It seemed to me when I first saw the "Hybrid" logo on the Honda Civic Hybrid that the green border should be carried one step further and the logo should actually glow in the dark.

I found a permanent "glow in the dark" paint which is "clear" (really frosted) which I painted over the "silver" hybrid logo. Now walking up to the car in the dark you can read the glowing text! Because of the luminescent particles, the paint does cover the "silver" color with a frosted glass effect, it is NOT clear. The glow is not bright (it also requires no energy) so it is not visible in the day or when there are headlights or street lights on.

I think that it should be standard on the car. A little detail to delight the owner on a dark night.

(my source of paint was http://www.GlowInc.com and the product was "PTCG" weather-proof ultra green glow in the dark paint (clear) 1/2 fluid ounce for $15.13 including shipping; I used about 5% of the bottle with the included small paint brush. I painted on a total of 3 layers and allowed each layer to dry before applying the next layer. 4 months later two small flakes came off the "H" and I touched it up. I have no interest or relationship with this supplier other than the fact that I purchased one small bottle of paint from them).

Photographs below in daylight, nearly dark (barely can read text below logo) and night.







Edit: Changed the links to link from the share files instead of offsite. -tbaleno

 

Thats a great idea. I may do that.

 

hmmm, would a picture of what it looks like in the daytime and nighttime be possible?

 

Excellent question. I just took photographs and added them to my original posting below. - Doppler

 

That's pretty cool!

 

i thought the hybrid badge should glow too.

 

drquine.... Doppler? Or Doppleganger?

Oh, and I'm totally going to buy some of that paint

 

Looks like you just need to even out the paint and it would be perfect. BTW, any possiblilty of taking a picture of it after 10 hours or so? I want to see how dim it gets after that long.

 

An experiment could be done to see whether more layers make the light glow more even at night; the closeup photograph makes the glow look more blotchy than it seemed to the eye. I shook the paint bottle well to mix it and then I tried to paint using vertical strokes with the very small brush (like a "white-out" brush or finger nail polish brush) that comes in the bottle. It don't know whether a painting expert of the vendor could suggest another approach to get a more even green / frosted effect in the day. [October 16, I added a few more layers of paint for fun after the photographs were posted.]

My digital camera has automatic exposure so taking images to show the light decay is not possible because I cannot get the same exposure (it exposes longer if the image is dim) to match the images. As a general statement, in the dark the pigments loose the "super brightness" rather quickly, but they continue to glow at some level for many hours and in some cases days. Like the camera, your eyes partially compensate in the dark.

I see my version as the successful prototype; ideally I'd like to see the logo to be made of a solid luminescent material.

I have not put any sealer on the paint. If you plan to do so, I'd suggest checking with the vendor to ensure that the sealer does not block the incoming light wavelengths that "recharge" the glow pigments.

 

I totaly devoured their website last night. I am so glad you posted this. Its a very good idea. Oh heck. I'm going to go the site now and order me up a 1/2 oz just for fun.

edit: Ick. Shipping is more than the cost of the product. $13.00 in my case.

Still its only $24.00 total for me.