Tailgate letters - painting?

[Mt Man Chad]

I’ve painted half dozen of them with different “Chevrolet” colors
it’s a process masking and what order to paint. Base color then mask or text color then mask and shoot colors and what blue tape you using for clean edges when ya pull it. This is a NOS gate to primed then shot ivory white letters and 50th anniversary gold.

Thanks in advance

[mrein3]

I paint my own stuff. I am FAR from a pro.
I have painted exactly one tailgate. Twice.
The first time I painted the body color, attempted to mask it off, then attempted to spray the letter color.
It turned out horrible.

Pass 2 I scuffed it, and painted letter color in and around the letters. Then I masked off the letters with standard blue 3M painters tape. Then I re-sprayed body color. That turned out much better.

FWIW, I started with a factory painted gate. I took close up pictures of their paint job. Frankly, it wasn't that great. Their lines were not very crisp. I suspect they had a template that set on the gate while body color was sprayed.

[dcmonte]

I've seen a few people use vinyl wrap inside the letters that came out pretty good. Also able to remove it if you ever change your mind.

[Caddylackn]

I just put on the vinyl letters. It was tougher than I thought to get these lined up perfect. The problem is vinyl stretches and it is easy to stretch while trying to line up the letter. So I had a little extra length at the ends. I just trimmed it with a razor blade. Half the letters turned out good the other half look acceptable at 5 feet.

If I were to do it again, I would buy two sets of letters and peel off the bad ones and reapply new ones. You cannot peal them off and reapply since they get stretched out when peeled off.

[Jason Banks]

I used the 3M Precision Masking tape, 06525, 1/4" x 60 yds and some other 1/8 wide fine line masking tape from the paint store that seems like it is made from plastic/vinyl. I did the outlines with this fine line tape and used the regular yellow 3m automotive masking tape to fill in.

Sprayed the letter color then masked and and did the body color then clear coat.

[Mt Man Chad]

Thanks for all the reply’s, think as my original plan I’ll paint the letter area Ivory White and mask with good quality 3M tape then paint the body color.

Thanks again for the input.

[72bowtiestepper]

I don't want to "Highjack" this thread, but does anyone know what percentage of 67-72 trucks had the stamped tailgate letters NOT painted & left the body color from the factory ? I am interested in stepside gates only....seems I remember a lot of them just being body color.

[dagnabbitt]

Even if you are painting the lettering, the vinyl letters are good to have, they are very cheap and make a great stencil.

[Accelo]

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

Even if you are painting the lettering, the vinyl letters are good to have, they are very cheap and make a great stencil.

Agreed. Paint the lettered area white. Then use the vinyl to mask the white area and paint body color.
It will save a bunch of time.
Rick

[Richard]

I envisioned the lettering to be my main body color on my truck but was not sure if I would actually want to go with black. My painter suggested we spray white decals with the single stage acrylic urethane I used. We applied them before paint had fully cured. Worked out well for me. Time will tell if it lasts. I can always respray with the blue color, black or just apply another set of decals. There are pics in my thread. Decals are less than $10 IIRC.

[03BlkZ]

Wheni restored my truck I wanted to paint the letters but I ended up using vinyl stickers. They look great an took about 5 minutes to install using soapy water and a small squeegee.

[CarlsLQ9SS]

3m fine line tape