What do you do? - Filling seams
What do you do? - Filling seams
With the seams when the pieces fit tightly? How do you deal with the line that is left over? Thinking of the seams where the halves of a fuselage are joined.
To make each build less crappy than the last one. Or, put another way, "Better than the last one, not as good as the next one!"..
Re: What do you do?
If I have a very thin seam between to fuselage halves (which I had on my BV 212 and going to have on the Goblin. This is quite typical of short run kits) I use Mr. Surfacer 500 or thinned Tamiya putty to fill it. I aply the 500 with a size 0 brush, just a thin line, when it is hardned I wet sand the seam.
Re: What do you do?
yep, same sort of thing I try when there is a gap or the halves don't mate evenly. I'm thinking more of when they fit flush, both sides the same height and all you have left is the line of the seam.
To make each build less crappy than the last one. Or, put another way, "Better than the last one, not as good as the next one!"..
Re: What do you do?
That screams after an "it depends..."-answer. Should I stop now? 
Some planes (most of Messerschmitts' were) are build semi shell style. So there is a small seam on the real one that let you as modeller get away with yours.
If that is not the case the best way is to melt (or weld) it all together. Use Tamiya Extra Thin or that more aggressive stuff called Tenax (hard to get over here in old Europe), let it do its work in the seams and when the plastic is softened press both halfes together until material squeezes out. After curing just sand it flush and voilà, a perfect one part fuselage.
The main advantage here is the dealing with only one material and no filler at all. Makes sanding much easier.
Hope that helps.
Merry Christmas,
Torben
Some planes (most of Messerschmitts' were) are build semi shell style. So there is a small seam on the real one that let you as modeller get away with yours.
If that is not the case the best way is to melt (or weld) it all together. Use Tamiya Extra Thin or that more aggressive stuff called Tenax (hard to get over here in old Europe), let it do its work in the seams and when the plastic is softened press both halfes together until material squeezes out. After curing just sand it flush and voilà, a perfect one part fuselage.
The main advantage here is the dealing with only one material and no filler at all. Makes sanding much easier.
Hope that helps.
Merry Christmas,
Torben
Cheers,
Torben
Torben
Re: What do you do?
Oh, and if the out of box-fit is nearly perfect, just take a curved cutter blade and gently grate the overlap down.
Easy as 1-2-3.
Easy as 1-2-3.
Cheers,
Torben
Torben
Re: What do you do?
Good to know that I'm not the only one that scrapes seams! Both your suggestions/tips are most helpful! Thank you.
To make each build less crappy than the last one. Or, put another way, "Better than the last one, not as good as the next one!"..
Re: What do you do?
With a minor seam, I'll just fill with CA...for a larger seam/gap, I'll CA a length of stretched sprue in there to fill it, or in some cases (like Revellogram P-61), I'll cram some sheet styrene into the gap. I very rarely use any putty.
Re: What do you do?
I scrape a lot too....especially when parts don't really line up. I scrape to even things up a bit, before I start sanding.LyleW wrote:Good to know that I'm not the only one that scrapes seams! Both your suggestions/tips are most helpful! Thank you.
Re: What do you do?
Thanks, fermis! When the CA levels itself out, it is a wonder.
To make each build less crappy than the last one. Or, put another way, "Better than the last one, not as good as the next one!"..