Okay well to answer your first question, I just use 80 grit on a cordless Black & Decker sander on the legs and take that down to 180 Grit. And then throw a few coats of paint on them.
I have an 18 lb tumbler that I bought from Harbor Freight don't waste your time on the 5-pound ones you can't get enough stuff in those. I use Walnut shells and then flitz Tumblr polish additive stuff. You can't put a lot of the coin door stuff in the Tumblr for good 24 hours clean it up real nice.
If I have to polish anything out I just use that drill with that polishing pad and some mothers.
Then sanding down the cabinet, I belt sand with 80 grit to strip it down quick. I then bring it back in the shop fix all the damage. Then to get my repairs sanded down I'll use 80 grit down to 180 down to 220 hitting the entire cabinet with all those with a vibrating sander.
If there's any small scratches or dings I'll use spot body putty filler. Once I get everything the way I like it and I spray the primer on there I use my vibrating sander and hit the primer with 220 spray another coat or two and then hit that with 400 to level everything out then spray the color.
That's basically the routine I'm not saying that's the best way to do it but that's just the way I've been doing it turns out pretty good good luck working on your Mata Hari make sure you post lots of pictures of it.
When you start taking it apart take tons and tons of pictures so you can remember how to put it all back together especially the coin door about the time you think you've taken enough pictures take a whole bunch more
Good question
Franklin, VA
