How would you go about fixing these issues.

smeagol

the way i did mine was to mask the metal bar with a few turns of cheap teflon plumbers tape. I use this a lot ot mask internal assemblies such as prepainted endoskeletons on GMs and metallic parts such as motorcycle pipes.  There is no adhesive so you need to wrap a few turns around it.

Use liquid cement such as Testors in the clear glass bottle. Use plenty and get a good seam of liquid plastic flowing out when you presss the part together. If you dont already have a Flex-I-File hoop get one and use a new red/orange sanding tape in it to buff down the seam.

 My arms always drooped so I posed it with one damaged and it flops on the ground next tothe Ball while the other holds up a captured Zeon battle flag!

HTH

I would paint the metal rod (after priming it first), them mask it w a piece of Post-it cut to the right width. Parafilm M is also good stuff for this. I can't tell how big the model is from the instructions; if it's really small, I'd just brush paint it...

If the end result is imperfect, it's easy to touch up w/ a brush, and carefully applied washes will hide small imperfections. I use a subtle wash of Black mixed w/ Burnt Umber to replicate lubricant stains and hydraulic fluid leaks.

PLU1 is right about the Flex-I-File. That's exactly what I would use to clean the seam. Those things are awesome. Cheap too.

I first put Tamiya liquid cement on both surfaces to be mated, then I run some more into the join just before I press it completely closed. I rarely have too many problems w/ seam cleanup.

Even if you don't get it perfect, how visible is the seam? My friend Henry says: "If it's not visible, it not a mistake."

The Ball is the size of a baseball with nicely articulated arms.  Actually the MG kit is a fantastic kit, fully detailed internal skeletal structure. its too bad we dont see many of them on display tables.  Maybe the subject is a bit too wierd for most folks but in the MS 08th team storyline it made a point to good effect.  

good luck with it!

Thanks, its the shark ball version from Igloo, Im probably going to do a half display with the armor off one side, maybe, I did that for all my others.

Heres another question.  I have tried to fix these seams about 10 times now, now joke

the back of the shield THEY WONT GO AWAY

I have gluedem down, putty, primer, putty primer putty primer

over and over, and they just wont freaking disapear!  I'm at my whits end with this thing.

Man, remember my sinanju's shoulders? Tamiya surface primer/Mr Surfacer 800 makes everything better.

You may need to go with heavier guns: a non-shrinking and flexible epoxy putty, like Green Stuff or  I've heard that Magic Sculpt works great and doesn't shrink a bit.

Well, a seam like that, I'd just leave it, pretend it was designed that way. Maybe drill some small shallow holes nearby to represent countersunk bolt heads or something.

If you really have to be rid of it, I'd fill it w Aves. Leave a bit above the surface in case it shrinks some while it dries, then just sand it down smooth. The smoke dischargers on my Hovertruck were visibly hollow on the back, that's how I cleaned them up.

or.............

cheat the seam with strip stock. I have done it many times and you can get pretty creative with how you hide it.

i have found time and again that I notice things in my own models that others dont. they bug me, but other people dont usually see it.  At that point I press on and finish the project.

smeagol the vile wrote:

Heres another question.  I have tried to fix these seams about 10 times now, now joke the back of the shield THEY WONT GO AWAY I have gluedem down, putty, primer, putty primer putty primer over and over, and they just wont freaking disapear!  I'm at my wits end with this thing.

One thing that can cause this is if the parts aren't stable enough relative to each other.  If the bond at the point of the seam isn't good enough, if it can slide or flex or whatever - then no matter what you do to fill the seam there's a good chance it'll open up again - you'll sand it or whatever (applying pressure to the part, flexing it) and the seam will crack open again.

It's critically important to get a good bond before trying to clean the seams.

If solvent glue isn't enough to anchor the parts such that they are stable, then I'd go with super glue + talc mixture applied to the inside of the assembly - it'll bond really well and help establish a good anchor for the seam.

I don't know if that's what's causing your troubles - but this sort of thing caused me all sorts of trouble back when I did my HG Strike.

it does move, the back piece is REALLY thin plastic, and the rest of the shield is hollow, so when I hold it to sand one side, the seam reopens on another, im gona take it off, put a hefty dose of IM GONA MELT THE PLASTIC glue, and try again, if not I dunno what to do.

I tried putting strip plastic, but its to close to the edge that I'd have to fix THAT seam with where it meets the edge of the shield

Okay I'm looking at my GP02A's shield right now, and there's just no way I see it working without a lot of styrene strip and tons of cement.

 additionally, it's a panel line in the official illustrations so I don't see much reason to fill it in the first place. There's one bit of overlapping detail indent about the middle, and you can just leave that or fill it in, but as far as filling this particular gap, I'd say don't.

Im tempted to find a diff kit to work on for an entry, and jsut finish this one for my own mental health.  I sanded that shield so much all of the detail on the back is GONE.

the ball, I will enter (hopefully) 

well, that gives you a chance to replace that entire panel with .010 stock and recrreate the panel texture with .005 stock.  Instead of fixing the panel, hide it all with a new, thin panel built up entirely over it. SG/T will fill that resulting new side seam with minimal effort. Check out this months issue of The Journal for a guy that made all new texture for a canon he is working on using .005 and SG/T. Same principal will work for you.

 AND...

read my sig.........this is a hobby, NOT a job.  If your not having fun, go find something else to do for a while. Stressing over things like this just aint worth it.  I havent found a problem with a model yet that can't be fixed :)

Im not stressing really, I wana fix it for my own mental health.

The thing is, I went to mosquito con, only gundam kit there was, was a char's Zaku II 2.0 snapped, not painted, gundam marker lined... thats unacceptable, so im going to enter atleast two kits under the scifi section.