Hello, all!
I got my truck ('85 F250 styleside, base model) painted recently and I have a question about how the factory would have painted the raised letters on the tailgate. Has anyone heard of a stencil or some other type of pattern that was used to get the letters nice and straight with no overspray or sloppy edges? The guys at the shop did an O.K. job but it sure doesn't look as clean as it did from new.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, and I will update my pictures as soon as I can!
Thanks!

 

The original may have been screen printed or some similar process.

To get it to look good now, you could have a pinstriper or sign painter do the letters.

 

you can get vinyl letters from a guy on ebay (he has OEM patterns), or repro's from NPDLink | National Parts Depot

 

The original was either painted on using a stencil, or vinyl cut out letters.

My 1981 was vinyl cut out letters that matched the Explorer pinstripes...