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Solargizer vs. hood star

JCKnife

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As part of my restoration I've swapped hoods. I loved my Solargizer and got a new one off ebay. When locating the new one on the new hood, I thought "Sometimes when I park facing north, the cab shades the solargizer." so I located it further out on the hood a few inches, not right up against the windows like my old one had been.

Just realized, when I go to paint my hood star on, the solargizer will be in the same spot.

Would you move the star down towards the nose, or let the star be under the solargizer?
 

jeeplvr247

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You could also get a hard top and put it up there. That would get you lots of exposure and make your truck more comfortable in the cold.
 

JCKnife

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Maybe I was unclear--the holes are already drilled in the hood. The solargizer is already sure to be located there. The only question is, move the star down toward the nose of the hood, or else just paint the star under the solargizer.

Either one is a compromise. I'm leaning towards moving the star down a little.
 

3dAngus

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Neither. Sorry. But I would still move the solargizer. The star, if used, is far more important to do right then any solargizer. The holes can be patched if not painted yet.
 

3dAngus

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That's fine, it's your truck.

The next best alternative is to leave the star off. It's going to look plain stupid and be inappropriate if you drop it down the hood to much.

You don't mount anything on top of the star. You don't obstruct it.
 

JCKnife

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Here's a picture: red dots are the solargizer holes. Proposed star location is crudely drawn in a paint program (the hood is all in primer).

Hmm, maybe my star drawing is upside-down? I thought the point went towards the windshield but I'll have to do some more research before I actually paint it. Also I've just read that after 1970, stars were 16". Should be plenty of room for that.

star location.jpg
 
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m816

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Now that you have the star pointed in the proper direction, it should not be defaced with the addition of the sologizer. Why not fabricate a bracket and mount it on the windshield frame so that the solorgizer is not blocked from the sun any time. It wouldn't block your sight line either. The only thing that could shade it at all would be the exhaust stack if you put it on the right side and if you moved it to the left side, there would be no blockage and you coule easily wipe the dirt off of it when you mounted of dismounted the vehicle. The star is supposed to be centered on the hood
 

3dAngus

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The White star is the National Symbol and should be treated as such even though they were pretty much so phased out in the 1970s. The latest military markings manuals do allow for black stars on OD green trucks, however, in the 3" category. Those are usually verticle stars for bumpers and tailgates and such. And yes, according to my reading, the star, if placed on the hood of a military cargo truck or jeep, should be centered as much as possible.
Tanks with turrents having a horizontal star fall in a different category as the stars cannot be placed in center due to some obstructions provided by the build.

Point always goes forward toward the nose on a horizontal surface, point goes up on a vertical surface. You can also get the plastic high quality decals which seem to look better then most paint jobs I've ever seen, but paint is good too. Hard to mess up with the decals, easy to mess up a perfectly good OD paint job with a painted star. I've just recently had to remove some of my stars on a M-37 with a ring around it due to the fact they were not historically correct, though, today, my readings in military manuals indicate they were used indiscriminately by the military and it is permissible. The ring, broken or otherwise, came out in 1943 to indicate US for "invasion" vehicles above other military vehicles from foreign nations that would put the star in use. The M-37 was a post war era vehicle. Even though it could be used indiscriminately as was done in the military, I decided to remov the ring portion of the decal, and did so without damage to the paint underneath, so it looks like it was a good investment in buying high quality vinyl stars. Good luck with it.
 
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