lens. Use a sharp knife and watch the fingers. Sorry the blue lens’ gotta go. Put em in a safe place if you are worried. Then use the blue clear paint and paint over the silver reflective paint. So you get a shiny blue effect on all 4 shrouds.

Next ! Mount each lamp in a clothes peg. Give the lamps a liberal coat of Blue. Don’t get the paint on the connectors. Let the paint dry overnight. It will harden nicely in a few hours anyway. Wash the brush in acetone/thinners.

Come the morning, put all the lamps and the shrouds back. Wait for night fall !

This has worked for me...and I don’t need to squint anymore. The effect is great and not too bright with a subtle blue tint.

If you hate boring old HQ BLUE backlight for your gauges – TAMIYA make CLEAR ORANGE, RED, and GREEN as well. The colour choice is yours !

If you buy enough colours you can use the paint to change those Bunning Christmas lights from boring old white ones to multi-coloured.

Cheers, John

Do we have another modeler on board ?
Webby- about 160 GM models so far

First time I drove home at night couldn't see anything, not helped by having a couple of illuminated aftermarket gauges up front. Solution will be very handy, though I suspect our toddlers may have some other ideas about what to do with bulbs, blue paint