Painting faded three dot sights

I have used almost exclusively, Testors orange. They have one for *Day-Glo* plane models.

Then - if it matters, a drop of clear acrylic.

Todd.

Testor's model paint. Decided I like fluorescent orange better than white.

Clean sights well with alcohol.

When dry put down base coat using tip of a toothpick. I found I had better control than using a brush.

When dry put on a second coat.

I haven't yet tried a clear coat on top. If I do I'll give clear fingernail polish a try first.

If you decide to try the orange put down a base coat of white first, then the orange once the white is dry. Much brighter finished product.

I do the white/flo orange too, but I use nail polish instead of the Testors. Its more durable and tends to be brighter.

Ive used Testors in the past, for both the sights, and the whole gun, and while it works well, it will come off if you get Hoppes and other cleaning solvents on it.

Best to get the old paint out of the dots before you do it too. A drill bit of the proper size works great for that. Use your fingers to do the twisting, and not the drill.

I bought a bottle of the whitest glossiest nail polish the drugstore had and use that. I use a round toothpick I have blunted the point a little. De-greasing with alcohol is also recommended.

I bought Birchwood Casey pens few years ago before reading about nail polish and Testors . The tips dried up and pushed inside so used a tooth pick to do 459 sights ,the small rear battle sight was a challenge. I had night sights installed on my M&P when front dot fell out , may fix it with nail polish and have Dots put back on .

I've used nail polish but this last round I bought a set of the Testors model paint in the fluorescent offerings. The yellow and orange colors are the ones I like.

Testors white and a toothpick work for me.

Here is a method of using paint and Acraglass. Normally I just use paint to do sight touch ups every few years. The Acraglass would improve the durability of the paint in the sights.

There is paint available at some Hobby Lobby that glows in the dark like night sights. It is not as bright in the day as the testors but will glow in the dark after being put bright light for a while.

I use lacquer automotive touch up paint. Clean up the excess with MEK or acetone.

For white, the porcelain repair liquid in small glass bottles is very durable and I’ve seen no fading or discoloration over the years. Same application method (toothpick).

The prices on police trade in’s are probably good enough to justify having new sights or even new night sights installed. If you have dead night sights the inserts can be replaced.

If the gun came with night sights, they can usually be replaced for a fairly reasonable price. I just today put a set of Meprolights on a new to me Glock 19 for $47.

Unfortunately, a lot of the trade in or older guns dont have the easily replaced dovetailed sights, so youre limited in what you can do, short of spending more money than the gun may be worth.

AK103K said:

If the gun came with night sights, they can usually be replaced for a fairly reasonable price. I just today put a set of Meprolights on a new to me Glock 19 for $47.

Unfortunately, a lot of the trade in or older guns dont have the easily replaced dovetailed sights, so youre limited in what you can do, short of spending more money than the gun may be worth.

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Good point. Some sights are easier to remove and replace than others.