DIY Badge mod directions (Yay USA!)

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Directions on how to repaint your badge:

Required materials:
1) Subaru car with badge requiring modification.
2) Flat head screwdriver (or dull knife - just something to pry the badge off with).
3) Tape (to put over flat head screwdriver so as not to mess up the badge or the grill and to section off the badge when painting).
4) Enamel model paint.
5) As many paint brushes as colors you are going to use (in this case it was 3).
6) 320 grit sandpaper.
7) 600 grit sandpaper.
8) Cotton swabs (to stir the paint).
9) Scissors (to cut the tips off the ends of the cotton swabs).
10) 3m double sided automotive tape (molding tape works well but holds really strong if you are considering ever taking it off again)

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So for the procedure:

1) Remove the badge by placing the screwdriver under and prying it off slowly. If it's a warm day it'll come right off otherwise you may have to heat it up with a hairdryer or something. This is doubtful but just something to consider.

2) Take the 320 grit sandpaper and start sanding the black paint off that is on there. It won't take long but use the course stuff to get down to the plastic.

3) When you have all the black paint off, use the 600 grit sandpaper to smooth it down some. It will still look scratched but it's okay because the paint will fill it all in and it will look good in the end.

4) After it's sanded, use the tape to partition the badge off however you want. In my case, I wanted 3 equal stripes so I measured the length, divided by three, and put the tape in the middle so I could do both sides at once.

at this point it should look like this:

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So after you have the tape on ...

5) Pour out a little bit of paint onto a piece of paper so you don't leave the bottles open and the paint dries in the bottle. Use the paint brushes and paint away. Don't glob it on. Make a few light coats. I believe I used 3 coats.

6) LET IT DRY before you go on to the next color underneath the tape. THIS IS IMPORTANT! If you don't wait long enough and it's not completely dry, when you go for the next color it will run together and the line won't be as pronounced.

Picture update:

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7) Take the tape off of the middle and put new pieces at the lines with the tape stuck to the dry paint. I don't have a picture of it but you can just imagine that it's basically the opposite taping scheme as shown above.

8) Paint the last color, using the same number of coats.

9) Let it dry completely.

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10) Apply new double sided automotive tape.

11) Attach back on to the badge spot on the grill.

The End!

Total Price?

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Before:


After: