painting raised embossed letters without being a sign painter

[chris in Bama]

A body shop painted my WD5 cooler in white, then painted red over everything, then wiped the red away from the letters. It looked pretty good initially, then I realized some of the letters were not fully made/painted when removing the paint, also, some of the letters had some pink hue in them and the letters were not as thick or full as the should have been. I am not an artist, or a sign painter with a letter quill brush. here is how I painted over the letters. I used the white paint from fun-tronics (picked up at their booth in Chicago).  I painted over each letter following the curves with a cheap artist brush from hobby lobby. the letters were slightly overlapped on the sides. Then i used these 6" cotton applicators (q tip with a wooden stick) with a little mineral spirits to remove the paint from the edge of the letters. I just pushed the tip up against the letter and followed the letter removing the paint. I used mineral spirits (in the tip) to remove the paint. It revealed a nice smooth edge around the letters. For Further away from the letter's edge I used these cotton plugs (used for nose bleeds), soaked in  mineral spirits to clean up the rest of the white paint & residue before drying. The 6"tips with a wooden stick work better than just plain q-tips as it is wound tighter and doesn't pull apart easy. I initially tried with an air brush, but there was just too much over spray to clean up. Ill try to post some before & after pics as I am only 1/2 way done with it.
So, all you need to do is paint the letters (but watch the brush strokes around curves) and clean the edges with a q-tip applicator, then clean off the excess with a thinner.

[Slapshot42]

Post a few pics ..

[WDG]

You can buy the Coke paint at a automotive paint store and have them put it in a spray can.  Then you can mask off the letters and clear coat them and take 2000 and wet sand them after they've set up and it should be smooth as glass.