Faded paint markings -- recovery?

[Dave Hadfield]

What's the best way to recover some paint markings that are faded beyond the point of human-eye decipherment? (Must be non-destructive.)

IR? UV? Some other NDT?

We don't need them to be displayed to the public, we just want to see what once was there, and thus what we have.

Thanks!

Dave

[Fouga23]

X-ray? they use it on paintings to see the different layers.

[shrike]

The simplest thing to try is to just take some high resolution digital photos under different lighting conditions. Try with and without a polarizing filter too
Manipulation of color filters, contrast, and various 'effects' can reveal a lot of stuff invisible to the naked eye.

I was playing around with a few of the pages from sdennison's book posted here, and with a tweak or two was seeing the text on the backside of the pages.

[fritzthefox]

I would contact an art museum and try to locate a conservationist. They do that sort of thing all the time.

[bdk]

Something as simple as spraying water on it might help. The reflection from the water might bring out some additional details.

[CraigQ]

Something as simple as spraying water on it might help. The reflection from the water might bring out some additional details.

Will second this method. I have done this on old faded out placards and while wet they look almost brand new. May not work in your case but it's cheap and worth a try. Would suggest just misting on with a spray bottle.

Last edited by CraigQ on Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[JDK]

Can you give some more detail, e.g.
Material they're on
Type of paint/marking (decal?)
Artwork or lettering?

[Dave Hadfield]

James, it's simply WWII paint on an aluminum alloy panel. Stencilled painted letters.

Dave

[Zachary]

Before spending any money, try taking a high-resolution photo of the area, then use whatever photo editing software you have (two freebies I highly recommend are Irfanview for basic editing and GIMP for more complex stuff) to look at the image as a negative. You'll be amazed at what details pop up that you can't see with the naked Mk. I eyeball.

Zack

[JDK]

Thanks Dave. In that case, most of the suggestions made are worth trying, and it's unlikely you'll do any irreversible damage with any of them, so no need to try in a particular order. A pet museum or gallery (historical) would be worth a go, as also suggested. Good luck!