What's the best putty?

Testors "contour putty" in the grey/white tube? It's more like 1:1 scale concrete in a tube. It's very coarse grained and if it doesn't crumble and fall off, it sets rock hard and is near impossible to smooth out.

I use Squadron green, thinned with lacquer thinner to a soupy consistency and paint it on with a brush. Yes, for large gaps this means multiple applications, but it's preferable to applying a large blob and having the solvents melt the model. Yes, lacquer thinner can be very harsh as well, but I find that with the thin layers afforded by applying with a paintbrush, the solvent tends to flash off very quickly without affecting the plastic. 

I also use Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer, which is very similar to the finer grade Mr Surfacer. Another advantage of using Mr Surfacer/Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer is that both may be cleaned up with alcohol, which has no adverse effects on styrene.

Either way, I use masking tape either side of the seam/gap to protect the surrounding area, so there's minimal mess.

 

 

raptordriver wrote:

I've been using Testors putty for filling seams and I noticed that stuff doesn't always work well I've heard that squadron putty was better so I bought some and its in the mail now. What I wanted to ask now was what do you think is the best seam filler.

 Acryl-Blue automotive glazing putty, by 3M.  It's solvent based: lacquer thinner or MEK will cut it, and it can attack plastic if thinned too much.

It applies smoothly like peanut butter, dries solid without grittiness, and sands down, then polishes, to a high sheen.  It comes in big, expensive tubes--1lb 5oz (595g)--but lasts a long time in the tube.

It's available at auto paint stores.  If I putty, I use either Acryl-Blue or gap-filling CA and nothing else!

Hope this helps.

Bruce

As with most things modeling, putty seems to be one of those things Everyone Has An Opinion About But Of Which No Two Opinions Are The Same.

Sigh.

That being said, I've read reports of modelers swearing off ANY putty that comes in a tube, and sucessfully using Bondo, or even Elmer's Wood Glue. Has anyone tried these alternatives? Are they viable subsitutes to Squadron, Testors, or Tamiya products?

Note that I need a putty for minor seam work, not a major fill-in.

Thanks!

PB

For minor filling (small openings in seams, low spots caused by shrinkage etc), I find that Liquid White Out works for me.  Easy to apply, dries very quickly, doesn't shrink once it's dry and is very easy sanding.  You can usually find it in a stationary store or dime store (stationary section/school supplies section).  Comes in bottles w/brush applicator or plastic squeazable containers w/a ball point applicator (my preference).  And it's relatively cheap.

Porkbits wrote:

As with most things modeling, putty seems to be one of those things Everyone Has An Opinion About But Of Which No Two Opinions Are The Same. Sigh. That being said, I've read reports of modelers swearing off ANY putty that comes in a tube, and sucessfully using Bondo, or even Elmer's Wood Glue. Has anyone tried these alternatives? Are they viable subsitutes to Squadron, Testors, or Tamiya products? Note that I need a putty for minor seam work, not a major fill-in. Thanks! PB

Aaah yes,  what is your favorite putty is akin to asking which of your children do you love the best.

Filling a minor seam - try CA glue with a spritz of accelerator and sand immediately.  Don't wait until tomorrow to sand because the CA will be harder than the surrounding plastic.

Automotive body putties, such as Bondo Spot Glazing Putty or 3M Acryl Blue offer very fine grain which sands and feathers well.  They dry/harden by evaporation.  These are solvent putties which can be thinned with solvents such as lacquer thinner, MEK, or acetone.   I will also use these on minor seams, small resin bubbles or irregular surfaces.  Get these at the auto supply store. They are essentially the same as Squadron Green or White, Dr Microtools Red, etc.   A large tube costs much less than the smaller tube with a model manufacturers logo printed on it.

Divots, larger resin bubbles or injection sink holes?   Fill with a punch of or strip of Evergreen plastic, cement with CA.  Sand flush & putty surface imperfections.

For larger seams, or areas which need some resculpting I use Bondo catalyzed putty.  This is a 2-part epoxy putty which hardens in just a few minutes.  It can be worked with normal hobby tools.  Because it is quick hardening it allows you to keep working without waiting for the solvent in the putty to evaporate (like hours to overnight).   It is fine grained and sands & feathers well.

I've used Mr Surfacer on some fine imperfections, but really haven't gotten the hang of it yet

The bottom line is that you need to have several filler putty materials in your bag of tricks and learn which material and technique is best for a specific application.   There is really no one size fits all approach

 

 

Thanks! Maybe I'll try Bondo or the 3M stuff.

I would've never considered White-Out! Doesn't it become chalk-like and brittle when dry? I would guess that it wouldn't be a very durable filling agent, but who knows?

I've been filling spots, seems, scratches, etc for years not just modeling but 1:1 car body repair. I have tried different products over the years on my models. But I have gone back to my tried-n-true cheaper alternatives.

3M^TM Super Red Putty, 05972, 21.0 oz Tube
Excellent glazing putty, easy to spread and self-leveling. A nitrocellulose putty with long working time and minimal shrinkage. Feathers out to a smooth surface. Sands easily even after overnight drying.

3M^TM Acryl-Green Spot Putty, 05960, 21.0 oz Tube
Fast drying, easy sanding putty designed for spotty repairs. Spreads very easily. Loads paper less and can be sanded in 10 to 15 minutes.

I have never, ever found a need for the two-part Bondo body filler in my modeling hobby. That would be just too much work and a pain.

 

I've been using White Out for 4 or 5 years now and never noticed any problems with chalking and it doesn't seem to be any more brittle than the 3M Spot N Glaze auto putty I've used for the past 20 years (which I still use when there are larger areas to be puttied)

Thanks for the tips!

Well, I just tried putty-ing for the first time and I think it well. Some observations:

1) I bought Squadron green putty, only because it was available at my LHS and I happened to be in there buying paint. It's kinda hard to get into really small seams, so either I need to a) cut it with some kind of solvent b) try White-Out for the tiny seam work. Any suggestions? I bought a couple of sculpting tools.

2) Toulene is nasty, nasty, stuff. I've got all the doors and windows in my office open, and I still think I'm gonna end up brain damaged and/or with children who have two heads. Maybe need to wear my respirator.

3) The instructions on the tube indicate that drying time is 30 minutes, but from what I've read on the forums, most of you guys let the stuff sit overnight. Is this recommended, above and beyond the "official" instructions?

4) I can see why everyone hates doing it. Tedious work.

But this will be my first seam-free model (Hobby Boss A-10), so seems like it's worth the effort.

PB

I use Squadron White Putty all the time, particularly for the BIG gaps I get in my custom work. I spread it across 1" - 1.5" gaps with scrap plastic glued in as a backing. I've never had trouble with it attacking the plastic or being grainy, nor getting nauseous or stoned even in a closed room.

It does take a little while to dry, particularly with large amounts of it, but it sands out nice and smooth and even polishs to a sheen similar to the plastic.

The only time it has ever failed for me has been on a wing leading edge and, in all fairness, the wing was modified and torqued a little out of shape and the glue job wasn't that good so the leading could move up and down. So when it fully dried it cracked, from the torqueing and movement, and flaked off.

Ok, "What is the best putty ?", seems the same as asking, "what is the tastiest food ?" what I want to say is that if you ask this to 1000 modellers, you will probably get 8- or 900 different asnwers. The plain fact is that the use of different brands of putty is as personal as your own taste.

Personally I use a couple of different things, depending on what I want to fill :

1 : a narrow seem... for that I use liquid paper (Tip-Ex, anyone ?)

2 : a little wider seems ... for that I use Valejo Putty, it's a tube with a very thin applicater, while the putty itself is only a little thicker than liquid paper.

Both previous "putties" can only applied layer by layer, meaning that, if the seem you want to fill is rather deep, you can't do it in one go.

3 : a "Grand Canyon-style" gap : "fill" the gap with whatever styrene you can find, if you are an online game player you might have "prepaid card" cards laying around. To finish things off you may want to use nr 1 or 2 after this.

I have used Tamiya putty in the past and while it has had it's use in my stash, I find it a bit on the pricey site compared to liquid paper and filling with  junk styrene. 

Tamia works great for me and the new light putty is even better

Big Mike wrote:

Tamia works great for me and the new light putty is even better

I don't know about how good that light activated putty really is.   A guy in the club had some with him this past Sunday which he had exposed to full Texas sun for more than an hour and a half and it was still soft & crumbly. 

Certainly not faster,  certainly not better, certainly not cheaper

well sorry for my imput it workes fine for me!!

Try Vallejo putty and make your own conclusions. It is the most manageable I could use.

At http://www.greatmodels.com/ you can find it.

	SCALE	MFGR	ITEM NAME	YOUR PRICE
			Vallejo Paints	VLJ00400 17ml Bottle Plastic Putty	$2.45
			Vallejo Paints	VLJ00599 250ml Tube Pumice Stone Putty	$6.75

Throw that grey tube of Testors "Concrete" away! I started using the Tamiya Light Sensitive Putty in the last year. The stuff works great! I placed the parts I was working on under my desk lamp. It dried rock hard in 30-45 minutes. A littel wet sanding and the results look fine. Tamiya products are a bit pricey, but a tube of this putty should last a long time! Remember, you're only filling in gaps, not frosting a cake!

Spot glazing is okay, but to get the best results use plastic. Stretching sprue or card stock by 'welding' it in place with a liquid solvent is simple.

 

 

You end up with a solid joint, that is easily rescribed and is not subject to shrinkage. Also putties, CA and plastic have different consistancies or hardness. Using styrene gives you uniformity of materials. 

For wider gaps, I've used styrene rod melted with testors cement (the stuff in the black applicator bottle).

For normal gaps, just some squadron white putty smoothed with acetone.  Smoothing it with acetone minimalizes the need for sanding afterwards.

-Fred

 

I concur with qmiester. I've just started using White out as my primary for taming seams, and it is really good stuff. As long as the seam is small, it's just wonderful. As for larger seams...I haven't had one all that big to try it on yet, since I've only applied it to my Dragon USS Ticonderoga so far. But the seam between the hull halves...after White Out and sanding with 800 grit it's like it was never there.

DanCooper wrote:

3 : a "Grand Canyon-style" gap : "fill" the gap with whatever styrene you can find, if you are an online game player you might have "prepaid card" cards laying around. To finish things off you may want to use nr 1 or 2 after this.

 

Another good source is credit card offers you get in the mail. Some of the sample cards inside are made of paper (haven't tried those yet) but many are plastic and are a useful source of styrene stock. You can also scratchbuild with them; one of the diving planes on a Gato sub I made for my parents was cut from a credit card and countoured with careful sanding, and no one in my family could figure out which was scratchbuilt and which was the kit part.

I a just got some squadron white putty but its as hard as a rock. Like testors putty.is it supposed to be like that?

Squadron white?? No, and IMO the Testors stuff is crap. It wouldn't even come out of the tube it's so thick. The white putty you bought shouldn't be that thick. My tube has the consistency of a liquidy-gel-paste...

All I seem to use anymore is Zap-A-Gap CA glue, it dries fast and sands smooth.

 

I use different types of filler:

small seam and scratches: tippex

normal seams: tamiya putty, sometimes thinned with acetone

large gaps: Milliput epoxy putty. Great when the filler also needs te give some strength.