Painting/primering questions

[Lifer]

OD military paint laughs in the face of strippers. I tried SEVERAL and got nowhere. I think the only way to get the stuff off is to blast it, hot tank it, or burn it off.

Napalm works well, or so I've heard.

[MSeriesRebuild]

Ive got my truck mostly stripped down, all wiring removed, engine components...etc and i started sandblasting it the other day. My truck had at least 4 or 5 coats of paint on it. The rust really wasnt that bad, small spots here and there. My goal was to just sandblast as much of the truck as i could and focus on the rusty areas. Ive gotten almost all of the bed done as of last night and shot some primer on it. I know its not a show car, but its bugging me to see the dips in the paint where the other layers of paint are still there. Theres not a ton of them, but im a perfectionist and cant look past them. I plan on taking the truck offroad somewhat, nothing crazy, but I want it to look nice. Is there a filler primer that would help fill some of this? I really dont want to put and bondo on it due to the truck will probably vibrate and crack it over time. Just looking for some suggestions. I appreciate the help.

I understand perfectly where you are coming from. We do a lot of high end builds for clients that expect perfect paint. I can tell you right up front that you will not get that type of a job if you are just hitting the high spots, it simply doesn't work that way. Nothing wrong with doing the way you are if that's what you want, but forget the perfectionist viewpoint unless you intend to blast it 100% clean, and then start from bare metal working up with all you have to do to reach perfection. It takes tiiiiiiiiiiime and money to create perfection on a body that was never designed to be that way. You'll have to make that decision which way you want to go and be happy with your choice.

Using a glossy paint will multiply every tiny flaw, using a flat finish paint will not show as much generally speaking, however like you said, you know it's there and it will always stand out in your eye. It is impossible to work over mutiple layers of paint and areas of bare metal that intersect and have it unnoticed. You must understand this, when you put 3 coats of high build primer on an area like that, this is what happens. It will cover everything, primer is a flat finish, when you finish sand the primered area, it all looks real nice. It's only an illusion, here's why; you have 3 coats on the bare metal, on the area that still had several coats of paint on it, well that has however many coats of paint on it plus 3 coats of high build primer on top of all that. It is hidden and looks great in primer, however when you apply the top coat, surprise, you will see every spot of paint that was left through the new paint job. You will think why is this, all that was covered with primer and sanded level, NOT. Covered, yes, sanded smooth, yes, level, absolutely not. You cannot level an area by adding primer over paint unless the whole area still has paint on it. What will show through the new paint is this, it will have the appearance of puddles in the areas that had primer only. The high areas where layers of paint was left is higher than surrounding areas, that appearance will show through, don't be fooled. You will see waves and puddles all over the place. The more glossy the paint, the more noticable it will be.

To answer your question of how to improve on that, best option is to blast it clean, start up and level with an equal depth of new primer and top finish. I'm not saying you can't get good paint as far as coverage and functionality over what you have, assuming the paint left in place was good, however it won't be a finished job like you desire based on your description.

[m37_power]

Thanks for the great reply Charles. Its turning out alot better then i thought it would. I finished up the bed and its in primer now. Its not perfect, but im able to work the few areas enough to suit me just fine. My goal is to get the truck looking nice and running and then I may do a complete frame off over time. Im not looking for a perfect truck, just a decent looking one with little to no rust on it. Thats my first goal is to stop all the rust i can. That way i can do whatever i want with it over time. I really appreciate all the replys guys.