Not having very much previous experience in bodywork, I turned to the internet for help. I discovered a great video on panel repair: panel repair. This guy is great, shows a lot of tricks in a series of quick videos. He uses a slapper, which really works well and should greatly reduce the amount of filler that will go into my car.
I couldn't find a slapper so I made one. Nothing more then a 1/8" piece of metal, 15" long by 1 1/2 " wide with 2 bends in the middle. I rounded the corners and beveled the edges to reduce any unwanted damage to the panels. It works GREAT! I cant believe the dents and dings that come out. It can be very time consuming but very satisfying.
The fellow on the video also uses a shrinking disk. A stainless steal disc on a grinder. The idea is as you run the disc over the panel it will contact all the high points. These high spots become very hot quickly, with a quick squirt of cold water these high points actually shrink back down. It works well on steel but with aluminum I take a lot of caution, the disc can remove aluminum from the panel leaving a scar.
Although it's hard to get a proper picture, I've shown here a door skin that I was ready to throw out because it was to far gone. The right side has been slapped for about 3 hours and it has come out great, I find that the skin even has become more ridgid. The small nicks are from an over enthusiastic body man using a grinder or such to remove the paint, these will be easy to fill.
The other door skin is slightly better off, but will require a good amount of work as well. The boot lid and has very slight dents and should only need minimum of work.
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