suggestions on how to paint chevrolet lettering on tailgate

[misternemo]

i have a few earlier (1960s-1970s) chevrolet pickups i have been working on,and have run across a problem,the chevrolet lettering on the tailgate is usually painted white.the lettering is embossed,i have considered masking with bare metal foil and either hand painting it,or spraying it,but that is looking like that will be an extremely tedious way of doing it.i wanted to ask for suggestions on here first.maybe someone has an easy way to do this? thanks for any help.

[rickd13]

Dry brush technique. Dip a fine brush in the paint and then wipe it off on a napkin. A little paint stays on the brush. You can then go over the embossed letters very carefully. I like to use enamel paint for this because it dries slow and if you mess it up you can wipe it off with a little rubbing compound on a rag or on the tip of a toothpick to get at the tight areas.

[TooOld]

I've never tried this with a tailgate but it works great for tire lettering . Take an old cd and brush some acrylic white paint ( I prefer Humbrol ) onto the shiney side . Lightly press the part into the paint and remove it. This takes a little experimenting to get the amount of paint right , but each time it doesn't look right you can just wipe it off with a damp cloth !

[vintagestang]

Some of the kits like the '65 Chevy Stepside come with decals. I have started the kit and it comes in silver, black and white.

[misternemo]

hi,thanks for the ideas on how to do the lettering,they will come in handy when i do the 72 stepside.i should clarify what i want to do,this picture shows the tailgate lettering that needs to be painted.(it is even on the same truck that i am building) the kit is the AMT 72 chevy fleetside.any ideas??

[CadillacPat]

You might try Rub On Lettering,

Train shops and Art Supply Stores will have it.

CadillacPat

[Casey]

I would experiment with Bob's technique, using various materials (rubber, foam block) as the carrier for the paint. Essentially you are tampo printing the ink on the letters that way.

Otherwise, spray the entire tailgate in the white you want the letters painted, ideally in a lacquer. Then, respray the entire tailgate in the body color (ideally an enamel), and once the paint starts to setup or is fully dry use a blunt ended object with a polyester (you want as little lint/fibers as possible) rag dipped in mineral spirits to remove the body colored paint on the top of the raised letters.

Either method takes practice, but you'll get better results than freehand painting them IMHO.

[CadillacPat]

I would experiment with Bob's technique, using various materials (rubber, foam block) as the carrier for the paint. Essentially you are tampo printing the ink on the letters that way.

Otherwise, spray the entire tailgate in the white you want the letters painted, ideally in a lacquer. Then, respray the entire tailgate in the body color (ideally an enamel), and once the paint starts to setup or is fully dry use a blunt ended object with a polyester (you want as little lint/fibers as possible) rag dipped in mineral spirits to remove the body colored paint on the top of the raised letters.

Either method takes practice, but you'll get better results than freehand painting them IMHO.

Using rags and thinners for detail work is going to make a real mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CadillacPat

[misternemo]

thank you for all of the ideas on this,i will likely stick with the bare-metal foil masking/hand painting for the embossed lettering,and a combination of these ideas for the other style lettering (that stands out from the tailgate) i will also be picking up a 65 chevy stepside kit now!!

[vypurr59]

my technigue--as done on raised letter tires as well

in this pic is a piece of sprue, glued to a piece of square stock, and a piece of 3mm craft foam glued to it

loaded with paint

touch to raised lettering lightly, repeat if necessary

and here is results

this is enamal paint on a vinyl tire, treated with future

[epi4561]

my technigue--as done on raised letter tires as well

in this pic is a piece of C, and a piece of 3mm craft foam glued to it

loaded with paint

touch to raised lettering lightly, repeat if necessary

and here is results

this is enamal paint on a vinyl tire, treated with future

Wouldn't a foam paint brush trimmed down do the same thing? No offense intended by what I am about to say and I apologize if I do offend, but that doesn't seem to deliver the cleanest end result.

The CD technique sounds like it would deliver a very clean looking end result, but seems like it would also be very frustrating not being able to see what you are trying to paint. So what if you combined the two.....

I can't say for sure because I haven't tried it, but in theory, I would think that using this setup without the foam piece on the end would give you the best of both worlds. The same smooth, clean application of paint as the with the CD, but with the ability to see and control where the paint goes.

I'm anxious to see how this idea would work. Who knows, it could be total garbage... lol

thanks-epi

[Skip]

I like the tampo method Garry demonstrated on the tires. Try using a 3M wet sanding (sponge) block they are like a 3 X 5 block of fairly dense foam (this is a "harder" foam than shown in the demo), you can cut a whole lot of little blocks from it too. The smoother the finish if the foam, the smoother the transfer and paint laydown onto the painted surface. I would also use enamel paint to spray or tampo the raised letters.

[Chief Joseph]

I like the tampo method Garry demonstrated on the tires. Try using a 3M wet sanding (sponge) block they are like a 3 X 5 block of fairly dense foam (this is a "harder" foam than shown in the demo), you can cut a whole lot of little blocks from it too. The smoother the finish if the foam, the smoother the transfer and paint laydown onto the painted surface. I would also use enamel paint to spray or tampo the raised letters.

Makeup sponges work great for this technique, too. They are dirt cheap and a bag will likely last you forever.