Trying to put finishing touches to the 54 truck and wondered what decals were used and where were they located. The Factory Assembly manual show where decals are located, but don't know what the decals look like. Also the tailgate lettering, do most people use the decals or have them custom painted?
Sandy, What we have found that works well if your truck is painted with a basecoat/clearcoat paint is to put the decal letters on and then spray one more coat of clear over the letters. This "decapods" them under the clear so they can never shrink or curl. I have seen ones that were rolled on but if they didn't use a special roller coating paint the results are iffy. If you end up painting them on use very narrow tape, 1/16, so the sharp bends can be made without wrinkling. Once outlined you can then go with 1/2 or 3/4 and follow that with regular masking.
If you decide to use the adhesive stick on letters, use a blow dryer and bottle of soap and water. I used a mixture of soap and water (3-5 drops of dish soap in a full spray bottle) to spray the tailgate then remove the adhesive backing and put on the letters; the soap in the water gives you a moment to readjust the position of the lettering to your liking. After you work out the water from behind the decal of all the letters with your fingers, use a blow dryer on low setting to push down the little wrinkles on the edges/corners that wont originally push down due to the curvature of the raised letters. This worked perfect for me and still looks great. Hope this helps.
Another great idea... Hey Evan, where do you get this tape, and is there a brand that works best? This would be way more accurate (and easier on the nerves) then masking everything and then cutting out the tape that is covering what needs to be painted.
Am I remembering right, that the letters were body color (not contrasting) from the factory? Or did that vary by year?
