Adam,
Bruce's advice is spot on, but here are some more tips.
To fill paint chips and scratches after undercoating, use a tube of the
right type of spot putty and apply the putty with a putty knife. Let it dry
(i.e. shrink), then rub it back with wet 320 using a sanding block, until
you are back to the original paint around the chip and the putty completely
fills the scratch/chip, Reputty with thin layers a number of times to build
it up if necessary, allowing drying between layers. Spray over with
undercoat and rub this back using 600 wet. Don't be surprised to have to put
50 or 100 spots of putty on a panel to fill all the stone chips and paint
scratches. If your eyes are as bad as mine you will have your third
undercoat sprayed on and you will still see another chip you missed!.
As Bruce says, you will see every blemish with topcoat as it will follow
every contour. A bit more time on preparation to get the body skin perfect
before top coating will convert the job from amateur looking to
professional.
For small dints, try pushing the panel gently back from the underside with a
broad curved dolly (a block of shaped soft wood is OK) and tapping to near
its original position before using bog. Some thin bogging will probably be
inevitable for a good looking job on a dinted panel, its rare to be able to
hammer or press it back to its original shape . Take the whole of the
dinted area back to bare metal (I use a rotary paint stripping tool in my
electric drill - it will also remove any light rust) and use a quality bog
from the auto painters supplier, these are finer and rub back smoother. If
its an "outward" dint from objects in the boot hitting the panel, tap it
back very gently using an almost flat panel hammer and a dolly behind it,
dont hit hard as you will thin the metal and stretch it. Even if you leave
it lower and fill back with bog this will be better than a painting over a
raised dint. If you leave raised dints you would buff off the paint when
you polish the top coat.
I use an orbital sander to rip off the excess bog and get it down to the
approximate hight. But you should use a long bog file (looks like an old
fashioned woodworkers hand plane that uses long strips of sand paper) to
finally smooth the bog back and feather its edges so you dont have any
ripples or obvious bog patches. Then its undercoat, putty, undercoat, rub
back, feel for surface ripples and fix any by repeating above, finally
topcoat.
You might hate doing it, but a good bog job looks ten times better than
lousy paint preparation. Even top panel beaters use some bog or lead
filler. After a while you get to like bog for the small problems it fixes. I
have done bog jobs on rally cars that have lasted more than ten years
without showing any sign of the repair.
There are more sophisticated techniques for shrinking metal to bring it back
to original shape but I am not experienced on these skills.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Ferguson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, 5 February 2001 16:38 PM
Subject: Re: paint question
> Adam,
>
> The final coat will make them stand out more !!!!
>
> Rub it back again, 320 sounds fine, and if they are
> only minor, spray putty would be the go, but make sure
> you let it cure for a couple of weeks, as it tends to
> shink a little.
>
> Rub the putty back until smooth and then undercaot
> once more before rubbing it back again. Check it and
> if OK then shoot the final coat.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Bruce
>
>
> __________________________________________________
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