That's pretty much what I did. Using thinner wire I made lots of smaller holes. While I did paint my hull, the holes were less noticable then if I had used the larger wire. I tried pulling them out, but found that to me a whole lot of work that tended to result in scaring the wood. So I cut flush, sanded, and left the wires in there. Using more of a smaller gauge wire resulted in better panel fit too, imo.

> I seemed to prefer twisting the wires with a pair of small Vise-Grips. I
> tried wire twisters, but it was difficult to gauge the tightness of the
> wire. I also found it difficult to carefully hold seams in position and
> twist the wire down to a perfect knot of predictable tightness with
> twisters. Lack of feel, I suppose. I took the twisters back to work where
> I use them frequently to safety bolts.

> If you want to make the drill holes a bit less visable, I suggest using a
> smaller numbered drill bit. Perhaps a #60. The smallest most wood workers
> have is a fractional 1/32.