How to deal with edges that are not flush

Coreysan,

From what you describe, a small overlap of 1/32 of an inch, probably sanding it flush is your best bet.  If you filled with putty, you would still have an overlap, just without the tight corner.  

Paul

Yeah, that's what I'd do. Putty's more work than I'd undertake for something like that.

  This the old AMT kit you're working on?

Chris

Sanding down would easiest in this case.

By the way, maybe the Sci-fi forum is the best place to ask this kind questions, you have got the best chance of people being there who know the kit you are working on.

Sometimes sanding styrene can take awhile on a large kit, even 1/32 inch.  I tend to use files- needle files for fine work, sometimes a large file if I have to take off a lot.  Files leave a smoother finish than rough sandpaper, but take off material faster than fine sandpaper.

Thank you all, for your input. Everyone recommended sanding, as opposed to filling. I'll certainly do it.

There's one area of the saucer where the overage is almost the entire thickness of the wall. If I sand down to make it flush, I'd sand off the entire upper part of the wall.

In that scenario, what would you recommend?

It is sort of like this:

_______________

                             /

-------------------------|

So you can see where the diagonal tip is located for the upper line, if I sand down to make it flush

with the upper part, it will eliminate the plastic altogether!

Wish I could start over, but in this case, I can't.

Thanks again, for any extra advice!

Corey Fleig (Los Angeles)

It would help if we knew which 1701-A kit we're talking about.  There are 4 that I know of, and each has its own issues, but I'd guess that someone here knows exactly what you're talking about from experience and would be able to give you pointers for the particular kit if you can identify it.

Fair enough! I'm working on the Polar Lights 350th scale. Its a wonderful model. There are these ½ inch exterior walls that fit around the circumference of the upper saucer, and the edges between the wall and the bottom saucer are not flush at certain places.

If I sounded down the wall, it would eliminate the plastic altogether, so I decided I'd fill it. But I experimented with putty, and I don't like it at all. Additionally, I'll have to file a curve, so I realize this is not gonna be easy at all!

Is there any filler that's better than putty? And I'm looking for ideas on how to plane on a curve!

Thanks for any reaction!

The 1:350, huh?  That one's a beast, allright.

For something like this, putty is pretty much it.  The only other stuff I've used for filler is the gel-type cement on 1 or 2 figure kits.

To try to get the putty on as evenly as possible, you probably want to invest in a few sculpting tools.  I usually apply putty with the one that has a long rectangular blade, scraping the putty off of the blade along the raised area, then running the edge along both "high points" of the edge.

After the putty's dry, sand to as flush as possible, but don't be surprised ( especially with a kit that size ) if there are some areas where the putty shrank to leave spots that are still recessed and not even.  You may have to putty and sand those a second time.

If you haven't used putty before, I'd actually suggest getting something else top practice on to get the hang of it and get familiar with how it behaves ( not saying anything negative about anyone's skills here, just hoping to save longer-term aggravation ).  The 1:1000 TOS Enterprise has a saucer edge that needed putty when I built it, so you'd get the practice in a smaller scale with less of an investment in the first puttied kit, and any trial-and-error would be easier to clean up.

Thank you, Kugai, very much! I bought another model of the same so I could practice, so I'll definitely take your advice!

Again, thanks so much! I hope I can get it done before my sanity ends!

Coreysan,

For a big gap like that you'll need a thick putty.  I would recommend Squadron green or white, and here's a handy finishing tip to mimimize sanding:  This stuff dissolves in NON-ACETONE fingernail polish remover.  After you pack it in the gap, wet your finger with the nail polish remover and smooth out the putty.  If you do it just right, you'll have little or no finish sanding to do.  Make sure you get the NON-ACETONE stuff, as acetone will mar the plastic.

And for sanding the overlaps, I have used a small vibrating finish sander, called "The Mouse" made by Black and Decker. Just use very light pressure and keep a close eye on it so you don't sand off too much.  This will save you lots of time- I know, because I built the 1/350 NX-01 a few years ago.  It's a real project all right!  I also used that sander a lot on the Polar Lights C-57D spaceship from "Forbidden  Planet" which is even bigger than the Enterprise models. 

 Here is the top hull of the C-57D after lots of filling, sanding, and painting, using those techniques.

Wow - that's beautiful!  And thanks for your input. Since you are familiar with the begger trek models, I included a drawing of the problem, to get your reaction!

Now I understand, you are restoring the upper surface to the contour it should be with putty.  It will work, I think, but will take a lot of sanding to get the contour even all around.  I think you could pile on a bit more putty than necessary, smooth and shape it before it dries using the non-acetone nail polish remover, then use a vibrating sander to level it out to where it should be.  When it's about right, switch to a fine grade of wet sanding paper, (applied by hand) say 320, then switch to 600 to get it smooth and shiny.  If you are doing this all around the cirumference of the disk, it will be a long and boring procedure, unfortunately, and don't forget to wear a dust mask.  (My workshop was covered with paint and putty dust after I finished that C-57D.)

That disc you see in the photo is made up of six large pie-shaped wedges.  My challenge was to make the seams disappear using putty and a process similar to the above.

Due to the size of that thing, I painted it using large cans of Krylon primer and silver paint, relatively cheap at the hardware store.  I believe it took about 8 large cans of paint to finish the top and lower hull!  More fine wet sanding between many coats, of course.

It's a lot of work, but if you take your time you will have a beautiful model.  Good luck!

Thanks so much Cadet Chuck - I'm glad to know I'm not the only one whose done this!

I Googled your model and found some illustrated builds, even on You Tube. Its a practice of mine to review before buying, and refer to some of these during the build. You might want to look into what's available. You're doing a big one :-)