Quote:
Originally Posted by gringoloco
Looks good from here!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTI
Agreed. Maybe it's not a Ridler contender.... but it doesn't need to be when the smiles per gallon accumulate.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crakarjax
I like the color, but now that you mention the wrinkles I might plan on doing a matte or satin black on the firewall to conceal some of those imperfections.
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Thanks guys! I hear ya SCOTI ... I know it looks good in the photos and it does look good in person until you get close enough. So I tend to judge paint by distance. Essentially the distance where the paint job turns from looks good to uh oh. So not when I see the first defect but the overall appearance. You guys have probably done/heard the same ... "looks good from 10 ft away" - That's what I call a 10' paint job. A Ridler would be a <1" paint job (which if I can convince one of my buddies on an idea I've got for a Ridler car ...). My firewall was a 2'-4' on the spots with the scratches. The rest of my truck is about a 1' paint job, maybe a little better on the bulk of the exterior body, so I want to at least get close to that. I thinking mainly about the guys that lean in to get a closer look at stuff. Well, actually, more about myself. I just couldn't see myself not fixing it at some point, so planning to fix it now.
Crakarjax - on the wrinkles, I actually never noticed them until I did the paint work. On a fully assembled truck, I'm not sure you'll really see them since the hood will shade that area of the firewall. Guess I'll be able to tell for sure in a few weeks. I hope to get the paint work wrapped up by this weekend and get the cab back on. And also, the metallic does not help that situation. A solid color probably wouldn't show as much even in a gloss.
For the firewall re-work, I probably made it sound worse than it really is. I just took the DA and only touched areas I could hit with the DA and some 320. I avoided too much hand sanding since that is time consuming. Here's some shots with the scuffed clear, pretty much down to the color. I don't need to go any farther as the clear I did spray filled the scratches, so it's really just making a new surface for the new color. Don't need new primer/sealer since I didn't expose any body putty/glaze and it's the same color underneath so it won't bleed. I then plan to hit the scuffed areas with 400 on the DA then do another 600 wet on the whole firewall. This will get rid of the tiny amount of orange peel (that I would have cut and buffed anyway) and put a new surface for the new shot of base color. Then I'll re-clear. So not too bad. I also plan to paint the 2 spots on the back of the cab when I redo the firewall paint so that will finish up this round of bodywork/paint. Left over on the cab is the fuel neck hole. But I've got 2 pinstripes right next to that hole so that will be a separate project maybe this winter after I've played around with pinstripe colors. Just need to temporarily plug the hole. More on that later.
So hopefully color again Friday night. Cut and buff Sat night. Install cab Sunday night. That's the goal. I've got some bodywork to finish up on the cab notch I did and so I plan to get that done tomorrow and shot with primer. The cab corner just needs a round of 400 / 600 wet sanding and it's ready for paint.
