Kinds of Putty

Darkowski · Post by **Darkowski** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:02 pm

I was wondering what kind of putties and techniques are out there to fill out holes and seams.
I know there are different topics about it, but they are scattered all over the place. Hard to find exactly what I'm looking for.

What I always used is a Tamiya modeling putty in a tube. It's not bad, but it's a little too thick and just dries too fast. I tried to mix it with thinner, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover, but they don't mix. It does mix with Testors cement for plastic in a tube, but it dries too fast as well and does a dirty, messy job.

1 - I'm curious what do you guys use. I'm looking for something that doesn't dry that fast and that isn't so thick.

2 - I'm also planning to redo my ERTL refit E in the near future, and putty all the wrong panel lines on the entire ship. What would be the best product for that as well?

Thanks in advance!

Chacal · Post by **Chacal** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:22 pm

Tube putties usually thin well with acetone (maybe the nail polish remover you used was one of the isopropanol based-ones). Just a little bit—a drop or two—in a little pea-sized gob of putty will give it a very nice consistency. Don't mix too much at a time, as it will dry up very quickly. Keep adding more acetone from time to time to take the putty back to the right consistency.

photoguy · Post by **photoguy** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:25 pm

Mostly, I've been using the Squadron white putty for general seam filling. It does dry fairly quickly; and when dry, it sands at almost exactly the same rate at styrene.

On detail-rich pieces, and areas that I need to fill a seam, but am worried about losing fine detail in that area; I've used regular old spackling compound from the hardware store. It's about the same consistency going on, can be diluted with water to extend your working time, and once dry, you can "wet-sand" it with a damp paper towel. This leaves a nice filled in seam, without any damage to the surrounding detail!

USS Atlantis · Post by **USS Atlantis** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:32 pm

For general filling and buildup I use Milliput silver-gray (fine) or white (super-fine)

For fine details or surface filling where I'll be scribing or other tooling, Aves is God

modman06 · Post by **modman06** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:36 pm

For very small spots i use the red acryl putty, but for larger areas i use Evercoat glaze coat. its a two part putty, like bondo, only very smooth. i do mostly scratch building but it works great on kits too. I used it on my PL enterprise kit. with great results.

Al

Stu Pidasso · Post by **Stu Pidasso** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:37 pm

Post by **TER-OR** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:37 pm

For lines like those you're describing I have become fond of the WAVE black CA diluted with standard CA. Yeah, it takes a while to apply but the results are well worth the time. I'd even use this instead of the blessed Aves for such a task.

http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/index.cf ... uct_ID=636

That's the black stuff. It's not like the hobby shop black stuff, and I find it thick right out of the bottle - so I dilute with thin CA.

Darkowski · Post by **Darkowski** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:41 pm

Thanks for all the info.

I will try to buy a few kinds to try them out.

My third question would be where do you guys purchase these from? I live in Canada so I'm not sure if the same putties are found in stores here.

I searched the internet for some online stores:
http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/supp ... tties.html

For the Aves one, which one do you guys use, as there are so many?
http://www.avesstudio.com/Products/products.html

And this one is for the Milliput:
http://www.hobbycosf.com/mitwopaeppus1.html

Are these sites good, or do you guys know some more reliable sites?

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:51 pm

If you're going to go with a 2 part putty you might as well forget Miliput and go Aves. Best bet? Pick up the Aves Sampler Pack from the SSM store. It'll give you a feel for the various products but my preference is for the Apoxie Sculpt.

There's also Mori-Mori, Tamiya polyester putty, Nitro-Stan, Bondo, etc. I stick with Aves and Wave Black CA for ease of use and lack of brain killing carcinogens.

Darkowski · Post by **Darkowski** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 10:07 pm

Sweet!
I didn't realize that SSM had putties in store.

I guess I will start with the WAVE Black CA and their Aves Sampler Pack.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 10:13 pm

Man, they should put some of us on commission....

GameraBaenre · Post by **GameraBaenre** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:36 pm

Along with epoxy and basic putties, I also use tamiya's Light Curing Putty:

http://www.gamerabaenre.com/resin_gap_f ... light_cure

A good number of my friends who have tried the stuff use it regularly.

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:14 am

I used Tamiya grey for ages to I had the same complaints, then I used Squadron green, its great the only reason I wont use it again is because its too smelly. Bad for you.

So I'm just going back to Tamiya.

El Gato · Post by **El Gato** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:09 pm

Stu Pidasso wrote:AVES

No, no. You're not saying it right:

AVES

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:29 am

Depending on application I use...

Squadron Green
Milliput Superfine White
Tippex (a typing correction fluid - great for pinholes)

I only use Milliput because Aves is almost impossible to get in the UK at a reasonable price.

guyver408 · Post by **guyver408** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:57 am

I use wood putty from local hardware store. Any inputs?

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:23 am

I have tried wood filler, with limited success.

The solvent-based ones tend to be too aggressive for styrene and attack the plastic. The acrylic-based ones don’t stick well to styrene or resin, but they are actually quite good for vinyl – largely because of their flexibility.

The main problem I have found is that the grain is rather coarse and it’s difficult to get a really a finish quite as smooth as the plastic around it.

bluesman · Post by **bluesman** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:54 am

Thou shalt use the putty of all putties.

The blessed Aves.

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:22 am

Ok - I've bowed to pressure, found a UK supplier who didn't want a mortgage payment and I got myself some AVES. It certainly is easier to mix than Milliput, but I've been using 'M' for about 30 years now, so It will need to be good. I'll keep yo guys posted.

Incidentally, - Europe have now banned the import of Squadron green & white putty - so any that is in the shops now is all you're going to get. Folks, another era has ended.

Neb · Post by **Neb** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:12 pm

Nitro Stan, Gunze Dissolved Putty, Tamiya Brushable Primer---depends on what I'm filling...