I have quite a bit of experience using both plastic filler and lead as well
as epoxy resin and fiberglass. The plastic filler (Bondo) will work 90% of
the time and is the easiest of the three to use. The primary advantage of
lead (or body solder) is that it adhears much better than the other two and
is relatively hard vs the other two. Use it if the repaired area flexes
(like the seam of a patch panel on a panel that flexes like a door) or is
subject to abuse (like slamming doors, etc). The glass mix is harder than
bondo and adhears better but is a little messier to work with. It works nice
for large open areas like rust holes where the rust area is not big enough
to justify welding in a patch panel. Patch with several layups of glass and
epoxy resin (or polyester resin if you cant get epoxy) and then do final
filling with epoxy resin with a filler like micro ballons to make it thick.
I am currently restoring a A-H BJ7 and of the three methods, I employed
bondo about 95% of the time and lead in about 5%.
Olin Kane
okane@usa.net
Albuquerque
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