Large scale scratch builder of automotive pieces

[smithbrother]

I build large scale automotive model pieces from scratch, no kits, no prebuilt parts, all from a picture as my inspiration, and my own ideas.

Don't laugh, I'm 82, but I have been a car guy since 1951. I have built 9 models/sculptures over the past 12+ years, most have taken approx. a year to complete. They are wood, I paint with automotive paints, and most people think my pieces are metal. Most are 24" to 42" long. not to boast, but have won many awards at art contest.

I am in my current build for over 27 months, it's a very involved/detailed piece. It is going to be a monochromatic brown piece. Solid Copper is my contrast color.

I have a question, what do pros use to fill very small PIN holes, the size of the tip of a toothpick? I have never been a big fan of SPOT PUTTY, I would like comments on that product too. I sanded the body of wood down to 220, then sprayed FIBERFIL primer, sanded it to 320, then sprayed black lacquer primer. It's called HOT ROD primer. I want the brown topcoat to be dark, so I chose BLACK. This is the first time I have used this product, it seem RUBBERY, IMO. I sanded it to 600, then I sprayed my first top coat of very dark brown, and a very few pinholes appeared. So what is recommended to fill these pinholes?

Thank You,
Dale

 

[chopolds]

Spot putty is old school stuff. The newer version of it is a catalyzed putty. You use it like body filler (but for much thinner applications), but you can sand it easier, with much finer sandpaper. A few versions of it exist, I use Metal Glaze or "Icing", I think both are made by Evercoat. On small stuff I spread it on with a razor blade, for minimum sanding. The only issue I might see with your project is the use of lacquer primer. Using catalyzed stuff over lacquer sometimes gives you problems. You may even want to stick to regular spot putty, though it is an inferior product. It will work fine for very tiny imperfections.

 

[TAZ]

I agree with Chopolds
I also use Icing for a filler. It's well...like icing. I also use a razor blade to fill pits.
I've also used Kombi which works good on last second misses.

I've never heard of the Fiberfil so I looked it up. Seems to be a polestar 4:1 primer. I didn't see a mention of a catalyst
Definitely use a 2K (Primer/Catalyst) as most likely this is a thicker primer than the Fiberfil.
This will probably eliminate any flaws from the get-go. It's more expensive but worth it.
For the black you can probably just use a basecoat black.

Hopefully you are using a spray gun instead of spray cans

Sounds like some cool projects you've done and are doing.