Bravo! My Beetle Ute project has been on hold this past year while life and another project has had priority but I have layed awake at night thinking about how I wanted to handle this next step when I get back to it. Now I know what I plan to do. Thanks for your advice and for taking the time to shoot this. You rock Mr. Hesterman!
For the Beetle, I always thought a cut line would be an acceptable (and logical) solution for this seam. Achieving that smooth, symmetrical transition here is WAY above my skill set. (I really like UPOL's products BTW.) Thanks for this go-by!
That's what I did ,was close down the gap but still have one present. I was planning to "hide" it by moving the aluminum covers up towards the back of the cab with some trimming and leave a sliver of room. Of course that means fabrication for a new end piece for the trim. I ended up sectioning out the fender tops where the curves are, and moving it forward so it's more like a normal door gap so I'm going to have to lengthen the aluminum trim anyways. Looks tons better already.
You can also lay down a strip of wood that you want to be the thickness of the gap, put foil tape on it and fill right to the tape. I did like 80% of the filling for the fenders with the cab only clamped on and the fenders clamped on. Then when it's all mounted I'm hoping it's less tedious work, those curves and dips are a pain to sand!
I fill the seam with sealer after final paint. Some sealers (tigerseal for example) are paintable but when it flexes, the paint may crack and you still end up with visible cracks.
