Doing bodywork is an art form, you have to know what your "target" or "appearance" your working towards is. Its hard to explain, kind of trying to tell an artist or sculptor what "something" looks like, they have to see it, whether in person or envision it. I see all to often at work bodymen put bondo on, sand it off, put more on, sand it off, mix, apply, repeat. They don't know what they're "target" is.
Art B if you look at Smartin Pic that he posted . Block sand fender and Door on the car together. If you don't it wont look like the red car
Good Morning hugger: I am not experienced enough to start trying to shrink high spots. Taking off "a little" metal sounds a whole lot safer. I never planned to skim coat the entire car. The door was a learning tool.
Hello There scubasteve455: Thanks for the picture. That is very helpful. I have almost all of the filler off the door now and can see the outline shown in your photos. Is it common to get a bit of waviness around the door handle? There are a few high and low spots there, perhaps from years of opening and closing the door.
Art B if you see whiskey dents near handle. Put a light skim coat back over area. Go to Home Depot. Buy a paint stick for stirring 5 gal. Pales. 2 1/2 feet long saw an 8 " section . The paint sticks are thick. And very straight. After sawing in half . Sand the corners with 80 grit . Just to take sharp corner off. When sanding mud of with 80 grit. Half way through when you think your almost there switch over to 150grit. And light' up on hand pressure and some times sand in circular motion . Best advise I can give. Remember. It took me 20 yrs. to get here today. Just trying to help guys that are Trying to get there too. Never use a DA sander on your car body! Hand sand! That paint stick will set you Free.
Here's a picture of the door with almost all of the filler sanded off. The "swoop" is very visible to the hand and seems right. I did find a picture of my car from years ago. The swoop looks good and matches up with the front fender. I will try to a coat of primer on it this week and see how it looks. Thanks to all for your advise!
Here is the yard stick from Lowes. It's thick. So you can hold the sand paper with your thumb and fingers. That thin mud squeegee will flex. For small fill in's
Good Evening scubasteve455: I finally got the filler off the doors and applied a coat of epoxy primer. Depending on the light, the body line is evident. I will switch to white primer going forward. Simple things you find lying around sure can make handy tools. The door hinges have been rebuilt, so sometime soon, the doors will get mounted back on the body. As the chassis is done and well stretch wrapped, sooner or later the body will go back on the chassis and then the fenders, etc. No light at the end of the tunnel yet, but progress is being made. Thanks to you and the others for your advise.
That is a nice door. Rule of thumb. (Primer) 3 coats of high build. Board sand w/150-180 when bare metal starts to appear. Reprime 3 coats of primer surfacer ( highest quality) block sand w/220 . The primer surfacer is not as thick and goes on smoother. Some people will just use high build. Then paint over it. Should use (3) coats of primer surfacer ( like a thick sealer) your paint job will be deeper and shiner.
Even though you are spraying (6) coats of primer technically you are taking off (3). So (3) coats enough. Then (3) coats of color or clear. And the car is finished. UV light and heat from sun wont damage the paint .
My plan, though a way down the road, is to get the epoxy primer as perfect as I can. On top of that K36, DP40LF, then Duracryl. I do need to get the body back on the frame so I can get the fenders on. I am taking the advise that it all need to be sanded together.
Well that's if the front of Doors are damaged. And the fenders are damaged on the edge near the doors if not. You can skip that process.