By signcraft
Posted on Monday, July 14th, 2025
Behind the photos you see on SignCraft.com there is always a back story: How did the layout come together? What did the customer want? How was it done and how long did it take? The finished product can’t tell that story, but we can hear it from the sign maker who made it happen.
This week, Vince Balistreri, Vince Balistreri Signs, Orlando, Florida, gives us the background on one the trucks from a fleet of Heavy Haul semis that he has been lettering recently. With lots of copy and lots of pinstriping, it’s different from the signs and trucks he’s known for. And it’s certainly different from the fine lines and subtle colors that are typical of his striping. Vince tells how it came together:
I’ve done 8 or 9 trucks for this company so far. Some were originally done by Geet Faulkner of lnsigns down in Ocala, so I was working from his layout and look. I’m just 10 minutes from the DeBerardini shop and had done some other work for them. Geet’s shop is about an hour and a half away, so for the past five years they’ve had me do their trucks.
The graphics on all their trucks are similar but vary depending on the model of the truck. Most of the fleet are Mack trucks, with the most recent addition being a Western Star. The Mack you see here goes by Super Dog and the Western Star goes by Magilla Gorilla.
I started by planning my work on Super Dog so that I could be as efficient as possible. I did some rough sketches and noted the colors on them so that I wouldn’t have to figure that out on-site. I looked at photos of their other trucks so that I could keep some continuity between them.
The primary copy is 23K gold leaf, and the rest is hand lettered with Ronan and 1 Shot enamels. I use them both because there are things I like about certain colors in each. I prefer the coverage of 1 Shot white, and Ronan’s black seems to dry faster, which is nice. The striping was done with imitation gold with some lemon yellow added to brighten it up.
I actually had to teach myself to do these heavy lines because they are so different to do than fine lines. And there’s just a lot more striping here than I usually do on a vehicle. The DeBerardinis are from Stamford, Connecticut, and they told me that this is typical scrollwork of the truck lettering up there. It’s over the top—almost every panel has striped borders and there is plenty of scrollwork, too. It’s the look they like for their trucks.
I lettered the truck in the DeBerardini shop, working four or five hours each day. In my seventies, four or five hours in the Florida heat is like an 8-hour day. On the first day, I pounced the patterns for the lettering that would get gold leaf. I applied the Dux Quick Dry gold size using a No. 6 Scharff quill, then started putting the pounce patterns for the other lettering in position while the size tacked up. In about one hour, it was ready for me to start laying the gold leaf.
I spun the gold using a velvet pad and a cordless drill at slow speed. I like the engine turning of the leaf to be consistent and done in a nice even pattern. I use medium pressure and count to three [Laughing] for each spin. I clear coated it with an automotive clearcoat with a hardener added and a Scharff No. 6 quill.
Big trucks take a beating. They are usually taken to truck washes that use strong cleaning chemicals to loosen the dirt and grime, then get blasted with a very high-pressure rinse. It’s hard on the lettering and stripes so I usually have to touch up the graphics on each truck about once per year.
While the clear dried, I lettered all the white lettering on the rest of the truck—“Florida’s First Call” and “Keep It Clean” and the white portion of the flag. That brought me through the end of the day.
The next day, I outlined the gold leaf lettering with a No. 2 Hanson/Mack Tilly quill, then added shade with a quill and black enamel. I added the other colors to the flag but saved the poles, outlines and stars for later. Then I was ready to start striping. I used a No. 2 Mack Sword Striping brush for the heavy stripes around each panel.
On day three, I did all the scroll striping with a No. 1 or No. 2 Bobbo/Mack striper. The last day I did a walk around, tightening things up, touching up and doing a final cleanup.
It took four days, but I was slowed down by shoulder problems that I had been dealing with for the past year. A couple of weeks ago I ended up having a reverse rotator replacement. My right arm was only functioning at 25 or 30 percent. It really slowed me down, but over the three months before the surgery I still did three trucks and couple of the radio-controlled blimps that I do for a company that flies them inside arenas around the country at sporting events. I’ll be recovering from the surgery for three to six months, they say [Laughing.]
Doing these trucks is a blast, and it’s nice to work with people who appreciate hand lettering and pinstriping. On these rigs, there’s a lot going on so it’s quite a change from my usual work.
Some of DeBerardini trucks are brand new and others are trucks they have been reconditioned. Show trucks like this are really popular with the big truck people. A few of the DeBerardini trucks are taken to out-of-state shows for big trucks, and the company also puts together big truck shows in the area—gatherings of 10 or 12 trucks where people can bring their rigs to compare. The shows for the older models of trucks draw a lot of people. It’s all pretty cool. The following photos are of their Western Star “Magilla Gorilla” truck:
