To fill or not to fill?

Hi,

Getting back into building my GR-1SF kit. I did a fair bit of body prep but then it stalled.... so now I have a couple of weeks off and want to work on it.

There are quite a few places on the body where bits of wood have come out of the grain. Not from sanding, it was like this when I received it. Typical of plywood. Here's a couple of shots:

Attachment 21353

and

Attachment 21354

There's quite a few areas like this.

So what's the consensus? Should I get some sort of grain filler, or will they not be noticeable once I've stained and Dingotoned it?

I'm leaning towards filling; anyone know of a good filler I can use?

Cheers,

Pete

Sorry Pete, you will have to fill. DT will not fill those gaps. You should be able to use Timbermate. The trick will be getting the colour right.

Probably best off with a neutral/natural coloured filler. The basswood is very light, and any of the coloured fillers will almost certainly be a darker yellow of brown. Plus a neutral filler should take up any stain better than a pre-coloured one.

Thanks guys, yeah figured I would have to fill them in. Was wondering if I could just use something like Timbermate. They make a neutral colour that looks like it might be close. Off to Bunnings on Saturday then.

Cheers,

Pete

Yep, natural Timbermate should do the trick. Could be worth mixing in a few drops of the stain when you are 'wetting' the TM to turn it into a slurry so that the filler is coloured same as stain going over the top.

Yep Timbermate - will take the stain, but may take it differently to the rest of the wood, so maybe consider Waz's recommendation above.