What solder for white metal?

Does anybody know what type of solder would be good to use for filling gaps in white metal models? I know almost nothing about soldering other than the basics on how to do it. I bought some stuff, but it doesn't seem to file/carve very easily.. what should I look for in the store?

Use super glue, it makes a perfect filler on any medium. Just fill the area with it, apply an accelerator and once it's dry, sand it smooth.

Use super glue, it makes a perfect filler on any medium. Just fill the area with it, apply an accelerator and once it's dry, sand it smooth.

I guess that will work for small gaps, but I also have a model I need to 'build up' something on it. (not a car, it's a metal figure with a broken part), also bigger gaps if any ever come up.

Honestly, I don't know if it's done or not- I don't know if white metal is compatible with solder. I may be wrong, but I'm given to think it isn't done. To solder properly, you must heat the parts to be soldered and not the solder itslef. As the melting point for white metal is quite low, it's possible you'll melt the part in the process.

I would use epoxy to repair the broken part, and/or epoxy putty to build up.

Honestly, I don't know if it's done or not- I don't know if white metal is compatible with solder. I may be wrong, but I'm given to think it isn't done. To solder properly, you must heat the parts to be soldered and not the solder itslef. As the melting point for white metal is quite low, it's possible you'll melt the part in the process.

I would use epoxy to repair the broken part, and/or epoxy putty to build up.

I dunno about heating a part to be soldered. When I rigged up my old game boy with an internal light I just melted some drops onto the wires.. but then, I'm a solder newbie, so i'm not sure..

but yeah, i've seen it used in a few sites from other countries. Here's one that was posted recently.. check it out, third pic down:
http://www.sankaido.jp/f1modeling/m_factory/06/index.html
10th down on this page
http://www.sankaido.jp/f1modeling/m_factory/06/index_3.html

here's more
http://www.sankaido.jp/f1modeling/m_factory/01/popup_01/03-03.jpg

The problem here is the site is Japanese, and even with the online translators available, I haven't been able to see the type of solder that's being used.

The problem I have with epoxy is it's just really a pain to get a smooth edge between the metal and the epoxy, while if it's all metal, it'll blend in nicely and also be a much stronger bond.

The standard solder should do the job and yes it may be a bit harder to file.
One handy alternative is special low temp solder ( google for Carr's solder ). It melts earlier and with the soldering iron set at low temp you can almost smear it on the white metal. A big blob of the normal stuff can melt your model in a bigger area than you want and is often tricky to control...at least for me:-)

I've only tried this technique once before with limited success. To my mind the trick with filling white metal with solder is that you do need to melt the surface of the original part. That is so the new solder can bond with the white metal. Otherwise the solder can bead off while hot or be stuck to the surface with only the flux residue when cooled.

What you need to do is contact AKIHIRO KAMIMURA possibly through his website. If you haven't visited his site before you will be amazed. Here is is home page http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~ak-model/
Check out his 312PB build-up here where he actually cuts the car in half and then solders it back together again, seems to me like it can be done and done quite well. Here's the link to build http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~ak-model/howto/howto_312pb.htm
Remember that these are in 1/43 scale and is worth just looking around. Hope this helps you out.

Mike.

Wow, lovely work. But the more I look at it, the happier I am to work with injection molded plastic and machined aluminum.

Yes, that guy is Amazing (note capital A). In fact, i've had his site bookmarked for a really long time and it's one of the reasons I became interested in 1/43 scale to begin with.

I noticed in his Ferrari 250gt build up, he mentioned using melted white metal. I had an idea today while I was at work. Basically games minis, like warhammer type stuff.. are made with similar white metal as these cars. Some of the more unpopular ones are pretty cheap, I thought maybe I could use those as spare metal for filling purposes since it has the same filing/sanding properties as the cars.

of all of those pics I didn't see any solder being used at all. It was all just the soldering iron being used to bond 2 seperate surfaces of the kit, or heating and reshaping. to be fair though I didn't look through ALL of the pics, but I didn't see any solder.

I bet you could use those pewter/lead miniatures just fine as white metal solder. I used to build those miniatures (mechwarior, gundams, robo-tech) and I always just used superglue, and epoxy putty to bond and fill.

of all of those pics I didn't see any solder being used at all.
In this picture of the 312PB build
http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~ak-model/howto/img_312pb/DSC00073.JPG
He states underneath the picture
The rear cowl was re-joined to the body with solder. At that same time, I stretched its length for about 2-3 mm. It was a little bit tough!

From info I gathered from this site,
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/kappa-silvia/e/1ede362384d1f45f4a2716a0df665f99
The solder is a low temperature type for stainless, rated a 100C degrees. He also uses a ribbon solder of a higher temp rating for welding.

The irons are 20W for the solder, 40W for welding metal parts and 100W for annealing PE parts.

The site says the low temp solder don't exactly bond to white metal well, so a crack might develop over time. The best solution is to weld metals of a similar melting temperature.

So, bhop73, you might have to sacrifice another figure of the same material, if finding the right kind of solder. Once before I killed a wizard to cast a metal wheel.:grinyes:

From info I gathered from this site,
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/kappa-silvia/e/1ede362384d1f45f4a2716a0df665f99
The solder is a low temperature type for stainless, rated a 100C degrees. He also uses a ribbon solder of a higher temp rating for welding.

The irons are 20W for the solder, 40W for welding metal parts and 100W for annealing PE parts.

The site says the low temp solder don't exactly bond to white metal well, so a crack might develop over time. The best solution is to weld metals of a similar melting temperature.

So, bhop73, you might have to sacrifice another figure of the same material, if finding the right kind of solder. Once before I killed a wizard to cast a metal wheel.:grinyes:

Thanks for that. I will have to make a trip to games workshop store today.. heh, heh..

if you live in Canada go to welding dealer and ask for aladdin 3in1 welding rod. it is a triangler welding wire made specifically for oxy-acetylene welding of white metal. will fill large gap no problem depending on skill of welder

Once before I killed a wizard to cast a metal wheel.:grinyes:
I hope that wasn't Gandalf! He's one of the good guys! ;)

Interesting point about using a soldering iron to anneal p/e parts. It never occured to me before. Thanks.