I maybe getting a little head of myself, but as I am waiting for the roof wood, I decided to move on to doing some body work getting it ready for Highbuild primer and paint.... right now it is under epoxy primer... I pulled the fenders off today and there was a lot of shavings that had rusted between the welting and the fender but didn't cause any damage to the body or fenders it just brushed right off... anyway my question is do I have to use the welting on the fenders, (I only have welting on the front fenders) and if not how many people do away with it.. I was going to paint the car with the fenders off, but I noticed as I loosened the bolts for the back fender and the running board the fender pulled about a half an inch away from the running board in the front..and maybe a 16th of an inch in the back closest to the body of the car.. my other question is if I was to paint the fenders off the car then install them will that mess the paint up such as crack it as the fender gets pulled to the running board... ? if so would it be better to paint the car with the fenders installed? anyones opinion would be appriciated ... the car is a model A

thanks,
simon