I am very experienced with normal airplane model fuselage seams, however I am building the Heller 125th A380 and the kit is not like other liner aircraft models. the fuselage is assembled in 5 sections like the real plane. This means that I had five seams going all around the fuselage vertically.
The kit had fit problems and a lot of sanding before putty. I now notice indentations (slight valleys) where I had to sand the seams. I cannot continue to sand next to these valleys to even them out as the raised door details are present, and the approx one inch valleys/indentations are too wide to putty.
Any ideas other than getting another kit? I posted this on Airliners to no response.
Thanks for any ideas
man youre in a tough spot. can you use something like milliput? i know that you can lay it in wider gaps and then use water to “paint” it smooth. otherwise you can use epoxy and use baby wipes to smooth it after it skins over. either way let me know how you fix this because im always looking for new tips.
good luck[Y]
Aves Epoxy Sculpt. They have a very fine grained, two component putty that can be worked with water when soft, has very low shrinkage, and sands easily to a very smooth finish.
Another, but very labor intensive technique is to use thin tissue and CA. Take one sheet of a double layer nose tissue, cut to size, lay it over the section to be filled and wet down so that it conforms perfectly to the surface. Let dry thoroughly. There must be absolutely no moisture left or you will have a terrible mess. Next, saturate the tissue with thin CA. Multiple applications may be necessary, and you must avoid any bubbles or entrapped air between the tissue and the plastic. When the CA is fully cured, apply a thin putty, like thinned Acryl Blue (3M). (Acryl Blue is best thinned with 90% isopropyl alcohol, or a mixture of 4 parts alcohol to 1 part toluene.) Again, several applications may be necessary. Finally, sand to conform to adjacent surfaces.
The other thing you could try might be building up the areas with increasingly fine grades of Gunze Sangyo Mr. Surfacer, which I understand can be painted on and levels well.
Thanks Ross,
I will look into the Aves epoxy sculpt. It sounds like it will work.