Clarke tanks and new badges

[Zyx]

Anyone who has had in hand a new Clarke tank and a new Hodaka emblem has probably noticed that the badge is a bit bigger than the indentation in the tank. The badge stands out of the hole, and wobbles around and rocks back and forth because of the differences. A few measurements have led me to an interesting discovery. I used the 50th anniversary badges because that's what I have.

The outer diameter of the badge at the face surface is fine. It is the diameter at the back side of the badge, where it would meet the tank, that is the problem. As finished, the inner diameter, at the back of the badge, is larger that the diameter at the face of the badge. Essentially, the edge is tapered inward from back to front. That extra material at the back of the badge makes the badge too large to fit into the hole of the Clarke tank as it is molded.

I came up with two solutions, one of which I prefer and have implemented. The first solution is to hog out the impression in the Clarke tank. This can be done with a sharp implement. I used the tip of a small Warding file which is small, square, and really sharp. The plastic tank is soft, and cutting out a bit to make room is not that hard to do, but it is also easy to slip, which doesn't bode well for the tank. So I decided not to do this, because it would require removing a bit more material than I felt was safe and easy to do without risking the finish of the tank. The tank wall is plenty thick enough to take the shaping, but I decided to work with the badge instead.

Using that same small warding file, I changed the direction of the taper from tapering (smaller to larger) front to back, to tapering (smaller to larger) back to front. I did not need to remove material on the back side any farther than just about touching the impressions of the wording on the badge seen from the rear, i.e., Hodaka Motorcycles on the top, and 1964 - 2014 on the bottom. I did not change the diameter at the face of the badge, simply tapered it from that diameter toward the back so that when done, it had the same basic shape it did before (tapered) except reversed. Because the original lettering on the badge was not touched, you can't see these changes when viewing the badge.

With the diameter reduced in the back, the badge slips completely into the impression in the tank, and comes pretty close to flush with the outer surface of the tank. That is, it is now well inset instead of standing well out as it would have if I had just glued it down.

It takes about ten or fifteen minutes per badge to reshape the outer edge. I then painted the rim with orange/red touch up paint I had laying around from a 1989 Mazda MX6 GT (Code RH), which was close enough to the background red to not catch my eye. I glued them in place with Right Stuff applied thinly to both the tank impression and the back of the badge.

Sorry, I didn't think to photo the badges before installation, but if someone is interested and needs a diagram, I can draw out what I did and post it.

Two cautions: I painted the back of the badge before working on the edges because the paint on the badge is VERY thin, and a bit fragile. Sanding or filing on the edge tends to chip at the paint along the back edge, which can, if excessive, show up when viewed from the front. I used black touch up paint because it is thicker than spray, easier to control, and pretty durable. So paint the back side first, then work on the edge; the other caution - hold the badge with the fancy side in your palm so you are looking at the back side, not the front. That way if the file or sand paper slips, it hits the back, not the polished front. You really don't want to scratch the front of the badge. You don't want to scratch the back too hard, either, which is why I painted it, to give it a protective surface. You can not see the paint on the back when looking from the front, so the color of the paint on the back is not important. Only the color of the paint on the rim is important because that you can see. Red is close enough. If you can closely match the Hodaka orange/red, even better. I tried black on the rim and didn't like the result because you can really see that it is different, so stay with a red on the rim.

I will try to post a photo of the result. Not really very good at computers but will give it a try.

I believe the result of insetting the badge really makes a difference in how it looks, and it should stay in place better as well.

GMc

[Zyx]

Top view

Side view

Front view

[racerclam]

The people at Clark are aware that they messed up , but at least we got tanks. You did a nice job with yours it looks really good

Rich

[Zyx]

Thanks Rich.

GMc