I would like to restore the serial tag on a 1931 vintage distributor and wonder what the fill paint process was?

The original tag was photo etched Aluminum and the raised letters are in good shape so I cleaned it to bare metal have tried black enamel fill but can't clean off the raised letters without ruining the fill paint.

Anyone do this before me with good results? I am wondering if they used lacquer fill and then wiped the lettering with a flat absorbent tool with some solvent on it.

The replacement reproduction tags I have seen are only silk screened flat stock that don't look very authentic compared to the photo etched originals.
Stude8

Pulfer and Williams were the place for Authentic decals. I have both the useless repro's that look fake from 10 yards and the Bill Williams ones,like original.
Perhaps this helps Bill Williams died last September. Pulfer and Williams was purchased by Eric and Vivian Lavine, in Indiana.
574-773-7561
I've restored my own with a fine cloth wrapped tightly aroumd a small metal rod, wetted this in solvent and kind of rolled the extra paint off.
it will do but has nothing to do with a 100 point.
Good luck Johan

stude8....Just a thought...You might be able to get someone who is good with a computer to read in and program an ink jet printer to accomplish this. A printer near you might have this ability.

Johan, thank you for the tip. Using a rod is a good idea, I didn't think of that angle until you suggested it. What diameter rod did you use just to save some experiment time?
Oh yes, did you use enamel or lacquer for fill?
Stude8

Being in the Netherlands we use metric sizes, he one I used is 10mm and 20 mm so just under 1/2 and 1 inch your system.
Both gave good results, the tight wrapping easier on the bigger rod. I used enamel had it just tacky and rolled it off the raised parts. Johan