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Fuselage halves 1/8" off in thickness


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Hi everyone, 

 I'm building my first resin kit and it's definitely the worst kit for fitting that I have ever built. When I glued the halves together they butt up to each other nicely but there is a gap of nearly 1/8" along the bottom heightwise. I am going to have to build up one side with some sort of filler, sand down so both sides match and then rescribe. Should I use the Squdron putty I have on hand or would it be a good idea to use a resin epoxy for filling such a large area. I have read that epoxy is a good filler and I would assume it would be much stronger than regular putty. Thanks for your help and advice. 

 

Mark

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29 minutes ago, crackerjazz said:

That's too big a gap for Squadron putty.  Can you post some photos?  Offhand I'd use Apoxie Sculpt.

 

Thanks for the reply. I can't post any photos because the photo I took exceeds the upload size and I don't bother with any of the photo sharing sites so I can't link it. 

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Couldn't believe the gap, actually (or is it a step?)  --  that's more than 3 mm.   Resin epoxy is difficult to rescribe and I'm not sure if it can be sanded and feathered.   I can  post it for you so everyone can have a visual of the problem area.  I want to see, too, what model that is.   Let me give you my email address.

Edited by crackerjazz
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21 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Yeah, agree on not using normal filler. Milliput could also be good.

 

Did you check if the short side should be expanded or the tall side compressed?

 

The short side definitely needs to be expanded. It's got a warp in it but was so thick I couldn't work the warp out. 

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Hot water could have helped to reshape the too-short side and warped parts in general. A quick steep in some hot water, gentle bending, and allowing it to cool does wonders for resin parts. Really thick parts may need several passes. 

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The step doesn't look to big?  I'd probably start by filing this area to level it with the lower side.  As for B, a Dremel sanding tool might come in handy, if you need that corrected as well.

 

pL4zWsw.jpg

 

Edit:  just read dnl's post.  Yeah hot water (or air) might help align the parts.   I've read about resin parts going back to the original shape if subjected to heat.

Edited by crackerjazz
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33 minutes ago, crackerjazz said:

The step doesn't look to big?  I'd probably start by filing this area to level it with the lower side.  As for B, a Dremel sanding tool might come in handy, if you need that corrected as well.

 

pL4zWsw.jpg

 

Edit:  just read dnl's post.  Yeah hot water (or air) might help align the parts.   I've read about resin parts going back to the original shape if subjected to heat.

I did try the hot water trick but with no luck. It was just too thick I think. 

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Thanks for all the help and advice from you all. I did some research on the Milliput  suggestion and I didn't realize how awesome that stuff is. I had no idea where to even buy the stuff and later in the day yesterday I drove an hour into Vancouver to buy some model paints and they had Milliput sitting right next to the paint racks. How convenient. Today I'm going to practice my hand with it and am very confident that I can get this disaster of a kit looking the way it is supposed to look. 

 

Have a good weekend 

 

Mark

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I wouldn't recommend using a Dremel tool to remove the step between the fuselage halves unless you have a Dremel speed controller ( which are rather hard to find and can be somewhat expensive).  I say this because it didn't me very long to notice that when I did use the Dremel as a plastic cutter or sander, I was melting more plastic than I was sanding off! (and high speed drills don't drill, they melt their way through).

If I had the problem you have (and every one runs into something like that once in a while), I would use a very fine file to do heavy plastic removal followed by several grades of waterproof sandpaper and then complete the removal work with rubbing compound followed by engraving new panel lines.  I would square up the cross piece area with a file and finish up that area (after wing installation) with body putty.

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