Touch-up painting...

[Joe Kriston]

Sometimes,when I read about what some of you guys are doing,....dragging home a trailer full of rusty nuts and bolts and sheetmetal,...and maybe a good 4x4 front axle,and then start embarking on your truck projects with welders,sandblasters cutting torches and engine hoists....and of course,rattle-can spraypaint,...well,..it does seem to make my little projects a little less daunting...

Anyway,I found an excellent condition tailgate for my truck...Original paint...just a few scratches in the paint and a dent at the very top that looks like somebody backed into a 1" pipe with the gate down...This dent could be hidden with one of those chrome or stainless covers that protect the top of the tailgate...

All right,now to the touch-up question....I don't want to paint my whole truck because the paint is excellent and shiny,and I'm proud of the fact that it's the original paint...However,now,I have to paint my tailgate...And since I need to get paint for that,I thought I would also like to paint the top of the bed where the camper shell wore away the paint in places and there are also three scratches currently in the paint made by bicycle pedals that I wish would go away...

My specific questions are how to touch up the scratches in the paint on the truck,painting the bed top and blending it in with the current paint(if possible)...Finally,I'm not going to use the stainless (smaller)"F-O-R-D" tailgate cover and lower trim,since it wouldn't match up with my truck...What's the easiest way to fill in the rivet holes w/o welding them?...Thanks for your help...

PS. If any body is interested in the Sport Custom "FORD" tailgate cover and lower trim piece(They're good but not perfect),they can have them for the shipping cost..

[flyboy2610]

Don't really know what to tell you about the paint, but as as for the holes I would fill them in with JB Weld putty and smooth it out.

[Joe Kriston]

Yeah,Flyboy,maybe one of these days Red Green will add JBWeld to his repertoire' along w/ duct tape..The stuff's great...I wonder if it's hard to sand,'tho....

[flyboy2610]

I would smooth it out as best I could while it's moist and then use a power sander (maybe an electric drill) to try and finish the job.

[Heavenlyfire]

If you let it dry all the way, you have to grind it down. Great stuff!!!

[Chasbod]

Hey Joe,

I'm in the same boat. I'm close to doing a deal on a very nice 71 original that will need some touch up here and there without doing a total repaint. I'm talking to a paint shop owner that does a little restoration work. He say's that the color matching technology has improved tremendously so that it's easier to match the aged paint on the rest of the vehicle. What I don't know right now is whether they can blend an area without having to paint the whole panel. The truck had a camper on it which has left a nice 1" wide strip of surface rust down the bed rail.

[Joe Kriston]

Yeah,Chas,those camper shells can be a blessing and a curse...Usually,if they've been sitting on the truck a long time,it means the bed's probably in good shape,the bedsides are clean 'cuz nobody was loading compressors and such into the bed from the side,...and the guy probably used the truck more for fishing than working....But the downside,like you said, the bed tops will be worn down from the camper,and there's usually a few holes drilled into them to hold the camper down...Plus,like in my case,nobody had any idea where the tailgate was....

I'm debating whether to find a painter guy to do this or get my feet wet,and try to do some of this myself...I'd hate to have three big mismatched,yellow blobs where three thin scratches once were...