peeling paint,filling trim holes streebeat ragtop

[vdubbin1967]

i am going to attempt to prep my 67 bug for paint.1st i have stripped the windows, fenders,etc, the guy i bought the car from took all the chrome trim off the sides and filled the holes with bondo which from the inside it can easily be pushed out.i dont want to spend a ton of money and i dont know how to weld so is there any tricks to filling these holes,what kind of filler do i use that doesnt shrink? 2nd i have a few rust spots that didnt rust through yet in the rain gutters, i grinded out and sanded the the rust then treated with ospho.i then put rust loc on the treated rust spots-is this the right way? now the areas around the rust the paint is peeling off fairly easily and i can see all the paint jobs this thing has had it is originaly white, then red,then hot pink???,then candy apple red which is the way i bought it 10 years ago when i was 14.how do i fix this without stripping all the paint because i really dont want to open another can of worms,who knows whats under the paint?do i feather edge the paint wherever it stops peeling and fill with duraglass then evercoat?i work on yachts and have done gelcoat work on them but never really a car.the car is going to be lowered with narrowed beam and painted the 2003 mercedes Desighno silver and i might put in the streetbeat ragtop that i bought with the fiberglass trim ring but im not sure yet anyone have a streetbeat ragtop with their opinion on it? WOW sorry for writing a book here.any help or info would be greatly appreciated. thanks ,doug