Hello all. I’m quite new to scale modelling, and was wondering, can you thin squadron green putty? And if so, what would you use? I came across an old thread (from 2004), and the fellers said they used regular alcohol to thin it out. I have 91% isopropyl alcohol, would this work?
Thank you for your advise!
Give the alcohol a try, Willy. I’m curious to see if it works. I’ve used liquid plastic cement (Testors and Tamiya.)
Hi,
In the past I think that I used regular thinner, but I am not 100% sure. If you have a local hobby store or something like Micheals or Hobby Lobby nearby yiu can get some small empty glass paint bottles there and try out different solvents.
I used to squeeze out a bit of putty into the jar and add some thinner, then seal it up and shake to make a thin brushable paste.
Pat
I’ve thinned Squadron putty with liquid cement (Testors pink) and general purpose lacquer thinner.
I’ve used both Tamiya and Testors liquid cement to thin Squadron, as well as lacquer thinner. But as a long term modeler, from my personal experience I have found fillers that work much better for my use, I consider Squadron to shrink and crack over time.
Now it’s mostly Perfect Plastic Putty, (PPP,) and sometimes Tamiya white filler. PPP thins very well with plain water, Tamiya with Tamiya Extra Thin cement, or lacquer thinner. PPP applies easily, excess quickly removed with water dampened Q-tip, dries within a few hours and sands with next to no effort.
I have never found either PPP or Tamiya white filler to shrink or crack. You’ll find a number of talented builders here on FSM that use both of them, with examples of how they do it.
Just my .02 cents. Hope you find one you like.
Patrick
Thank you for the advise gents! I’ll give it a try, hopefully there won’t be a chemical reaction ;). That’s good to know Patrick, i’ll keep that in mind. Only thing is I have 2 full tubes of the stuff, so I want to use it up. I also read on the forums that bondo glazing and spot putty works good, some guys say it’s the best stuff they’ve used. Not regular bondo, this stuff is supposed to be even easier on the nose then even Tamiya filler. What’s your opinions on that?
Thank you!
I use or used to use MEK. It can be used to thin Squadron putty and doubles as a liquid cement. Having trouble finding it in quart sized cans because apparently it is now commonly used in the production of meth. I haven’t tried thinner yet.
The Bondo product mentioned is great, never shrunk or cracked for me. For my use, it’s a bit messy and not as easy to sand or clean up. For a large cavity to fill it can’t be beat, but if I encounter that I mostly use sprue shavings or Evergreen strips properly shaped for the fill and cemented, then PPP or Tamiya filler for very tiny amounts of filling/leveling.
A bonus for PPP, like any filler it will tend to dry and stiffen at the top of the tube over time. So easy to correct, use small drops of water in the tube entrance and stir with a small blade or whatever, soon it will return to the original creamy texture. You’ll soon see what is enough water.
I’ll bet once you try PPP, you’ll soon be binning your Squadron. (:>)
But over time, we all settle on what we think works best for us. If fumes/odor is an issue for you, the PPP has none that I’ve detected.
Patrick
Patrick, lewbud. Thank you for the info!
I think i’m steering toward Bondo, seeing as it, and thinner, can be found in every hardware store/Walmart in town. I would go with ppp, but seeing as it’s water based, and that i’m located 2 hours from my nearest hobby store, in the dead of Canadian winter, i’ll go with bondo. I just tried the alcohol idea on some of my squadron green, doesn’t work… They don’t want to bind together, that’s one idea out the window. Then I thought, hey, I could try some Testors tube glue, seeing as there the same base formula. Sure enough, it works! Thinned the putty out to a nice consistency. Now we know there another use for the good ole tube glue [;)]. Only issue I see is that it starts to dry incredibly fast. But that’s no problem if you keep it in a ole glass paint bottle. I think i’ll order a tube of Tamiya putty, along with my other supplies i’m ordering from hobby wholesale. Thank ya’ll for your advise and wisdom, i’m learning a pile!
I’ve used the Bondo for years and never had any problems with it. I used to use the blue tube which is a little finer but can’t find it in my area any more. So I use the red. I put some in an empty cleaned out Testors bottle and thin it to the consistency I want with lacquer thinner. Over time the lacquer thinner escapes and the Bondo gets thicker. No problem. Just add some more lacquer thinner and bring it back to where you want it. When thinned down, it will fill seams very nicely and not crack out. It also sands very easily. Sometimes it settles and needs a second application. No problem. One large tube has lasted me years so the price is right also.
Hope that this helps.
Jim [cptn]
Just as a sidenote; make sure not to shake the bottle after putting the lid on it because you’ll never get it open again.
Lol, lol, lol, lol. I did find that out the hard way. It was the good blue stuff too. Never did that again. That’s why I always use large mouth jars since then and have a drawer full of popsicle sticks.
It’s great when we mention something like that and find out that there is always someone else out there that had the same experience.
Jim [cptn]
Thank you disastermaster and fox for the advise!
Lol! I’ll make sure never to do that… I thinks [;)].
I use acetone to thin my Green Putty which is fairly dry and unweildy. I got a large bottle for around $6-7 which I think will last several years. I have an old small dose cup from cough syrup that I put about a 1/4 - 1/2 inch of putty into and then add a small syringe worth of acetone. Breaks it down to the consistency of Perfect Plastic Putty I think. Thins it nicely to where I can easily fill gaps with it. I use a wooden coffee stirrer to apply it to gaps and seams. As it dries, I use a cotton swab soak in acetone to smooth out and spread out the putty better for sanding. I probably haven’t done justice to how well it works, but I can’t recommend it enough.
Doug
That sounds great Jammer! I’ll put that in my toolbox of techniques. Thank you all for your help, i’m set now.
Another vote for PPP. Depending on the repair area, it can even be wiped smooth when dry using a water damp paper towel with no need for sanding. I do this in as an example a wing to fuselage gap where sanding is ackward or a canopy to fuselage gap. A simple swipe or two with a dampened Q Tip on the dry PPP does the job with no sanding.
I just got a tube of PPP and haven’t tried it yet. To expand on what Fox said, quite a few years ago I bought tubes of green and white Squadron putty. I opened both and used a little then switched to Bondo Spot Filler. The tubes of Squadron dried out and I read here or somewhere about thinning them with lacquer thinner so I cut the tubes open and salvaged what I could. Put that in old Tamiya bottles and added lacquer thinner. Sure enough, broke it down and worked fine so, every so often I add a little more lacquer thinner and carry on. Tony
Thank you pj and Tony, and to everyone else that has helped me out! I picked up a tube of bondo 2 days ago, should work fine for what I need right now. Probably ppp in the future.