Speaking of Putty

[DutyCat]

I have been successfully using Squadron Green for years, but have tried others. I tried 3M Green Acryl, Bondo Red Glazing, and most recently, Tamiya White. Tamiya White is hard to come by in the USA, so I ordered four small tubes from Japan at considerable expense.

After using it for a while, here are my observations compared to my old standard, Squadron Green:

Tamiya White: Goes on nice. Doesn't dry too fast while you are trying to work with it. More challenging to sand and scribe because it dries hard. Doesn't shrink much. Very fine grain and feathers nice. Difficult for me to see well because of insufficient contrast with gray or especially white plastic.

Squadron Green: Dries quick, so you have to work fast. Sands VERY easily. Scribes easily. Shrinks quite a bit. Feathering takes a bit more care and dropping to a finer grade of sandpaper. I can see it easily as it DOES contrast well with almost anything you apply it too.

I find myself being drawn back to Squadron Green for most basic puttying tasks and using small re-applications of Tamiya White on top of it, forcing contrast so I can see it well.

[Gundamhead]

Try Tamiya's Polyester Putty. Sands/feathers/scribes beautiful. Doesn't shrink. Soft pale minty green.

[Netz]

And some day, hopefully, we will get Tamiya Basic back in the U.S., I hope before my stash runs out....

Curt

[randypandy831]

i been using squadrons white putty with no problems. my LHS got a stock of tams white putty. i gave it a try and feel the same as you do. drys fast and is hard to sand due to the fact is drys real hard. only good thing it doesn't shrink.

[tempestwulf]

I use Tamiya basic and Tamiya white. Basic if good for larger work areas and scribes well, needs a subtle touch so not to score to hard. But that goes without saying when scribing putty. The latter is good for smaller areas or hairline cracks as goes in easier. Both can be thinned with Tamiya Lacquer thinner. Don't use industrial lacquer thinner though, that ***** deadly to plastic. I've melted pegs with that stuff

[redwoodmodels]

Is Tamiya white brittle too, or just hard?

Is it like super glue where the sooner you sand it, the easier it is, or is it just go from wet to hard?

[DutyCat]

Is Tamiya white brittle too, or just hard?

Is it like super glue where the sooner you sand it, the easier it is, or is it just go from wet to hard?

It isn't brittle. It is just pretty dense. So it doesn't shrink much and dries hard. If you are used to using Squadron Green, you have to really work at sanding the Tamiya White. You also end up burning through sanding sticks at pretty good clip. The 3M Acryl putties also dry pretty hard which is the reason I don't use them either.

It is back to the green stuff for me. The latest thing I tried, just the other day, is putting a dose of Squadron Green in a Testors glass paint bottle and thinning it out with lacquer thinner, creating a kind of a slurry mix(thicker than Mr Surfacer 500, which I also use). You can then "paint" the thinned out putty right on the seam, then go back with a Q-Tip dipped in lacquer thinner and smooth it out. A little light sanding and you are done. It worked great with no masking tape required!

Edited June 22, 2011 by DutyCat

[Gundamhead]

The Tamiya Polyester Putty is amazing stuff, well worth the little extra effort.

[alpine]

I have a book that talks about A+B putty and from the picture it looks promising. Anyone have any experience with this?

[helyun302]

Squadron White for me!

[TomcatFanatic123]

I've been using the red Bondo Spot Glazing Putty for the last couple years, and I really like it. Sands well, shrinks a bit, but not too bad, my only complaint is that it doesn't scribe very well.