Filling gaps in wood bodys

[Davey1916]

Hey all,
been browsing this site for years now and only just decided to sign up.

I'm building a 1916 torpedo speedster which I have built the entire body for including fenders hood and wooden body.
My question is, I have a basic hard wood frame made from karri (a local flexible hardwood) and into the frame iv installed 3/4" marine ply. My wood working skills aren't the best so I do have quite a few gaps that need filling prior to paint and I was wondering what the best filler would be? I guess I need something flexible but unsure as to what is the done thing.

Thanks
Cam from Australia

[Allan]

Cam, it would help if you can post some pictures of the gaps you want to fill. In general, a plywood base will move least so the gaps will remain relatively stable. The plywood should be screwed, but NOT glued in place, so the body base can flex with the chassis. Whatever is used to fill gaps will inevitably crack with the flexing, so something flexible is best. If the gaps are wide enough to take a filller strip of timber, that can be glued on one side, leaving the other to move as the flexing goes on. There really isn't a filler good enough to compensate for poor initial fit and still make a good joint which will hold up under paint.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

[Humblej]

As Allen has stated, filling a seam with filler will not stand up to normal flexing and movement of the wood. What was generally done with wood bodies was to hide the joints and seams with a decorative strip of wood or metal. The most common would be a low profile 1/2 round or better description would be a half ellipse. This was so common and popular that even after bodies went to steel panels a decorative beading was usually added around doors and joints just like the wood bodies had. Beading also helps hide imperfections and ill fitting doors and panels. These metal strips are available from some of the usual model t vendors as an aluminum extrusion that you can bend and shape easily and attached to the wood with nails.

[Davey1916]

Thanks for the replies guys,
I thought that might be the case with the gaps.
With the gap hiding did they use the eclipse metal/wood and then paint it or was it more of a flashy show piece?
I guess there is always a way to hide in perfections.