HEY,
I went to a craft store with my mom to see what they had moremodelling stuff, and they had a great selection of kits and stuff, and they also had testors putty. Is this stuff any good?
Randy
Randy,
Like a lot of things with this hobby you’re going that everybody has their own personal favorites on a lot of things that get used in the process of modeling. And putty is one of them.
I tried Testors modeling putty a lot of years ago and I personally didn’t care for it. It didn’t seem to stick to the plastic too well, was extremely soft and tended to shrink very badly. However, it’s been so long ago that they may have changed the formula and corrected some of those problems. My suggestion would be to give it a try and see if you like it.
Same here … I used it years ago and didn’t care for it. If I remember right, it dried very rough and flaked pretty badly because it didn’t stick very well. I do remember that I haven’t used it since.
sad to say that i was disappointed with testors putty when i tried it years ago.let me make a suggestion though: if it’s not too pricey , buy a tube and do alittle experimenting, you just never know.
HEY,
Thanks guys, i was gonna get some and check it out but i wanted to see what you guys thought.
Randy
I just recently bought some of Testors red putty and use it regularly.It does a good job for me.To get good use from it,you will need a small flat straight eged x-cato blade.Use small amounts and pack in tightly into seam then let dry.I don’t know how the others were on testors years ago but as of today this stuff is good with no shrinkage and sands smooth.Digger
I use it to fill large gaps. I fill them up almost completely allow to dry and then top with Squadron Green for a better finish. I also use it to fill the holes in the hull of Tamiya’s “motorized” kits and other such hard to see areas.
I still use the white stuff in the grey tube but only because I happen to have it (it came in an old detailing set with the plastic dropcloth) and haven’t spent a lot of time/effort in looking for anything better. It’s decent enough for line filling on a small scale I’ve found but not for anything big as it tends to be too uneven and crumbly as others have mentioned. It has to be packed in pretty good to whatever area you are trying to fill and care taken when sanding but if allowed to dry for a decent amount of time it is workable. Not the greatest thing available but pretty easy to come by and about the same price as an ordinary tube of glue.
The last tube I purchased looked like it wasnt mixed all the way. I went with squadron red and havent looked back.
And I’ll just be the counter-example. I like the Testors white putty in the grey tube. I squeeze a little out onto a small piece of sheet styrene. Then I mix it up with a toothpick. Finally, I apply some to the seam I’m trying to fill using an old, dull, hobby knife as my putty knife.
Now, here’s the cool part: I wipe off the excess with a q-tip dipped in nail polish remover. The dilluted ascetone mixes with and smooths out the putty. Sometimes, with deep gaps, a few applications are needed, but they only take a few minutes, so I don’t mind.
See these pages for good explanations, with pictures, of the process I describe above:
Filling without sanding from the Aircraft Resource Center’s Tools 'n Tips page.:
http://s96920072.onlinehome.us/tnt1/001-100/TNT029_Filler_WO_Sanding/tnt029.htm
Swanny’s seam repair:
http://www.swannysmodels.com/Seams.html
You can also mix the Testor’s white putty with a drop or two of Testor’s liquid plastic cement (the stuff in the clear bottle with the brush in it) mix it with a toothpick and use it to fil the seam (don’t get it too runny). The glue helps it stick. If it’s a real big gap I’d rather use scrap plastic and CA (gap filling super glue).
G.L.
HEY.
I can never find any good gap fillin super glue. All they have is the normal liquid stuff.
Randy
That usually works great, and the results are well worth the effort. One word of advice though, be careful around joints that were clued with cyanoacrylate glues. Acetone, the active ingredient in nail polish remover, can cause some CA glues to debond. I don’t know if it’s all CA glues or if it does it all the time, but I don know that it has done it to me from time to time when I least want it to.
sorry Randy can’t help you there, the only one avaliabe around were i live is the one from revell and tamiya (both not bad i think) never used anything else so i can’t compare a lot [;)]
Luc.
Randy, you can get the super glue at a hobby store, or failing that a hardware store, or wal-mart, k-mart or a home depot type store. Duro is one brand name there are others, make sure you read the label, it might not say “gap filling” some of them say thick gel. Squeeze some on a yogurt lid and apply it with a toothpick or thin wire. Back to putty…[bow]
G.L.
i like to use it for some of the smaller jobs, to me it works just fine. i still go with the good ol Bondo spot putty.
I saw a bottle of Elmer’s Wood Filler sittig on a shlf and gave it a try, I filled in the seams an hour ago, and they look nicely filled in right now. It says shrink resistant. Well, we’ll see.
Hi all,
One more tip on the Testors grey tube putty:
I haven’t used my tube for a while, but was doing some filling today. I was surprised at how dry the putty was until I figured out that the components had separated a little bit.
So, I kneaded the tube a bit, and then put it in a cup of hot water (not too hot, just out of the faucet) for a few minutes. The next bit that I squirted out had a bunch of liquid come out first, and then the putty itself. The liquid is an ascetate carrier, and I just mixed it with the putty on my palate with an old hobby knife.
Subsequent bits had a much better consistency.
Regards,
HEY,
Thanks guys for the tips and stuff. I havent been able to get to the craft store that carries the stuff, but im gonna get some once i get a chance.
Randy
I’ll definitely try that one. I just got back into modelling after a 12 year hiatus and bought some testors putty. It was very dry and grainy and did not adhere well so I gave up using it. I’ll try the kneading thing, I hate to waste the whole tube. I live kind of remote from a hobby shop so it will give me something to work with until my next trip.
Thanks!
By the way, I’ve even used white glue on very small gaps with success in the past. (as in Elmers) a bit on the tip of your finger or a small applicator rubbed across the gap, wait a few minutes for it to get a little tacky, then with a DAMP (not wet) rag wipe off the excess until the model is clean of it. The gap should be filled, you might need a little more if it shrinks on drying. Which it hasn’t for me.