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One day...this year :) I will be working the body work of the car I'm rebuilding (Skoda 120 Estelle '72) and one of the things I want to do is to hide a line it has half way down, from tip to tail. I hate it :) it is not well placed aesthetically.

It is a line not too deep (and in this car, even less deep because lots of layers of putty) and I wonder if with coarse body filler I could hide it without having the risk of getting the filler off because the depth it needs to cover (maybe 1/4" to 1/2", about 1cm). My idea is to use coarse filler to hide the line, then thin to work the panels completely. Would it work?

enter image description here

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  • This would make a bulge the size of the line, surely?
    – James Monger
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 21:32
  • Not if we apply putty from the line upwards, since that line raises the surface downwards...maybe adding the putty from line, upwards, up to the handles
    – Aram Alvarez
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 22:25

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If this car were to come in to my shop with the request of removing the body line down the middle using only filler. I would take a body hammer (one with a pointed end) and knock the body line in so that it would be an inny and not an outtie. Be extremely careful not to concave the entire panel doing this.

Doing this will save you extensive hours of shaping and feathering the putty so that it doesn't look pregnant.

My favorite to start with is a fiberglass filler, you can generally cut this down really quick with a 60 grit. I would recommend an air file for this. if not than an 8" single action sander. (You will spend alot of time at this point using a DA pad)

Use the lighter fillers when you have the shape down, and feather it out using that DA sander from 120-240 grit.

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  • Its current bodywork has a lot of putty in such way that line is not really as sharp as in the photo. In fact, it gets almost invisible by near to the headlights. I can even the panels as you say...or just add putty from line up to fade it towards the door handles "invisible" line for instance? I don't think I have access to fiberglass stuff.
    – Aram Alvarez
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 22:22
  • When working over pre-existing putty it is good practice to remove as much of it as possible. When putty builds up over time in layers - it can cause chemical reactions in everything from prime to clear, it also becomes very hard to create a smooth finish. Another reason is that if there is too much filler built up, it might not stay on the panel.
    – 4LPH4NUM3R1C
    Commented Feb 1, 2017 at 21:32

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