styrene/hard body paint prep
 

do I have to use putty/fillers offered by tamiya or other hobby grade companies or can I use regular auto body filler?

an auto body filler will be more porous than the hobby grade fillers... however most hobby grade fillers are more like a glazing puddy. very smooth going on with little to no pores.... how ever it should be kept very thin! like 1/16th-1/8th of an inch.

the only place that it will be think is on a few edges and those have less then 1/16 inch cracks that need to be filled."thumbsup"

I find that Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty filler to be much better than the hobby grade stuff such as Squadron green or white filler. The Bondo goes on much smoother, doesnt shrink as much and works better. I won't work with hobby grade any more.

YMMV.

so your saying good old bondo from the paint shop is the stuff to go with?

no not regular bondo, its an automotive grade spot puddy and glazing compound.. you can either get two part or one part... for your application the one part airdry would probally work well.

you can get this stuff at most automotive stores and autobody supply shops for 5-10 bucks