This is the El Camino hood with a piece of .040 styrene glued in the hole. You can't really tell from this pic, but even though the El Camino hood fits the Chevelle wagon body pretty well, there were gaps on the sides and at the cowl.
The plastic repair was rough sanded to shape with 100 grit paper used wet, and then smoothed out with medium and fine sanding sticks. Then came the putty.
The first coat of putty was sanded smooth. A second, thinner coat went over the top, and was wet sanded with some 400 grit. Another piece of .040 styrene cut to shape to represent the stock hood "bulge". This piece was glued down with a good bit of Ambroid Pro Weld and left to dry for 24 hours. Then came the rough shaping with some 80 grit sandpaper and a coarse sanding stick to get the basic shape. Feathering the front edge of the bulge into the existing hood took a little time and patience, but in the end the joint was almost seamless. Medium and fine sandpaper smoothed everything out.
At this point, some .010 strip plastic was added to the sides and back of the hood to get it fit the body better, and it closed up the gaps nicely. After some more putty and some final shaping, a piece of stretched sprue was glued on to replicate the stock character line in the center of the hood. Testor's Liquid Cement was applied liberally to the center piece to get it to blend with the rest of the hood. When the glue dried, some 000 steel wool was used to feather the front and rear edges of the sprue into the hood bulge.
The finished piece is not exactly stock. The hood bulge is about 1/16" too wide and a smidge too tall, and I haven't bothered to replicate the stock hood ornament. But for about an hour's worth of time, and a few scraps of styrene, I now have a different hood to go with the '66 Chevelle wagon, in case I don't want to use the "SS" hood that came with the kit.
-YL
