Painting the embossed Ford script on tailgate

[GB SISSON]

When painting the raised letters, where does the paint line stop? Is it just on top of the stamped letters, or down the slope to the plane of the panel. Either one is tough for my shakey old hand, so a friend of my son might be doing it for me. Thanks

[40 Deluxe]

When painting the tailgate, first spray over the letters with several good coats of the color desired for the letters. Then spray the entire tailgate with your body color. After the paint has set/cured, carefully sand the body color off the raised letters, leaving the letter color visible. Then clearcoat the entire tailgate if desired. The two colors will somewhat "fade" from one to the other but I think the result looks much better than trying to hand paint the letters.

[Newc]

Hi; I seem to remember that the factory paints the letters with a roller.. like the license plate numbers... craft stores have these tight nap rollers i understand and the thickness [viscosity] of the paint is critical. Newc

[ford38v8]

When performing a task such as this, consider what the mass production process likely would have been.
There are two methods that could have been used:
Stencils are well proven and work very well, but are cumbersome and time consuming to work with.
Rollers also work extremely well on raised letters, and are quick and easy to use.

[alanwoodieman]

top of the letters look better, like a license plate back when we had embossed plates, BTW I hate the flat plates we now have.

[GB SISSON]

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Thank you all! I have some 4" foam rollers in the shop. I will try that first, because the gate already has the paint I want on it. I do think that the sanding method could work really well also. I never thought of either. I love having access to this forum!

[Firepower flyer]

Originally Posted by 40 Deluxe

When painting the tailgate, first spray over the letters with several good coats of the color desired for the letters. Then spray the entire tailgate with your body color. After the paint has set/cured, carefully sand the body color off the raised letters, leaving the letter color visible. Then clearcoat the entire tailgate if desired. The two colors will somewhat "fade" from one to the other but I think the result looks much better than trying to hand paint the letters.

I use this method when I restore vintage soda machines that are embossed and it works awesome!!

[5851a]

Originally Posted by alanwoodieman

top of the letters look better, like a license plate back when we had embossed plates, BTW I hate the flat plates we now have.

I remember the custom cab's from the 70's at the dealer and thinking to myself those tailgate letters were put on with a roller. Yes just like license plate.

[B-O-B]

Try using a making fluid. Roller paint the letters & let dry then remove the masking. Works good.

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by B-O-B

Try using a making fluid. Roller paint the letters & let dry then remove the masking. Works good.

Don't use masking with raised letters.

[B-O-B]

Why not I painted my Az copper 1934 plates that way & they came out just fine & DMV ok'd them. I'd have them on the car but for the fees for classic plates. Besides somebody would just try to rip them off. Copper is in demand ya know.

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by B-O-B

Why not I painted my Az copper 1934 plates that way & they came out just fine & DMV ok'd them. I'd have them on the car but for the fees for classic plates. Besides somebody would just try to rip them off. Copper is in demand ya know.

You can mask all you want, but with raised letters, there's no need to mask.

[mike in tucson]

The painters that I used to hang with have a set of plastic masks that are held on magnetically....they paint the white first, pop the masks on each letter and spray the body color. the masks fit close to the perimeter of the tailgate letters. no masking, no rubbing, no nuttin

[B-O-B]

Originally Posted by ford38v8

You can mask all you want, but with raised letters, there's no need to mask.

That is fine if you have a steady hand & a good brush. Thanks but I will use the masking liquid

[Lawson Cox]

Masking LIQUID ? What is that. Never heard of it.

[GB SISSON]

I used a combination of the first two methods. What I didn't say was that the tailgate in question is by no means perfect. The bottom tube was almost rotted off, so I cut it off and welded on a piece of 3/4" black pipe backed up by a piece of 1/8" x 1" steel strap welded to it. Then I pounded out the dents as best I could. The script wasn't all that flat, as every time someone let it flop down it hit the trailer ball about dead center. Ouch..... Therefore the foam roller didn't contact too well, leaving a lot of gaps and blemishes. Then I painted the whole script area and did the 'sand off'. That went quite well. All this was followed up by the 'steady hand' touch up with one of my wife's good artist brushes. (she was at work) Like my mother before me I am experiencing something called 'essential tremors' that get my hands a bit shakey. Well the doc told me if I need to steady up all I need is a couple of drinks and that should do it. The work was done with a flat red I concocted and a flat 'tacoma cream' for the script. I have no plans to paint the truck, but the tailgate was badly in need of repair and I have always loved the look of the script in a contrasting color. I will get a picture of my results in the morning before work. I wanted it to look like a surviving working tailgate and I am happy with the results. Stay tuned.....

[Tinker]

The sand method works well, but not what your asking due to not wanting to repaint the tailgate.


You can brush on something like Vaseline on the negative area to act as a paint stop. Then spray, once the paint is dry just wipe it off. Either way, it'll take a steady hand. Rollers never worked for me doing plates.

[GB SISSON]

I know that this type of repair work isn't for everybody, but some of you that need to repair just part of a vehicle will get it. The photos show what I cut off the tailgate and some tests of my flat red color. The truck only has it's original red on the inside of the cab. Without the methods described here, I could not have done a satisfactory job. Edit: In my last post I mentioned I was not going to repaint the truck. This is not entirely true. I plan to blend in the flat red as I do some more repairs. It may end up being a couple of different hues of flat red as I mix up new batches. Thanks

[ford38v8]

Great truck, and good job on the tailgate! That's a real bumper, too! You see these guys with spit shined trucks inside and out and wonder why they got a truck?

[5851a]

Looks great to me.