I’m working on the 1/48 Revell B-1B kit and ran into a problem with the wings. I’m posting this here and to the GB forum to seek advice before I begin to deal with this problem. The kit is known to have a very bad seam on the underside of each wing and I’ve been working on eliminating it with some success; I’m almost there in removing it. But then, I prime the wings with Mr. Surfacer 1000 and see this on the upper side of each wing:
… a sink that is almost 1 cm in width at places that extends the entire length of the 16 inch long wing. I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to deal with this, so I thought that I’d tap the collective wisdom of the forum before beginning. How would you deal with a large sink deformation like this?
Putty is an option, but it might be wise to use something like Milliput or Aves epoxy on such a large area? Is it possible that the putty you used on the bottom might have been hot enough to cause this problem? I like Milliput or Aves for repairs like this, and if you use a little water to work the surface when you put it on you might be able to do some of the panel line restoration right then while it is soft.
I would protect the horizontal panel line with masking tape and putty the length of the sink, and then rescribe the short panel lines. That’s if I had your talent. What is everyone’s opinion of the best filler to scribe? I think my squadron Green seems a little soft and does not let you make a clean line. Is that a pin mark in the center of the wing? It looks like a raised circle, like there is an ejector pin mark on the inside of that piece. Don’t ya love a challenge? Rick.
On something that shallow, regular putty may have a hard tome getting a grip on the surface unless you thin it. You may consider building it up with mutltiple “spot” applications of Mr Surfacer, Mr Dissolved putty or Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer.
I would be tempted to mask it of & fill it with a slightly thinned easy sanding putty (3M).
Another option would be Microballoons - I have not tried these myself, but have seen some interesting articles on them. It’s a powder made from tiny hollow spheres which is used to bulk up epoxy or CA (?) & is reputed to be a dream to sand. Maybe someone with a bit more knowledge on the subject could chime in?
I would not use only putty, a surface that long will flex and too much flexing will just shatter the putty - wich would be fatal after paint!
give the surface a rough sand first, like 300 grit so your filler has some surface to bite onto
Fill in the sink marks with shims of evergreen, [you can get evergreen almost paper thin]
also fill your panel lines with something easy to remove [like wax/crayon]
you will still have to putty but you won’t be using tons of it - thereby avoiding further warping/deforming and it will have a little more to bite onto.
John might be right. One time I was building an airplane and I guess I applied a little too much cement on the inside of the trailing edge and I got something like what you have. I guess the cement softened the plastic and caved in. I puttied the surface and sanded until it was the level of the original.
Thanks everyone; your input is much appreciated. First for probably solving why the sink occurred. John and Constructor I think got it, because I initially filled the seam on the reverse side with plastic strip using Tamiya extra-thin cement. I probably went a bit too heavy and it wicked all the way down to the reverse side. Chalk it up to another stupid mistake.
And second for the suggestions to fix the problem. I’ll have another look tonight and see if I need to fill with evergreen or just mask and putty.
