Day 48 through 52 - Bondo and sand, Bondo and sand, Bondo some more ...

So, it's been months, and I think I've racked up about five-ish days worth of Bondo and sanding in that time (honestly, I've lost count).

I applied some initial Bondo to the shoulders in November, mostly to the lower, flat area, and the part at the bottom of the front trapezoid.  Also covered were the upper and front areas of the gunboxes and the angled upper portion between them.  Once dried (and probably a few days or weeks later), I sanded them down with a combination of sureform rasp, file, 80-grit sandpaper, and orbital sander with 120-grit pad.

Some weeks later, I Bondo'd and sanded the top of the shoulders. No pic of that.

Forward the clock (or travel by TARDIS) to this month, just a few days ago.  I dremeled down the angled foam and applied more Bondo.  I also applied Bondo to the gunbox recesses with my finger.  This was sanded down a day later or so with the same tools listed above.  The gunbox recesses were sanded using a torn-off section of 80-grit all rolled up to the size of a pencil.

I thought I had trimmed enough of the foam down to make a fairly thick layer of Bondo (per Avonlea22's advice), but running my finger along the flat area I had sanded down months ago, I discovered that the Bondo layer was a little squishy.  I dremel-sanded down those thin areas between the spacers that were the squishiest and re-Bondo'd them tonight.

Also tonight, I trimmed off the upper corners of the trapezoid (and the weird areas behind the gunboxes) using the dremel and a box cutter, because they were also kind of squishy with the foam underneath.  Then I flipped the shoulders upside down and re-Bondo'd them.

Finally, since the whole thing was flipped, I Bondo'd the bottom of the shoulders.  So, now, all of that is curing.  I'll need to sand and put at least another layer on pretty much everything and sand, just to get all the lines tidy and bits ready for priming.  Ugh, this part is so bleargh.

One minor travesty—since I keep everything stacked up (fender, skirt, and shoulders, at least), I was at one point standing on the fender without really realizing it as I was working on some close Bondo detailing.  I heard a *crack*, and looked down.  One of the sections of the fender had separated from the one adjacent to it.  I think this was due to the interior of the fender not yet being reinforced with fiberglass tape.  I'm not too bovvered, though; when I get round to applying the fiberglass, I'll re-glue it the night before.