Was going to completely smooth it, but after seeing a green Mk4 with just a pressed plate on the rear, I thought it looked practical but clean, so thats the look i've gone for.

Tailgate at the start (Thanks to Polo-Power on here :) )

Couple of little repairs on the top where the spoiler used to be.

Onto the badge, bit of filler, couple of light skims and it was spot on.

And a quick photoshop of the look i'm aiming for.

My mate took a template of the handle, and has cut me a piece out to be welded over, thats going to be all systems go tomorrow hopefully, bit more filler & sanding here and there, good rub down and then get it into primer, hopefully for Mon/Tue. :)

This is my first time doing any form of smoothing, i've only ever done little bits of body work. I'll fire up some more photos tomorrow once the handles been flushed.

Opinions welcome as always.

Edited 25 March, 200917 yr by Little Man

Gave the badge another skim over as i'd missed a little low spot, got that flatted and shaped, wet 'n' dried & got a couple of very light coats of primer onto it.

After shaping.

After wet 'n' dry.

And into primer.

The handle is being welded tomorrow dinner. :)

Will update as I progress.

Edited 25 March, 200917 yr by Little Man

tis gona look really good. luck forward to progree report :)

Its giving me ideas :)

looking good mate, i like the idead of just the number plate, how u opening you are boot, popper??

always liked the boot smoothing idea, gonna get it done myself when i get some cash! take if you've got a solenoid or something to pop the boot? and just one other concern is the fact you have filled the hole where the vw badge was, i notice alot people put a plate over it and weld to prevent cracking?

always liked the boot smoothing idea, gonna get it done myself when i get some cash! take if you've got a solenoid or something to pop the boot? and just one other concern is the fact you have filled the hole where the vw badge was, i notice alot people put a plate over it and weld to prevent cracking?

it says he did get it plated

great work though, it will look good

Cheers guys!

The plated part was a blonde moment, i've no idea why I put that there. I didn't plate the badge, I asked a couple of panel beaters whether it would be worth plating it over, before I started making templates and cutting metal, and they all basically said they wouldn't bother, as it'd be fine due to it only being 5mm or so deep. It's should be fine.

As for opening the boot, yeah, i'll have to get a popper. Ebay seems to be riddled with them.

hmmmm, i woudl have plated the badge recess , you dont wanna paint the thing up then 2 months later having the bastard cracking

it says he did get it plated

it says about the handle getting plated, not the vw badge which i was referring to

Yeah, i'm beginning to wonder now.

it says he did get it plated

it says about the handle getting plated, not the vw badge which i was referring to

Was a typo fella, edited now.

Edited 22 March, 200917 yr by Little Man

Got the handle welded up today and a skim of filler over it. Also finished up a little repair on the top, and to the right of the plate.

It's starting to come together now. :)

i may do this to my old 6n tailgate , has anyone got any advive ? or has any 1 shrunk the numberplate resses ?

My advice would be take your time, if you rush it, you'll make mistakes. The most important part of any bodywork is the prep work, you could have the best painter on the planet painting your car, but if the prep work isn't 100%, you're gunna have problems.

i may do this to my old 6n tailgate , has anyone got any advive ? or has any 1 shrunk the numberplate resses ?

Chrispy has a shortened plate recess.

i may do this to my old 6n tailgate , has anyone got any advive ? or has any 1 shrunk the numberplate resses ?

Chrispy has a shortened plate recess.

did crispy do a build guide ?

no pictures work!

I know fella, my photobucket bandwidth has died on me.

I'm gunna re-upload them to a different photobucket.

Photos fixed.

Buy this one when it's finished fella if you like, not going to put it on the car at the minute.

Should be cool that fella, get a build thread up when you do it

No worries.

Had an hour spare this afternoon, so got a little repair on the top of the tailgate into shape ready for a final skim, and also shaped, wet 'n' dried and primered the repair to the right of the plate.

I set aside an hour or so after tea to do a bit more to it, was busy for a couple of days towards the end of the week, and yesterday's weather was horrible, so I haden't got much done over the last few days like i'd planned.

Got the handle area flatted down and into shape, and gave it another skim over. I also gave a quick guide coat (little mist of black paint) over the primered badge area, and then blocked it down with some 400 wet & dry which brought up a couple of places I could feel needed a little more work. (Can see them on the first photo, one to the left corner of where the badge was , one to the right corner of the plate recess)

All thats left to do is give the two spots on the badge panel a very light skim of filler, get them into shape (will take minutes) and then flat & shape the handle area. Then it's time to flat the whole panel with wet & dry, working up the grades, get it all wiped down, couple of coats of primer and another quick flat with some fine wet & dry to make sure it's all completely smooth. :)

Not looking to bad mate.

I will give you tip on how to get the line at the bottom of the tailgate even. use some 1inch masking tape, put a couple strips on from edge to edge, give it a guide coat. keep the tape on and sand your filler to it. when your happy with it. round your edge off with abit of p320.

Hope this helps :-)