No worries chaps! I understand exactly what you are saying. This truck could never be perfect, even if true craftsmen were paid to do each job. I am considerably less than a 'craftsman', trust me.
Besides, the object is to present a finished product that will have a long life and be maintenence free as is possible. So for me the mantra is "do it well once, never have to do it again". Hows that for naive thinking?
I got the primer / spray filler on the cab rear, this afternoon. While I have endevoured to eliminate 'post built' damage, this will not be achieved, and the best I can hope for is to remove heavy damage and minimise those tricky little bits that don't show themselves until you get a nice even top-coat of paint.
As I was beating and filling the dents & high spots, I have been very mindful NOT to cover any of the spot welds. These have been left alone. You can see them in the above photo. I agree with both you gentlemen, in that these things show the true construction method and should not be 'improved' upon. In all honesty, I actually like the wavy finish of the original build. I don't like leaving deterioration or damage that has obviously occured in the decades after the war.
I did go ahead with coating the rear panel inside with a good quality low-build stone guard. It is discrete, and once painted it should not look out of place. It does cover the small lows & highs that I couldn't get completely flat.
As I said yeserday, the anti-squeak was made while waiting for the primer to dry. When I wanted to cut the rubber where bolt holes go, I was scratching my head as to what could be used to mark the black rubber well enough to locate the right spot for punching holes. Simple answer = liquid paper pen!!
When I was working on the cab floor frame, I was surprised to see some of the welding was worse than mine. Immensely strong no doubt, because there is soooooo much of the weld, and such heavy reinforcing to the frame base. One thing I wondered about is a little round stamp of many seperate divits. These are found in many places around the cab frame. Are these from some part of the building jig? Is it something to assist with bending to shape?
Either way, don't worry, they are still there. I didn't cover them with filler
Your comments are always welcomed chaps, and your advice is greatly valued!
