Help with filling, sanding, & smoothing seems

Brandon,

My experience is both superglue and Mr Surfacer should work for the problem areas you are talking about. The trick is in the application. The less you get on areas that you don't want, the less sanding you will have to and the less damage created. I've had pretty good luck applying Mr. Surfacer with a fine brush just to the small gaps I wanted filled. With super glue, a fine applicator like the eye of a needle with the tip cut off can get the glue exactly where you need it. Capillary action will draw the glue through the gap and keep excess to a minimum.

I'm sure some of the forum members will have other techniques.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!

Those techniques work well for a lot of people, but I could never get it to work perfectly. I read online somewhere and here is what I do now.

 

I take either Mr Surfacer (even 500 is too thin for most seams though) or putty, I use Testors or thinned Tamiya.. and put it on the seam. I really gunk it up.  I wait about 15 minutes and take a cotton swab and swipe the seam with Lacquer Cleaner. I take out all of the excess except what is left in the seam. It works very very well. Saves tons of sanding and all the detail.

how do you go about thinning putty?

i assume 15 minutes is enough for the putty to dry in the seam, but not completely dry outside of the seam, hence the reason it is easy to clean off?

It depends on the putty, but lacquer thinner, enamel thinner, or water should work on each brand.

 

Thats why I like Testors red putty, it comes in a huge tube and is very watery. I push a bit out and mix it up, then apply it in  heaps. For the lacquer thinner I use Testors Metalizer Cleaner, which is just lacquer thinner in a different bottle. Its amazing the results you get from doing it with this method. The only thing you need to watch for is wiping to hard into the seam and not leaving it flat. 

Just in case you haven't discovered so already, Mr Surfacer smooths very well with denatured alcohol. It may take several applications of Mr Surfacer to fill your gaps, but once set (I mean completely), you can use a folded paper towel moistened with denatured alcohol and smooth away. It also has the advantage of no ill effects towards styrene. Unlike lacquer thinners, it won't melt your model/figures  

Thats a good point. I just ordered some Dissolver Putty as well, going to try that.