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My thoughts on filling gaps


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I am in the process of building Airfix's 1/48 Hunter f.5, which fits almost as well as Tamiya's 1/48 F-14 but still required a little filler.

 

Now, I have never had luck with filler (Tamiya or Milliput are what I have tried) as they always seem to flake, crack or even simply fall out of the gaps. Filler is also impossible to scribe through. A few people mentioned melting sprue in glue, but I have never been game enough to try that one. Anyway after some thought, I decided to try filling gaps with stretched sprue! The wonder with this stuff is that it behaves just like plastic, you can smooth it, you can scribe it and it behaves exactly the same as the surrounding area. After some experimenting, this is what I have found.

 

- When aligning parts I make sure there are no steps between the parts. Steps are almost always impossible to eliminate, so I avoid them like the plague. What I am getting at here is that I would rather have a gap than a step.

 

- I then stretch a length of sprue to a size slightly bigger than the gap I want to fill. I then place the sprue on top of the gap (a third hand would be handy here) and run some tamiya cement along the gap. Using a flat tool I then push the semi melted sprue into the gap just enough to fill the hole. Now the sprue will inevitably sit proud of the gap, but this is no problem. Once the sprue is dry (I leave it a few hours) take a small file and remove the excess sprue, stopping when it's close to the surrounding plastic and taking care not to gouge the surrounding plastic.

 

- The sprue can then be sanded smooth using wet and dry sandpaper. I takes a bit of effort (I use 1000 grit sandpaper because I found anything else gouges the plastic too much) but in some cases the plastic can be so smooth you can't tell there ever was a join.

 

- Small holes can be filled with Tamiya filler. I hate the stuff, but what I found is that by using 1000/1200 grit sandpaper you can "polish away" the excess and leave the surrounding plastic untouched. I now think my problem with Tamiya filler was that I was using too course of a sandpaper and this would just tear the filler from the gaps.

 

Anyway I thought some may find this helpful, have some further tips or even tell me I am completely wrong!

 

 

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That is something that has been buzzing around my head recently! My concern has been the trench like panel lines of my latest build, Kenetics E-2C Hawkeye. Using the same method you've described, to make rescribing a little easier! So if I'm to believe myself and your idea... its a good one 😄

Andy

Edited by ExchefAndy
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I've never had a problem with any kind of filler cracking or coming apart (and I've used like ten different kinds) unless the join is not connected properly. If there is any flex in the join then simple fillers will crack because they are not flexible and are not structural at all (two-part epoxies should do better if there is a decent connection to both sides). So make sure there is a good glue connection all long the join and if that isn't possible then a support structure behind it or filling it with styrene is a necessary step before any kind of filler is used.

 

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21 hours ago, ExchefAndy said:

That is something that has been buzzing around my head recently! My concern has been the trench like panel lines of my latest build, Kenetics E-2C Hawkeye. Using the same method you've described, to make rescribing a little easier! So if I'm to believe myself and your idea... its a good one 😄

Andy

 

It will take you a while, but there is probably no better way. I have read stories of people filling panel lines on old matchbox kits with sprue.

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I use automotive Spot and Glazing compound for my final putty options, it doesn't shrink like other puttys and it sands much easier, plus you get a large tube of it for a reasonable cost. For large gaps, I try to fill them with thin card strips and sand to fit before final assembly of part, makes it a lot easier to trim and sand in areas that would by difficult once assembled.

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