Hi, Volks.

This summer, I plan to do some major restoration on my 1990 Vanagon.  I have
quite a few little dings where only the paint came off, particularly around
the edges of the doors.  They're the type of things that happen from twelve
years of daily use.

I want to improve the exterior appearance, but can't afford the type of
paint job that one should put on a car that they hope to use for another
decade or more.  Someone who detailed my car a couple of years ago told me
about a service that was used by local car dealerships.  The proprietor of
the service used a small artist's airbrush to work out these types of minor
paint flaws.

I have a good airbrush system and I'm not afraid to try something new.  Have
any members of this list detailed their paint job using an airbrush?  If so,
I'd appreciate hearing about your experience.  For instance, did you do a
minor fill-in of the paint flaw so that it levels with the original paint
job?  How much did you thin out the paint so that it would it would shoot
easily from the airbrush head?  Did you do any masking to avoid overspray,
or did you control that with the setting on the airbrush?

Any suggestions or sharing of experiences will be appreciated.

- Ken Taylor
  Marysville, Washington