Seamless Models?

Hi There,

Most models go together pretty well, but you can expect some filling on most kits as well. No model will be perfect there are just to many things that can change from one mold run to the next.

I personally run a small bead of CA along every joint then sand, there is nothing worse than spraying it and finding a minute seam you didn't spot and having to re spray after fixing it. You can gaurantee that way-wood seam will always be in the most noticeable spot.

But yes is is very possible to make seams disappear, practice, using CA, and wet sand you will find you can make it look like glass.

Andy hit it on the nose.
One thing you should get is a scribing tool. As you sand or fill in those seams, you will either sand away a recessed panel line or fill it with CA or filler. You will need to clean up those lines with the scribe or in some cases, scribe new panel lines that were sanded away. If yo don't want to buy a scibe, use an x-acto blade that the tip is chipped off. This works pretty well. (Not alot of the tip, just a very small portion of the point.)
While you can minimize seams, I don't think you can be seamless without a at least a little extra work after assembly.

Mike

From my experience, superglue is the only way to make a seam really go away. However, sometimes making the spot left by the superglue is more trouble than the original seam. You gotta sand it, check it, refill it, sand it and check it again! Using accelerator speeds up the process. Before you go and paint it only to find you missed a spot, check your work by brushing on a little Testors chrome silver. The flaws jump right out at you. Sounds like a lot of work, but if you've taken the time to fit your parts well and do a good job with your liquid cement in initial assembly, you'll only be dealing with a few small flaws. A good finish takes patience and effort. Don't shortchange your model, you've probably got a lot of time and money already invested in it.

Tom

Thanks

Any suggestions on the sanding? What grade do you start with and then end up with? Is wet sanding the way to go?

I start with around 300 and progress to 600 or higher. Keep the paper wet all the time and wipe the model often so you can see how you are doing

Sounds like Sgt Andy knows what he's talking about. I start with 360 grit because thats what I have. At this stage of finishing, you shouldn't have to go beyond 600 before you paint. Remember to keep it wet! I have a tupperware bowl full of water on my workbench for dunking. Check your work often, use a paper towel to wipe off the water and debris and look at the area you're sanding.

Tom

When I glue the fusalage together, I do it in small sections at a time. I use Tenax 7R and an applicator. Berfore the glue has a chance to fully cure I push the parts together causing a little bit of the glue and melted plastic to ooze out. After I have completed the fusalage I take a new #11 blade and trim off the ooze. I then touch up with gap filling CA on any bad spot. The overall result is very little seams or gaps and very little sanding. This will work on a model that has a good fit to start with. A kit that fits bad may take a little more CA to fill the gaps. In that case follow the above mentioned advise.

I don't know about y'all, but I've never used seam fillers to remove seams! I put the two pieces together with my tube of Testor's Non-Toxic Cement(the best cement out there!), and then sand like mad! After sanding with the roughest sandpaper I could find, I use the finest sandpaper I can find, to make it smooth! After all that, the seam is gone! If gaps occur because of this, brush paint over the gap with enamel paint, it usually fills up the very top of the hole!

No sense repeating good advice, so the only thing I'll add is to spend some time getting the fit right in the glue stage. Most joint problems can be minimized when gluing the parts together. Run your fingernail across the joint and you should be able to tell if they are aligned or not. Glueing in 'sections' allows you to adjust the fit as you go along. Spending a little time at this stage can really reduce the amount of time you'll spend filling and sanding.

M.