I learned a fair bit about masking off a vehicle during this phase. Developed a "new" technique for getting a perfectly straight line. I'm sure all of the old pros know this, but it was new for me. I first masked off a line with just tape, in order to get the line perfect, then I attached the plastic with a SECOND line of tape, keeping about a quarter inch back from the primary line. That way I didn't have to try to make a perfect line while wrestling with twenty pounds of windblown plastic.

After reading about how they undercoat cars in England, I decided to do a modified version of it on my rig. What I did was bring the paint from the inside up and over the edges to the outside. Then, when I paint later on, a little of the bed liner is exposed on the outside, but gets painted over with the final body paint color. It makes those edges a little rough, but the protection is superior.

When you see a dent like this in a fender, be warned, the rig has probably been rolled, and the fender is probably not straight, even though it appeared to be straight to me. Had I known this, I would have replaced this fender prior to painting. As it stands now, it's visibly tweaked, and in straightening it, I'll probably crack my paint and have to repaint this fender.