Gauge needle color?

[86Apache]

With stock incandescents, is there a color or combo that works well? --Other than the orange.

On my 79 C10 I got the bright idea to color match the needles to the body/interior Carmine which looked great,,,, until night time when they became a pain to see.

20 years later another Carmine Square and worse eyes but I am still not a fan of the orange.

 

[Jerry phillion]

Just restored my 87 cluster. Painted needles "Italian red" which
Has some orange in it, but more red. I like it better than the
Orig orange. Bought paint at hobby store. $ 4.50. Used a small
Cheap artist brush. Pita to put cluster back in dash. Also painted
back side of black light reflector panel with chrome paint to
brighten up gage lighting.

 

[bucket]

Personally, I like the orange needles. But they look better when they aren't faded. They go from a red-orange and fade into more of a yellow-orange over time.

 

[Charlie]

My OEM are orange. I found some fluorescent orange paint to repaint. Got a new temp gauge from LMC that is red. It looks good to me but I'm not sure to try to get red paint and repaint all or repaint temp gauge needle orange. I am planning to get a new fuel gauge from LMC and it probably will be red but not sure. So I am trying to decide orange or red, can't decide.

 

[bucket]

Of all the trucks I've had, my '78 Burb has the least faded needles of all of them. They are very red-orange, but still have some fading. I think when new, they were a little more red-ish.

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[86Apache]

Thank you for the replies.

I have also hunted through the interwebs and it looks like, short of changing gauges to a lighted needle or bulb colors, I am pretty much stuck with orange or red-orange if I want to be able to mark them at a glance after dark.

 

[Charlie]

I found this site for the fluorescent red and strongly thinking about ordering to paint all mine that are orange this color.

http://www.whitegauges.net/products...t-Cluster-Needle-Paint-Bottle-with-Brush.html

 

[Charlie]

I found this site for the fluorescent red and strongly thinking about ordering to paint all mine that are orange this color.

http://www.whitegauges.net/products...t-Cluster-Needle-Paint-Bottle-with-Brush.html

Got a bottle of this red...too dark when dry. I have Testors fluorescent orange enamel gloss which I have used, and do not like the gloss. Going to try to find red-orange and see how it looks.

If there are some users that have gotten a good paint, please chime in.

 

[Charlie]

ttt

 

[CSFJ]

What about a high vis safety yellow?

 

[Charlie]

What about a high vis safety yellow?

If you have used this post pics. Not sure about this one.

 

[Billy]

I have looked in to this quite a bit .The best thing i have found is an orange paint pen .You can get them at Walmart or Hobby Lobby . Hobby Lobby will definitely have the color. Walmart will definitely be cheaper. The paint is acrilic, and does not come off of anything, and doesn't harm plastics . Get fine tip, and practice first. Cover up everything . Get it on the face of your gauge, and you are done. Good luck my friend

 

[Billy]

Just go look at the colors at hobby lobby. You will know it when you see it. Oh, you can also press and hold down the point on some plastic, let a small amount of paint come out,, and use a very fine artists brush to paint the needles.

 

[Charlie]

Since ordering 2 new gauges from LMC, the needle colors are red, fluorescent red I guess, I looked at all the many colors at hobby lobby and decided on Model Master Fluorescent Red FS28915 and thought it might be close. Strange enough, it is so close there is hardly any difference in the new LMC gauge needles and this paint. Painted all other gauges and they all now look great. I did apply 2 coats and is really cool. Now I don't have to paint the new gauge needles. Thanks to @Billy for mentioning Hobby Lobby although it wasn't the orange you mentioned, still looks good to me. They are red and that's ok with me. I think the red stands out better IMO.