Restoring color - Gauge Needles

Has anyone been able to restore the color back into their gauge needles???
It's been a while since I've seen a post about this, but the member then was saying you couldn't just paint the needles because that would block the back lighting on the needles at night.

 

Maybe try some clear red model paint? It shouldn't block out much of the lighting.

 

You could just paint just the back part of the needle with red paint. I.e. the flat part of the needle closest to the gauge face. That way the light would still shine through but you would see the red backing.