Resin on the left side of the head sanded smooth. It tightened the planking up nicely. You can see the cured brown resin in the gaps on this close-up picture:
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And a full shot. The large chip filled in nicely too:
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It was asked about the glazing putty. In this closeup you can see the fine curly-q scratches from the sanding pad even though it was sanded with 220. From here, I'll final sand by hand with a slightly higher grit and this side will be ready for priming.
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Overall shot for perspective.

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Glazing putty hand sanded. Here you can see the swirls that were filled. These swirls are a result of having to use a powered sander to sand the lightweight filler skim coat. The lightweight is needed to fill the larger inclusions. The red is obviously the glazing filling any remaining open grain and micro scratches. Now that this is done I can almost move on to primer and start the glazing and hand sanding process all over again.

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I like to put a nice fresh, clean 45 degree bevel on the cabinet outside bottom edges. It's near impossible to free hand it with an orbital sander. You invariably change the angle of the sander so the outside edge undulates up and down. This is especialy critical when installing/trimming decals. I'm sure there's a tool for this and if so please link me. I always just end up making a 45 degree beveling sanding block out of scrap 2x4's. I present my marvel of ingenuity, lol.

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And the result is a beautiful, straight 45 degree bevel. IMG_2877 (resized).JPGIMG_2878 (resized).JPG

I don't own a router. Scraps of wood = free. Only took me a couple minutes to sand and make the block.

Looking for input. Top or bottom size? I'm pretty sure I'm going with the bottom size. IMG_2880 (resized).JPG

Thanks for the quick feedback. You guys confirmed my inclination.

It's definitely a trade-off but in the end the top is just too small and would get swallowed visually.

I sprayed out my gold sample to see how it would look. My back door just so happens to be a similiar red as the cab will be to get an idea. I was going to go more yellow gold but I think it would be too flashy.
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I'm still working on prepping the head. It is/was a mess with tons of veneer chipping, planking and gouges and dings. I'm going to have as much time in the head as I do in the base cabinet...

They are all automotive paints made by Sherwin-Williams Automotive. I have the base coats made in the economical dimensions line.
The problem is most of the deep colors (i.e. Red) require their high quality lines such as Ultra 7000. Sherwin Automotive doesn't do electronic color eye matches so everything starts with a stock color close to the target then alter the formula from there. The red I chose for the cabinet isn't the deep maroon from the factory. I matched the red on the playfield. I haven't sprayed a sample card yet but I'm assuming while it's not exact, it will end up being close enough. Keep in mind my gold is not even close to the color from the factory. That's a mustardy yellow. The primer is a 2k high solids urethane primer. It's fantastic. Be prepared, auto paint isn't cheap.

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I know commercial stores do. I have dealt with them for a long time. This is only my second experience with the automotive arm. The manager is either lying to me or they truely don't have one. I'll call the VP of sales for the east coast in the morning and get to the bottom of it. I spent two hours in the store messing with color matches.

Thanks Mike.

I'm trying to get primer on this weekend but I have my doubts. Getting the head back in shape has been rough. It was in bad, bad shape. Small update. The back panel of the head is made of pressed board and is swollen and warped in places. I first lightweight filled the major areas and then sanded and leveled. After that I skimmed the whole thing with glazing putty. IMG_2891 (resized).JPG

After block sanding the glazing putty, you're left with this. The spots of red are filler in the porous areas of the pressed board and over all low spots. IMG_2892 (resized).JPG

A couple thoughts. I'm still impressed with my choice to go with a new filler as opposed to using bondo. With bondo, I was constantly fighting gummed up sandpaper. Now I don't replace sand paper unless it's worn. No gumming. It makes up its cost alone in wasted sand paper. Curing times are still consistent it still applies buttery smooth.
The other thought is how did I live so long without a good quality air powered sander. On all my other restorations, I used an electric orbital sander. They're heavy, loud and difficult to adjust the speed on the fly. With an air powered sander, I can feather the speed with the air paddle or permantly throttle it with the regulator on the side of the sander. It makes feathering seem almost too easy. I don't know how got along without it.

Fingers crossed I get into primer today...

Thankfully I was able to get primer on. It appears that the diligent prep work will lead to minimal rework after the primer is sanded.

Nice and reflective. A good indication of a smooth, closed grain surface
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This is also the first test of my new paint booth setup. It worked out better than I had hoped. Overspray was quickly jettisoned and exhausted out the side window from the positively pressurized room. Success. Finishing up next weekend. A few more pictures.
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Thank you.

A little test sanding on the worst parts of the head to see how much, if any additional work is needed. These sides were severely planked with the veneer split up to an 1/8" in some places. There were also large chips and voids. Very silky smooth. So far so good! IMG_2899 (resized).JPGIMG_2900 (resized).JPG

Got my cut rails back today. The look great but I may have screwed up going with the bigger sized font. I will know better when I get them attached properly. IMG_2909 (resized).JPGIMG_2911 (resized).JPG

Color on finally. I'm really happy with the color match. The surfaces turned out smooth as glass. Look at the reflection. That's without a clear coat. Up next is the stencil and the gold.

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Thanks guys. Gold on. I was wrong to be worried if I picked the right gold. It's perfect. Clear up next.

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Clear on. Everything was looking outstanding

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...until a dreaded run. $&@!?. A nickel sized run in otherwise beautiful clear coat finish. Time to wet sand. IMG_2942 (resized).JPG

Thanks guys. Other than my tiny flub, it is stunning. It's 10x better than the pictures show.

No kidding. Every time I nitpick a small inclusion, I have to remind myself where the cab started from. The head was in bad shape.

Use 1,000 then 1,500 and the 3,000 grit wet/dry sandpaper wet then sand, sand, sand. Then buff and polish. Probably a couple hours of work for a damn nickel sized mistake.

So I started working out the run.
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I'm going to reshoot the side, then sand it all to level any orange peel then cut,buff and polish. I have never cut and polish clear before so this will be a first for me. I have a Mikita buffer coming Tuesday along with 3m foam pads and liquids. Crossing my fingers. I'm dipping my toes into something new but I want the sides to look like glass.

The whole side. I needed more fine grit wet/dry paper.

Thanks for the kind words. I figured I'd post the 100th post in this thread. Wet sanding going well. Areas not close to the gold are nearly completely flat, void of orange peel. Near and around the gold, there is still slight peel but I'm deathly areas of breaking through the clear into the gold. I'm also concerned about wet sanding the mdf back/bottom. That stuff swells just looking at water. Very close to buffing. If all goes well, I'm going to shoot more clear on the other side and wet sand/buff it next. After that, I may venture into clearing my own playfields.

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