Lume Practice

[hanski]

Hi guys,
I wanted to catch upd on this great thread! Thanks a lot for posting the great information so far, i learned a lot!

Any tips on how to remove lume without damaging the dial?
Also, where do you buy the "practice dials"? Seems like a yuki migth be a bit costly to mess it up.

To remove lume I use an Xacto blade, under magnification, and gently scrap off lume. Too much pressure or slipping will cause dial paint to chip, crack, or scratch. Don’t scrape too deep, it will scratch thru the lume plot paint. It’s a slow delicate process.

Raffles Time has good, cheap dials for practice. You can buy on eBay or his website.

 

[bc1221]

Your lume skills are pretty good, thanks for the overview of your process. I need to work on getting the same smoothness you do. I should probably just buy the Noctilumina kit instead of the 7 dollar Amazon stuff

Dude. That stuff is garbage. The lume powder isn’t bad but that binder is basically Elmer’s glue. Hit up Scott at noctiluma and get some 3-T binder. It gives you about the same time as the Elmer’s crap before it starts to clump up.

I tried that because I could not find noctiluma’s website since I last ordered from him a few years ago. Hanski helped me track him down and was able to get a good binder.




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[bc1221]

Nice job, they both look really accurate to me.

I've been having the opposite problem where I do the first thin layer and then when I try to build it up, the lume just concentrates in the center and darkens it, while none will go to the almost-transparent perimeter without messing up the fine edges I had made.

Mind sharing your recipe and technique ?

The best trick imo is to get just the right amount of the mixture there to complete the marker. Use a very thin Oiler or a sewing needle and just draw the edges starting from the the middle. This is not gonna be easy on the first try. I would recommend just spray painting a flat piece of metal, draw a bunch of triangles, rectangles and circles and practice on that. It should have the same consistency of a dial.

Personally, I like a slight “pyramid” look but hanski’s correct. Most gen dials just stay flat and spread out while getting a bit crumbly.

That dry brush technique seems like a good idea. Might try that next time with some ground up rust.


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[jimcon11]

The best trick imo is to get just the right amount of the mixture there to complete the marker. Use a very thin Oiler or a sewing needle and just draw the edges starting from the the middle. This is not gonna be easy on the first try. I would recommend just spray painting a flat piece of metal, draw a bunch of triangles, rectangles and circles and practice on that. It should have the same consistency of a dial.

Personally, I like a slight “pyramid” look but hanski’s correct. Most gen dials just stay flat and spread out while getting a bit crumbly.

That dry brush technique seems like a good idea. Might try that next time with some ground up rust.


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Thanks for the advice. I've done a few more dials and I'm actually getting good results now and I totally get what you guys mean about floating the lume out from the center. It's the only way to get really smooth curves. And I've still been using the cheapo lume so I expect even better results with the Noctiluma stuff.

 

[Superdome]

Thanks for all the tips and inspiration guys! I actually had a lot of relume training during the last weeks. Mostly on crappy dials. My training workhorse was was a beaten up old laco dial. Relumed it several times until I felt confident enough to relume a gen service ed white speedmaster dial I had laying around.

I think the lume mixture turned out pretty good in terms of color and structure.
I would love to do more, but I ran out of dials.

 

[wristonfire123]

Thanks for all the tips and inspiration guys! I actually had a lot of relume training during the last weeks. Mostly on crappy dials. My training workhorse was was a beaten up old laco dial. Relumed it several times until I felt confident enough to relume a gen service ed white speedmaster dial I had laying around.

I think the lume mixture turned out pretty good in terms of color and structure.
I would love to do more, but I ran out of dials.

You nailed this! It looks great. The numbers on the dial you've been practicing on are perfect.

Are you able to let me know which type of lume / pigments you used? - I've just finished building a 1016 Explorer and want to re lume the Yuki Dial have for it so that it's got the same colour lume that you've created here.

How long does the glow on the lume last too? (I know if it's period correct it should glow but it's not practical)

 

[Superdome]

Thanks! I like the results as well.
I used watercolor for the color and structure of the pigment. To match the UV behaviour was really hard. It reacts to UV and quickly fades within about 3-5 seconds.

Let me know if you need help with your dial. I would love to do more but I don't have dials around anymore.

 

[wristonfire123]

Thanks for the offer, as it's my first build I'd feel like I cheated myself if I let someone else do the work for me!

May sound like a silly question, are you able to explain what you mean by watercolour? I've not tried to mix lume yet, from what I understand the powder that glows is the the pigment, then you use a binder to turn it into a liquid / paste, then use an oiler to apply?

 

[faithfulexecutioner]

Reluming seems like one of the most stressful parts of the hobby. I don’t know how you guys do it


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[bc1221]

Reluming seems like one of the most stressful parts of the hobby. I don’t know how you guys do it


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VERY carefully. Lol. Anti-anxiety Meds help a lot too. Lol



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[wristonfire123]

Finally got round to doing both of my 1016 builds. The chapter ring is meant to look like a beat up model from 1962ish the other from around 1980. Not bad for a £20 lime kit!

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[hanski]

Finally got round to doing both of my 1016 builds. The chapter ring is meant to look like a beat up model from 1962ish the other from around 1980. Not bad for a £20 lime kit!

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Well done! You should get some legit good lume and try your hand with that next.

 

[Perpetual]

I was graciously donated a couple of dials to continue practicing lume work - a 1680 and 6538.

The 1680 is a standard Cartel dial, relumed with a creamy offwhite tone. Of particular note, studying gen dials, it appears the lume should be fairly flat with only a slight pillowing. I’ve tried to capture that aesthetic here. In addition the hands were aged in Pacific Ocean saltwater with a touch of organic apple cider vinegar.

The 6538 is a faux gilt dial. Again, studying dial examples, the lume pillows but isn’t overly chunky. In this instance I experimented with a two tone line process. First applying a thin layer of lighter lume then adding a dollop of darker shade in the middle. Unfortunately I didn’t contrast quite enough. Next go around I’ll sharpen the difference. Like the first, the hands were aged in a custom crafted solution of Pacific saltwater and organic ACV.

Enjoy!

Where are the hands origin cartel? I took notice of the second hand center plate is nice and round and looks to be the right size

 

[FearOfGod]

Very nice! Beautiful work i would say. Keep up the good work! Thanks for sharing


Either he’s dead or my watch has stopped.

 

[Mbari]

This is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

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[itgoes211]

Thanks for all the tips and inspiration guys! I actually had a lot of relume training during the last weeks. Mostly on crappy dials. My training workhorse was was a beaten up old laco dial. Relumed it several times until I felt confident enough to relume a gen service ed white speedmaster dial I had laying around.

I think the lume mixture turned out pretty good in terms of color and structure.
I would love to do more, but I ran out of dials.

Wow! Outstanding job on the numbers - well done!

 

[jmelson]

In addition the hands were aged in Pacific Ocean saltwater with a touch of organic apple cider vinegar.

Enjoy!

hanski how long did you leave the hands in the water / did you remove the lume before dunking them? - thanks in advance mate!

 

[Perpetual]

Continuing with my lume practice and experimenting, tonite I have a sterile faux-gilt submariner dial from RT. For this one I tried a different technique. I applied the lume as I would normally but once the plot was done I “dry brushed” some dark brown lume pigment onto the top of the wet lume. By dry brush, I mean I took the oiler fresh and still with some wet lume on it, dipped it into a pile of dry pigment, then carefully applied the dry pigment granules to the plot.

I think it’s a fairly successful attempt at aging tritium that has turned inconsistently dark and pebbled on the top of the plot.

Because it takes a little extra time, I had to mix a second batch of lume half way through.

Your getting it bud, looks a bit clumpy on this one..waiting too long will start to harden restricting you to work with the product and having it lay down nice.

keep trying though looks like your getting it LOL

 

[hanski]

Your getting it bud, looks a bit clumpy on this one..waiting too long will start to harden restricting you to work with the product and having it lay down nice.

keep trying though looks like your getting it LOL

icard: