85 Carrera - Front Hood Alignment help required

[rob justice]

Picked up the newly painted front hood from paintshop and started to fit the thing over the weekend.
Old hood was damaged by a bird with suicide tendencies.
Prior to painting, I fitted the new hood and it didn't seem too far away.
Now post painting, it's causing plenty head scratching.
The wing gap on one side closes up near to the fuse box area.
My thoughts being - I could cut back all the mastic/sealant/sticky sealing tape in the area, slacken the wing and shim using a few washers.
Other idea is to use either a porta-power or a big block of wood and hammer and push the inner wing out.
Second idea sounds brutal but by all accounts it's the method used when the cars are built - just don't think I have the courage to swing a hammer near to or on my car.
Reckon I might need to strip back the wing and start again from scratch but any advice would be most appreciated.
Cheers
Rob