I am getting back into modeling, & it seams that there have been a lot of changes in filling seams & making them look good. I have a question in reference to that , what is the best way to work with the seems.
Usually what I have done is to glue the two pieces together with normal cement, & them use putty to fill in the cracks. This usually ended up somewhat messy & was difficult to look good after sanding. Any ideas or techniques that would make this less messy & look better.
Thank you
Welcome back to modeling, SF340_Driver.
I haven’t used putty in years. The shrinking, the grain, & the time involved waiting for it to dry never satisfyed me. I now only use CA (super glue) as a filler for small gaps, and sheet or strip styrene for larger ones. CA must be sanded within minutes of application, as it will dry harder than the plastic. This will make sanding difficult.
Some modelers also use stretched sprue to fill a gap, or mix styrene shavings with liquid cement to form a “goo.”
For filling gaps, I’ll use almost anything before returning to putty, but there are other modelers who don’t use anything else. Finding a technique that works well for you is the key to success.
Hope this helps !
I find super-glue to be useful for some stuff but for large seams this is my prefered method:
This is a five-step process that moves along at about three inches at a time.
Step 1: Cut thin strips of masking tape and place along both sides of the seam leaving about a three-millimeter gap.
Step 2: Using a trowling tool (I use a potters detail tool for clay) lay on a coating of white putty.
Step 3: Immediately remove the tape pulling it away from the wet putty.
Step 4: Use a good quality cotton swab (I’m using a Q-Tip) dipped in acetone-based fingernail polish remover and wipe down the putty.
Smooth out the seam. This will greatly reduce the amount of sanding required.
Step 5: After the putty has had ample time to dry, sand the seams with a fine sand paper.
And just in case you were wondering how that seam turned out, here it is…
Excellent tutorial. Thanks for the first rate tutorial
Murray
Very useful lesson and the plane you did your demo on is a beauty!
After renovating my bassment i had some drywall plaster left over and gave it a try. It seems to work well. Easy to sand and scribe as well as a beeze to remove from panel lines. I never got the hang of useing the white or green putty but after seeing the above a will give it another shot. I just wish I had the patiance ans skill to build like the photos I’ve seen in the forum. They make mine look like preschool projects, but I love them and the hobby just the same.
If I could just stop gluing my fingers together now…