SPA Modeler

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Good to know that I'm not the only one that scrapes seams! Both your suggestions/tips are most helpful! Thank you.

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.

LyleW wrote:Good to know that I'm not the only one that scrapes seams! Both your suggestions/tips are most helpful! Thank you.

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.

Thanks, fermis! When the CA levels itself out, it is a wonder.