Inspired by my success with Big Red’s cap, I decided to sand down the side rails and top of the doors and hood of the Missing Linc and repaint those parts (the black around the top).
I originally painted it with a paintbrush, and it had a grain to it almost like a piece of wood. I wanted to smooth it out. I don’t want to make a bad impression next week. I’ve got two coats on it, and it’s much better, but I don’t really know if it was worth the effort except for one thing.
I finally figured out how to put a sanding sheet on an orbital sander so it doesn’t come loose in two or three minutes. It only took me 60 years to figure it out. I have to share it. My original sander was one of the 4“ x 8“ approximately things, but now I have one of the 4“ x 4“ palm Sanders.
I used to take a full-size sheet and just cut it in four, and on a rare occasion I would buy the ready made sheets. But here’s what I developed over the last few weeks.
Starting with the right size sheet, I cut the corners off. It may be a 30° angle. The purpose of this is to have the end of the sheet fit completely under the wire bracket that holds it down. The full sheet would always crumpled up on each end. That gets you halfway home.
The aha moment was when I had the thought to fold over the end of the sheet the tiniest little bit. I literally take about 1/8 of an inch of the edge of the sheet that will go under the clip, and I fold it over so it has a Sandy surface on both sides. When you do this, you have to do it just right or the sheet will be too short. But when you do this, the extra grip of the sand on the backside, hold it in place like a rock. Working on those two trucks is the only time I could remember when I would put on a sheet of sanding paper and use it until it was worn out without knocking it off unless I hit a screw or something.
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