Hello!
I've been doing some body work on the cab and bed of my '59 Apache...bought it with the bed off, so it go new inner and outer cab corners, a few minor patches (butt jointed, mig welded, ground smooth), and some minor metal bumping work to remove a few minor dents. I'm pretty happy with the results of the bumping and welding, but I found it necessary to finish most of the spots of with a small amount of bondo...1/8" at the deepest points.
Here's the problem...I put HOURS into sanding the bondo. First knocked it down with an inline sander using 40 grit, moved onto 80 grit on a hand held orbital sander, then to 120 with the same sander. Covered everything with a skim coat of spot filler, hit it with 120, then 220. It was very smooth to the touch, and, I thought ready for spot painting, so that's what I did. I'm NOT ready to paint the whole truck, so I'm using a high quality spray can paint from an autobody supply store. I just want to cover the work so that the elements won't affect it.
After the paint, I can see the work from 3 ft away EASY. My reflection is perfect on the orginal metal, but when I move to the repaired part, it's pretty obvious because there are subtle waves in it.
How do I get rid of the waves and make the surface as perfect as the original metal surface? They're pretty subtle, but they're there, and it bothers me, especially after putting so much work into smoothing. Block sand? Or?
Also, when I was finish sanding, I wore through the spot putty in a few places, and you can see changes in the texture through the paint. How can I avoid that difference?
I'm very new to body work, so the answer might be obvious for some, but I'm learning as I go.
Thanks...
Chris
