Re: SBARC's "Filling With Plastic" technique.

[TomcatFanatic123]

I was just reading Steve's "filling with plastic" technique, where he mixes sprue shavings with liquid glue or lacquer thinner to make a filler.

Firstly, will this technique work with larger gaps (not like Grand Canyon-ish gaps, I'm talking, say, a front to rear fuselage attachment that chooses to get pissy), or is this designed more for smaller, more traditional gaps?

Secondly, is this little cocktail able to be scribed once it's dry and sanded?

Thanks for the help :)

[mossieramm]

Hi Fanatic,

Firstly, the quick answer is yes. Depending on the size of the larger gaps, you might need 1 or 2 passes. Also depends on how thick you make the "filler". If you make it very thick it will take longer to fully harden.

Secondly, again yes, but make sure it's fully cured before you try to sand or rescrbe.

When making the "filler" use sprue with a different colour to the kit you are doing. This helps to see the difference between filler and kit.

David.

[TomcatFanatic123]

Thanks for the help, David !

[spejic]

For bigger gaps, you might try a variant of this technique - get a piece of plastic rod just a little wider in diameter than the seam, place it in the seam, glue it with liquid cement, and smash it into the gap. It is more structural than just using melted sprue and takes less time to dry, but it might need a finishing bit of filler.

[lesthegringo]

The problem with this technique is that as the glue solvent gradually evaporates out, you get sinkage. In my experience this makes this technique useless for anything other than very fine layers or thicknesses.

I started using the talc and superglue mix a couple of years ago, and have never used any other filler since (unles you count plastic strip glued along edges). It is fast, cures hard enough to scribe, soft enough to sand, never shrinks and works out cheap because you can buy the cheap superglues from your local cheapie shop. You can fill large areas and gaps very quickly as you can add layers a couple of minutes apart.

My vote is for talc and superglue, give the dissolved plastic a miss

Cheers

Les