painting the tiny ford letters

Ronald,

If the radiator is chrome plated it's pretty easy.  If the letters are recessed, take the color paint you want to use and dab it into the recesses.  Don't worry about coloring outside the lines, we'll take care of that in a minute.  When the paint is dry, take a wooden toothpick (plastic ones should work, I've always used the wooden ones) and gently scrape the dried paint away from the letters.  You now have painted letters.  If they are raised, take either a new #11 blade or a fine grit sanding stick and carefully remove the plating from the letters.  After doing that, take your paint and paint them.  Once the paint is dry, grab your trusty wooden toothpick and gently scrape the dried paint off.  You may need to sharpen the tip to get into the nooks and crannies.  Sorry I don't have pics, hope this helps.  As to a magnifier, can't help you there as I don't use one.

I've had good luck with this method:
Find a pencil eraser-- preferably one that can be easily removed from its holder ( I use the long retractable type)-- cut a piece off about 1/2 inch long.
Put a small amount of your paint color on a flat surface.
Roll the eraser in the paint, giving it a good even coat, but without too much paint on it. 
Now roll the eraser over the raised letters.
The paint should transfer to the lettering, leaving the background untouched.  

It's similar to drybrushing, but there is more control. I've used it on raised detail like logos on valve covers and emblems on bodies. It works nice and quick.

acmodeler01 wrote:

I've had good luck with this method: Find a pencil eraser-- preferably one that can be easily removed from its holder ( I use the long retractable type)-- cut a piece off about 1/2 inch long. Put a small amount of your paint color on a flat surface. Roll the eraser in the paint, giving it a good even coat, but without too much paint on it.  Now roll the eraser over the raised letters. The paint should transfer to the lettering, leaving the background untouched.   It's similar to drybrushing, but there is more control. I've used it on raised detail like logos on valve covers and emblems on bodies. It works nice and quick.

 Exactly what acmodeler01 said. Have a look at my Viper project by using the link in my signature. I painted the raised "Viper" letters on the brake calipers using this method.