This paper is concerned with the fatigue behaviour of welded joints by the notch stress approach. The actual welded shape is complex and 3-dimensional that may influence greatly the fatigue strength. The purpose of the paper is to present a way of modelling the actual weld bead shape by using a 3-D Laser scanner for experimental models of steel plates with longitudinal fillet welds, and applying its results to a proper notch stress method for the fatigue strength. The present approach to assess the fatigue strength is quite promising with application to a variety of welded joints and effects of weld profiling to fatigue strength.