Motorcycle gas tank repair

[Mathius]

I'm using rattle can, first off, so I realize this isn't going to be the best paint job in the world. I'm just looking for something to last a season or two, and I want to practice a flame job, so I don't want to waste money on "real" paint. But anyways, here's what I'm dealing with....

I removed the side emblems from my tank, welded the bracket areas so there wasn't as much area for filler, and bondo'ed over it. I sanded down the bondo 'til I could no longer feel any break between the metal and the bondo. Then I sanded down the rest of the tank until I got the milky look that I'm told says it's ok to paint.

I wiped the whole thing down with a tack cloth. I was pretty sure my bondo'ed areas had a few spots that would need touched up with glazing putty, but I was told that you can put glazing putty over primer, so I figured, I'd throw on a few coats of primer and see what I had to deal with.

The first coat I put down was Self-Etching because I had a lot of bare metal showing. Unfortunately after that coat, I could see all kinds of imperfections. There were paint chips in the tank, and the primer did not fill these in. Also, I could see quite clearly where my bondo'ed repair was. The scratches left from the sand paper did not fill in either.

So for a second coat I hit it with a regular old high-build sandable primer. Again, it did not fill in the spots that showed in the first coat.

So, where do I go from here?

Should I stick to my original plan and skim these spots with glazing putty? Do I need to go back to the drawing board and start sanding?

Should I hit it with a guide coat first?

Thanks,
Mathius

[Phil V]

Glazing putty then more primer followed by a guide coat (then more primer after guidecoat sanding).

[MO-Cummins]

It is always a good idea to do all your filler work that you can before you prime, even though, you can fill over the primer this is just the way i prefer myself. I would have glazed the spots feathered out the chips ect before primer, but, thats just me. Second Self Etching primer is meant to be put on pretty thin, its not meant to cover or build at all so seeing your imperfections would be expected. Just do what Phil said. Also when you can glaze those small chips i like to mix up a little glaze and use a razor blade to apply it when it is real small areas. This time i would sand with 180 or 220 then reprime.