Making a tailgate emblem

While I'm taking a break from the cab re-do..should be do do, I am working on an emblem that I'm going to use on my custom tailgate eventually. This will be in the middle and some custom styling done to the metal on the tailgate. That part is undecided as of now but I have some cool ideas.
This emblem comes from a 1961 or so V220 hood. It originally has some curves in the back to fit the hood. I removed all the curves and made it so that it will lay on a flat surface. It has three tabs on the back that are welded on the aluminum casting. It is all aluminum and was anodized. I first glass bead blasted it to remove the anodizing. Then I started with 400 grit paper and worked my way up to 2000 before I started polishing. It came out pretty good but there are some very small voids in the casting but not enough to really show. After polishing, I put 4 coats of clearcoat on it. After it cures, I'll use 2000 grit with water to get out the faint orange peel. Not much there but because of the metal shine underneath, it shows everything. This has been a nice break from stripping a cab back to bare metal...and I needed it. lol
First picture is as found..on Ebay.

IH V220 Emblem.jpg (5.99 KiB) Viewed 5641 times

This is with the clearcoat on it.

This is the model of truck the emblem came from...I need this truck! Great grocery getter!

I really like the way your emblem turned out.

Dean

I really like the way your emblem turned out.

Dean

Thank you Dean! It was a fun project.
Bob

Very Nice, will look better on your tailgate than what I had in the 70s, I lettered INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER in Russian! with 3 Diamond logo in fisheye tape,

fortunately no pictures exist.

Very Nice, will look better on your tailgate than what I had in the 70s, I lettered INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER in Russian! with 3 Diamond logo in fisheye tape,

fortunately no pictures exist.

lol, too bad. I would have loved to see that!

Great job, Bob. You beat me to the punch as I'm looking to do something similar, but more along the lines of the triple diamond logo(though not quite along the lines of BRJ lol). I was thinking of cutting something out on my buddy's plasma table. My gate has two holes where it appears there was something mounted at one time and it "needs" something to finish it off.

Great job, Bob. You beat me to the punch as I'm looking to do something similar, but more along the lines of the triple diamond logo(though not quite along the lines of BRJ lol). I was thinking of cutting something out on my buddy's plasma table. My gate has two holes where it appears there was something mounted at one time and it "needs" something to finish it off.

Thanks, haha. I have been considering something but didn't want something "too much" since my truck is fairly understated. I like the clean classic look and not a lot of add ons if you know what I mean. I like subtle changes that only a IH person would notice. I thought about and looked at several triple diamond emblems etc, but never found one I liked. I also wanted something 3d. This emblem is cast aluminum but thin walled. It was sloped and fitted to the other trucks hood, so it required some grinding on the backside. Then it was anodized in gold and that had to come off. You wouldn't guess, but I spent three days getting it to this point. lol Good luck with yours and I'll be watching for the pictures!

You are lucky to have that emblem in cast aluminum. Many of these pieces were what is commonly called pot-metal, a mixture of zinc and other low melt temperature metals.
Pot-metal is notorious for pitting and pushing up under the finish.
The grill and headlight bezels on our non-IHC are zinc alloy castings and not available in aluminum, unfortunately.
I bought my reproduction pieces from Bob Drake Reprpductions then stripped the chrome, like you have done. I chose to use a powder coat primer followed by matching body colour paint. I hope it works out long term for both of us.

You are lucky to have that emblem in cast aluminum. Many of these pieces were what is commonly called pot-metal, a mixture of zinc and other low melt temperature metals.
Pot-metal is notorious for pitting and pushing up under the finish.
The grill and headlight bezels on our non-IHC are zinc alloy castings and not available in aluminum, unfortunately.
I bought my reproduction pieces from Bob Drake Reprpductions then stripped the chrome, like you have done. I chose to use a powder coat primer followed by matching body colour paint. I hope it works out long term for both of us.

Good luck with your project. No luck involved as it took weeks to find and confirm that it was something that I could work with. As you say, most are pot metal and not what I was looking for. I have some pot metal emblems that will go on and around the hood that are original to the KB but I did shop and trade up until I have the best I could find. I even considered having the headlight rings cast out of aluminum since I had an awful time finding good ones. But, in the end, I did find a set that is not perfect but very nice with only a few noticeable imperfections. Surprisingly, having them cast in aluminum was not as expensive as I thought at only $75 each from a local to Atlanta casting company. That is a raw casting and would have had to be polished and finished. I believe I have the best to be found in 67-70 year old emblems and trim for my truck, but I paid the piper.

This is what emblem is painted on my yellow trucks tailgate.
Bill

Darn thing doesn't know if it's coming or going.