Putty, regardless of type or brand, should be used sparingly. Brush it on, let it dry, sand, and paint. Typewriter correction fluid ('white-out') can also be used to fill fine cracks. It can be brushed on, however, which makes it really useful. Dissolved Putty, which is an even thicker liquid putty, but again, it's not intended for filling large gaps. See here for a good primer (pun intended) on Mr. They are intended more as primers/surfacers for filling small imperfections prior to painting, not as a general gap filler. Surfacer comes in three 'flavors': 500, 1000, and 1200, in order from coarse to fine. What's nice about this is that you can control how thin or thick you want your 'plastic plastic' to be, you have a variety of colors of sprue to choose from, and once it's set and sanded it takes paint just like styrene plastic, because it is styrene plastic! You can also make your own putty by dissolving sprue in liquid cement or MEK. I've never had much success with it myself. But it must be sanded immediately after it initially sets up. Many modelers like to use CA glue as a gap-filler and have had success. However, it can be smoothed after application with a damp cotton swab or fingertip. A relatively new product is Perfect Plastic Putty, a one-part putty which can be smoothed with water, but it is water soluble after it dries so cannot be wet sanded. Squadron's white putty is said to be good, but I've not tried it either. Tamiya makes some body putties which are said to be quite good as well, although I've not tried them. It's available at auto body repair supply outlets. A nice thing about it is that before it sets, it gets rubbery, which makes it easy to carve away any excess with your modeling knife, but once cured, it sands and takes paint like styrene plastic. Of the lacquer-based glazing putties, I'd recommend Spies Hecker Permacron Fine Putty.Īnother useful filler from the auto body repair sector is Evercoat/Eurosoft, also a two-part putty which requires the addition of a catalyst to harden it. Some of the auto body glazing putties, such as 3M Acryl Spot Putty, make good model putties these are lacquer based and can be applied (sparingly) with a brush dampened in lacquer thinner. This technique is handy for wing-to-fuselage gaps.įor filling large gaps, I'd suggest Milliput, which is an epoxy filler that comes in two parts that have to be mixed thoroughly before applying, and can be smoothed with a wet finger/cotton swab/sculpting tool, or Aves Apoxie, a similar product which comes in a variety of colors. But if you have a very large gap in spite of your best efforts, it's best to try to fill it with styrene plastic rod/strip and liquid cement, allowing it to dry thoroughly before applying any putty. The best way to avoid large gaps is to carefully test fit parts before assembly. Here's my standard response, which probably needs updating: I only used the white because I was building a lot of airliners at the time, and it was easier to cover with white paint than was the Green putty. I haven't tried the new formulation, but the old stuff was, well, our standard for many years, especially the Green Putty. If you have to go back and add more, let the first layer dry completely, then re-apply more and smooth as before. Don't wet sand Perfect Plastic Putty-it dissolves in water. Apply it, let it sit a minute, then smooth with a Q-tip that had been dampened with water.

Fit it to the gap, secure with CA or plastic cement (I use Tamiya Extra Thin), let dry, and sand/trim to shape. Again, this is to 'pack out' gaps wider than 1/32'. This is to fill gaps larger than 1/32'Įvergreen sheet, strip, and rod. Gel-type works well on wider gaps, the thick stuff is good for the smaller gaps, and the thin formulas work nicely on hairline seams.Īpoxie Sculp or Superfine White Milliput. Applied correctly, you shouldn't need to accelerate the bond. I rarely use an accelerator, by the way, nor do I ever use baking soda. I use it either straight from the bottle or bulked out with Microballoons. 1/32' is about the thickest I will go, and I prefer to go half that (1/64', about the thickness of an index card).Īs to the question at hand, my favorite fillers:ĬA, aka ACC, aka Super Glue. Less is truly more.Īpply thin layers of filler. In reality, I probably sanded off about 98% of the putty I applied. As a kid, I used to glop Squadron Green Putty over every seam as soon as the glue was dry.

Once the parts are assembled, dress the seams with sandpaper to see exactly what needs to be filled BEFORE you apply filler. I rarely use putties as fillers these days.

Flexible glazing putty