What putty do you use?

Hello everyone.

So I am interested. What putty do you use when you fill areas on your models, when you do conversions.

I have used green stuff ( two part resins) but it seems stiff when using it. And I would like to know what others there are out there and how well they work.

Thanks

Da40k

Mostly Squadron White … but I have used Mr. Putty from Gunze with good results.

I’ve gotten very good results with milliput, and it’s also cheaper than most. Games-Workshop’s “green stuff” is also pretty good, but a bit pricey.

demono69

thanks guys.
A few more question now arise; Where can I get these putties? e.g Mr. putty and miliput

I use squadron white.

These and other good putties, such as Tamiya’s putty should be available at your closest good hobby store.
The one to avoid is the Testor’s putty, it’s just not very good IMHO.

I don’t use any putty. I use a burn- in system for all my seam work. It works fast for me and my students. If a seam is tight you can just burn it off, a light sanding and its A+
Dale

Could you please describe that for me (us)? I don’t have a clue what you mean.

Ray

Over the past few years I have done some work on refinishing furniture. When we make a repair we use an electric oven with some knives I use four. They stay hot for about 4 min when pulled out of the oven. A clear plastic burn in stick is used to fill the spot. Light sanding with #600, some stains then clear coat and its done.
One day I was working and was thinking about if this system would work on my models. I came home and played around with it. IT WORKED! This system helps me to work faster on my models. I have done some other cool stuff with the hot knives on my models. I find that plastic to plastic works well for seams, making folds and other cool stuff on any model. If you look at my student models close you can see how we use this system. Look at Megans Robin model all the seam work was done this way. Look at the panel cracks and all the other cool stuff. When Josh did the Headless Horseman he used this system. This system help him to make a one of kind model. I call it ART. If the seam is tight then you can just use the hot knive to melt it together. This way I use less gule and the model will last much longer and will hold better. I have drop a few parts and they wont fall apart. I’m teaching each of my students this system. They love melting plastic. I hope this will help how I do my models.
Dale

Thanks, Dale. I’ll have to give that a try. How hot do you get the knives? How long do you let them heat up?

Ray

This is all industrail products. I think they just sell to furniture manufacturers. Also the cost is very high, What I use is about $300.00. Let me see if any of this stuff is around at Lowes or DYI. I’ll get back to all of you on this Burn -In system.
Dale

How safe is this system? Ever had plastic ignite in the process?

DJ

I use Aves apoxie sculpt. It’s a two part epoxy putty similar to miliput only its finer grained and non-toxic (and cheaper [:)])

I have never had the plastic ignite on me or my students. It just smells.
Whats nice about the burn- in, is that it takes the paint well. One other thing I like is when you think you are done and see a mistake you can back over it to make a clean fix. You don’t have to take everything off the model.
The other day two students in class did some cool detail work using the burn-ins. One student made some rocks for his model. The other added some fine details on his monster. The kids had a blast melting plastic. To me its worth the $300.00 It does repairs and burns parts away for details. Heck we cut all our parts of the trees with the hot knives. like I told you before a tight seam is done in 5 min or faster. Flashing from parts will just burn off. Its about the only tool we use in building models, each class I find out more things the knives can do. The students just love it. They ask before class “Dale are we going to melt plastic today”.

Dale

Last time i checked, heated styrene releases Isocyanates, probably not the safest fumes to be encouraging people to breath. Not to mention the inherant risk of working with hot knives and molten plastic, ever had molten styrene land on your skin? It hurts and it causes a deep burn due to the fact it sticks to the skin and is hard to remove quickly. For any styrene melting I would highly recommend doing it in a fume cabinet.

I find it hard to believe that you have done any form of risk management on this activity, as even a basic risk assesment would highlight these hazards. You say you are teaching this to students? In what context, what age group? Do you provide safety equipment to these students?

This might sound excessive, but in this day and age of OSH, or whatever abreviation the Ocupational health and safety body in your country goes by, it is important to take risk into account with all activities, as you are obviously doing this in some form of proffesional capacity.

WHOA!!! Way to complicated!!!

Put a lighter to a opened paper clip and you can do the same thing.

All precautions of safety are discussed with parents and students. Proper ventilation for painting, sanding, and burn-in system is provided. Each student is given a safety talk before he or she works on any model.
This process does not ignite any part of the model. melting styrene has been used in model building for years ( stretched sprue) for ship building.
Each product has been safety tested and is registered in the United States Patent Office.
for more info: http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/

I use Squadron green or Tamiya putty to fill seams. For larger jobs (building up areas etc), I use milliput two part putty.

If you are working on resin one technique I use to mix the putty with MEK and use a small brush to apply the seam to be filled. ([V] wouldn’t try this method on plastic)

I use squadron white for most of my seams but I have even used white glue at times