Body Work Sucks

I am now into the body work on the Ford. I have never been very good at it mostly because I become impatient and get in a hurry. This time I hope to do a better job and take whatever time that is needed to get a decent job. I got the entire body and front end stripped down to bare metal. I used a combination of wire brush attachments for the drill, various discs for the grinder and paint stripper. The stripper worked well to get the heavy stuff off without making a dusty mess and then finish off with a 80 grit disc. I did sandblast a few parts but that is really a mess with the sand going everywhere but it works well on really rusty areas. I used a hammer and dolly on many of the dents and dings and also cut out the rusty areas and replaced with new metal. I didn't want the bare metal to flash rust so I shot the entire truck with epoxy primer before I started the dent repair. This was my first time with epoxy primer and it did not turn out very well. I failed to thin the paint so it went on to thick and has an orange peel effect. I will have to take it down to the metal again once I finish the body filler and reshoot the primer before I get it painted. I am sure it will take me all winter to get to that point. This is the third winter it has been in my garage and it will probably be there for at least one more.