How to get rid of those filler-lines?

[The Creative Explorer]

I need your help guys, it has been troublesome for me forever, but I always have a hard time getting rid of filler-lines.

I have been sanding and filling over and over now for a week on my Impala, but I can not get rid of a few little lines on the body, as show in the attachment. I have tried all the tricks and I can not get any good result. Most of the times at some point I had enough luck to get it finished, but not on this one.

What can I do?

I tried using glue as filler

I tried using filler as filler

I tried sanding with a little piece of sandpaper on my fingers

I tried sanding with a sandingblock

I tried sanding with a flexifile-technique

I am desperate

[Erik Smith]

When you say "glue", what kind of glue? Have you tried super glue with accelerator? Run a bead along the line your filling, shoot some accelerator on it and repeat until filled (wipe excess accelerator off between glue applications). The super glue dries to a very hard plastic. If you tried this already, I don't know what else to add.

I assume you are talking about the area where the trim normally goes? Is that filled with filler? What kind? Try a two part filler if you used something like model putty from a tube.

[Guest]

Try using Plasti Cote primer. It fills very well. Spray 2-3 coats on the area and let dry. Sand lightly until the primer is smooth again,but don't sand all of it back off. You want the plastic in that area to remain covered with primer. Repeat if necessary. Also,try brushing a coat of future over the area before you primer. It will settle into the lines and help fill them.

[BKcustoms]

I ran into this problem a while back on a pro mod body. After trying all kinds of things I brushed some spare primer I had from working on my 1:1 on in a thick coat and wet sanded it until it was smooth.

[Agent G]

At this stage you need something "liquid" that can be built up in layers ans sanded smooth. Repeated coats of primer, Mr. Surfacer, or thinned putty would be my choices. Mr Surfacer is a jar of well, thinned putty, LOL. It can fill seams quite well.

Another trick I have used is typewriter correction fluid. "White Out" is easy to apply, dries fast, and sands beautfully. It will take any kind of paint and not be affected.

G

[brad4321]

My favorite putty is Tamiya. Every kind I've tried not Tamiya I thought was weak in comparison. When I first started filling seams, I had the most danged trouble. But eventually I got it. What did I learn along the way? I don't know. I just eventually got it. I just throw some putting on there - enough to fill the gap but the least amount as possible. Then after it dries, I use one sanding stick gritty enough to take the putty down to level. Then two more sanding sticks to get it super smooth. Shoot some primer on and see where needs additional work and do so. Good luck.

[Mike Kucaba]

I know you don't want to here this,but grind or file out the trimline area and refill with strip styrene attached with CA glue. Using accelerator is and option(I don't but others do,nothing wrong with either). sand smooth and skim coat with a two part polyester putty. Here in the U.S. I would then prime with DuPont Vari-Prime,but I don't know what the same would be in your country.

[my66s55]

Find a store that sells auto paint in spray cans and look for a can of build primer or scratch filler. Follow Plowboy's instruction and problem solved.

[Harry P.]

The trick to removing those lines is to send them away using progressively finer grits of sandpaper. Each progressively finer grit takes out the scratches left by the previous grit, until all of the scratches are removed. If you go through 3-4 steps using finer grit paper each time, the scratches will disappear.

Once you have the scratches out, you'll probably want to deepen those door panel lines. Carefully. You don't want to gouge the surrounding plastic and be right back where you started.

[Mike Kucaba]

The lines if I see this right are from removing the trim. He's fighting the plastic memory ghosting this back.Even after careful sanding & priming and it appears they are gone,subsequent applications of topcoats will soak thru and come back.Another option would be to use an acrylic water based primer,or solvent based enamel.Any lacquer based will soak in and cause the lines to reappear. Last resort may be a coat of Future acrylic. BTW,rescribe the door lines before they disappear.

[MrObsessive]

Like Mike, I'm also seeing reappearing trim from where you sanded. As he mentioned, you can sand this till you're old and gray, and the ghosting will always reappear as the solvents in the paints will cause this to do so.

The only sure fire way to get rid of the ghosting is a trick I learned from Ted "Chopper" Lear years ago. First, you want to sand away the trim as you've already done. Then, take some liquid glue (Ambroid Pro Weld is my favorite) and liberally spread the glue on the area you sanded using the brush they provide, or a beat up paint brush.

Let this area thoroughly dry. When dry, you'll see how the area ghosted again------I know of no hotter solvent than liquid glue itself. You can then sand away again carefully------you've now taken the memory away from that area, as you'll see when you paint or if you want to test it, spread liquid glue on that same spot and SHAZAM! No more ghosting!

For some extra insurance, you may want to spray on a few coats of Future, but I don't think you'll need to after doing this. I've been using this method, and I've seldom had an issue with reappearing scripts, or trim, or mold lines for that matter.

Hope all this helps!

[weasel]

also, looks like the primer is a little 'hot'...went on kinda thick maybe?? try using many 'lite' coats of primer making sure the last coat is way dry...

conversley, if you use hobby enamel to paint the car with, the lines will not re-appear...

[Erik Smith]

I believe this is the Revell '59 Chevy kit, correct? The molding is not molded in - it is a separate piece - so would that still ghost on the edge of the filler in the valley where the trim is supposed to go?

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks all for your help,

I am sorry to reply so late, but I did lost the motivation to work on the car for a bit. But just for Christmas, I started on it and worked on it some more.

I don't know where I am now, since I need to shoot some primer to see. You can't feel the lines, but they are there.

What I did this time and didn't do before, and learned from the thread, is to built layers. I always use liquid glue from Revell, but keep it with one coat. This time I applied it by brush, let it dry and added a 2nd and 3rd layer.

I now put some new putty on, will sand it and see where I am and if it helped me further.

The problem is however not ghosting, like Erik mentions. The '59 Chevy has the trim molded as separate chrome pieces and I used those to fill the gap. So I had a good, styrene base to start with.

In the next couple of days, I will keep sanding on the car and shoot some more primer, and update the result in here.

Thanks again for helping me out and I am still open for more suggestions.

[VW Dave]

I would say that MrObsessive's suggestion would be the trick, and Bill's work speaks volumes about his abilities.

Before offering any advice, my question would be: what filler(s) have you tried to use?

[The Creative Explorer]

I have no doubt about Bill's method, and I 100% agree with him, I use the same tricks for that problem.

However, Bill is mentioning a solution for the ghosting-effect, created by hot-primers.

The problem I have is the transition between a filled in part and the body itself, not from ghosting.

I use Alabastine auto-plamuur, you will probably not be familiar with that. It is a automotive fine-grit filler, works perfect for this kind of stuff and scratches. And the primers I use are a acryllic primer (and therefore not hot) and Alclad2 grey

[VW Dave]

I'm thinking that one of the issues you're having is putty shrinkage. What I would do is clean out the lines between the body and the filler(trim) piece, and glue some thin styrene sheet into the gap before you continue filling and sanding. Just like doing body work on a real car, using similar material to the body can help reduce the amount of filler needed.