Get the lead in!

My poor old Beetle had definitely seen better days before it found me in 2014.  One of the most awkward spots to tackle was the rust right below the windshield.   Fortunately for me that area was solid but badly pitted with a few holes here and there (small ones).

I knew that putting body filler over top was a poor idea as rust could reform and bubble up under the paint.  I thought of fiberglass, however that was also messy and problematic.  I decided the best approach was to go back in time to the days of lead solder filling.   There is an excellent supplier in the US, TP Tools.

http://www.tptools.com/

I had all the items shipped to my US address and they arrived within 2 business days.  I purchased lead body solder, tinning butter and a copper brush for application.

I have been sitting on this stuff for a couple months and decided to dive in yesterday afternoon.

Here are the shots of the process.

Here we have some small holes and pitting

initial filling of the holes 

I added some more material and smoothed it out.

Overall I am pretty pleased, especially for a first attempt.  I will need to use a thin layer of filler to smooth things out, however it is being applied to metal coated in high build primer.

I hope to have the rest done before class starts on Saturday morning!