possible to bend an antique military badge for a headtube ?
 

I've been trying to find a few ways of putting some finishing touches on a bike I've been building for a while, and I was thinking about using an antique military crest as a headtube badge, for a few different historical reasons. Would it be possible to bend something like this -> Walter Reed Army Medical Center Unit Crest | eBay without the paint cracking? Any tips?

I think any bending will crack paint or break the badge.

I would make a a backing for the badge. Think metal/wood/epoxy/plastic curved to match the head tube curver and built up and flat for the badge.

That looks like it's cast 'pot metal' and would probably fracture if bent to the radius of a typical head tube.

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll continue looking until I find one I like, possibly a sterling pin, or something easier to work with. I called a local jeweler and they were willing to help with the shaping, provided it could be shaped.

Else the curved backing sounds like a great idea, and probably wouldn't be exceptionally thick with a 1" pin or so.

the enamel glass inlay woud all come out in pieces ..

Decent stamped brass can be annealed , and then bent after that , once.
Formed around say a steel round tubing .. to use a soft, like rawhide hammer, to push it around .

maybe overlay it with a piece of leather to save raised details ..

I Have Art Metal Pieces made in Copper & non ferrous sheet, now in, like, hemispheres ..

By cold working and annealing repeatedly ..

maybe your jeweler contact can make some badge, custom , just for you.. people do that ..

technique : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repouss%C3%A9_and_chasingis an old art metal technique .

Non Ferrous metal sheet is pushed up from the reverse side then the lines are defined from the front.

Make a lost wax cast out of that flexy stuff, then bend the mold, refill. Or 3D print a laser scanned badge and computer bend it, then 3D print a plastic one and use that to make a cast.

Here are a few links for head badges from the other site I'm on RatRodBikes.com
Making My Own Head Badges | Rat Rod Bikes
HEADBADGES | Page 3 | Rat Rod Bikes
CUSTOM BRASS HEAD BADGES AND STICKERS | Rat Rod Bikes

Thanks for the links, I'll be sure and read through each of them.