Thanks for the words of encouragement guys!
Nutter3 you have a good point about cleanup. Although I'd like to keep the truck out of the weather between sandings and primings and such. I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it but you are right, the amount of work I put into rebuilding that bed is probably more work than pulling a couple small dents and patching two tiny rust spots and prepping the body.

Vabow you hit a great point too, practice will go a long way. And how do you eat an elephant? One bite.. Er... Panel at a time. lol. In fact that gave me an idea on how to do a practice run and learn as I go. A neighbor gave me a 1988 F-150 4x4 short bed a few months back. It was a cool truck in its day til some teenager got ahold of it. Put a $60 fuel pump in it and it runs good. The side exit straight pipes, push button starter, and stickers had to go! But the awful red crappy paint job and cab corner rust would be a great practice run in preparing myself to take on painting the highboy myself. It was originally a similar blue color. I could patch the cab corner on it and paint it blue again to familiarize myself with the tools and techniques. If I screw up oh well, it was a free truck.

 

Haha. Mistakes will be made. I started on the firewall and cab bottom, then Inside cab. Thought I had the hang of it --and promptly screwed up spraying the cab and fenders. The second try was better. Then I got the doors done, they seem much better. Next is my hood. It has a bunch of hail dents (same as the top of the cab, which I didn't do great on). I should be getting to the body work on it next week once I'm back in town from work. If you have time you can read through my trials and tribulations:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...1975-f250.html

 

Nutter3 thats a great thread! Thanks for sharing. Really neat that you are in Alaska. Surprised there isn't more rust damage on your truck.
I have some friends in Kenai, and in Wasilla. I love going up there!