Tamiya white Putty? Evercoat? Light Curing Putty?

I've often taken kits and wanted to modify them for custom builds, in fact I get most of my inspiration from AF'ers who blow my mind with their great body work and also from the pro's in Scale Auto Mag.

I've never had an easy time with puttying or even knowing the difference between the different types of putty available.

I know there is quite a selection of puttys available such as Evercoat, Tamiya white putty, Tamiya light curing putty and I'm sure many others.

Some questions I have are:

Are there different types of putty that need to be used with certain mediums such as plastic, resin or metal?

Is there a standard, all purpose putty that works well on most materials?

Are there some tips on using puttys on plastics & resin in particular?

After putty work, are the body prepping procedures the same? Priming, sanding, painting? OR are there special steps that need to be taken with bodies that have been puttied?

I'm determined to learn the secret of puttying the RIGHT way!!!! :grinyes:

hi,

two components epoxy putties ( like tamiya fast draying epoxy putty or milliput white) work well on most materials... but you have to try and choose the right one for your building skills... there is nothing like a "wonder putty", I've never seen anything like that for 25 years...
regards

ok sixx, since you 've asked this...

from what i can gather in my coachbuilding works, i can safely say that i did found out there are some differences in all the puttys i've worked in. i uses 3 different types of putty agents in all...the 2-piece epoxy, squadron putty & tamiya normal putty.

1) in situations like you alter a big portion of something or need to re-create a section, i tend to use 2-piece epoxy. i need the strength from this type to withstand my heavy sanding, routing & cutting during reshaping. at this stage, you don't have to worry about not smooth, holes everywhere or irregularities etc...you just want the basic shape now.

2) for areas that has some gaps or big filling without heavy work as above, i use squadron type of putty. they're chunky & can fill up any holes easily. this type is used after i've gotten my basic shape that i want, now it's just to cover the irregularities after heavy pounding on the epoxy. still i don't worry about the overall smoothness here yet.

3) for minor filling in areas not structural binded or only light sanding is required, i use tamiya normal putty. use this type when you want a smoothed surface or 'touch up', or simply on every last minute job prior to spraying the primer. use this type like a last minute putty.

one note of caution. i've ever tried to use all 3 types at once, in bit to reduce waiting time but all have different drying times. i suggest you try all sorts of putty in the market & see which one suits your style & it doesn't matter what brand they are. i believe all types fall into 3 states (solid after dry, chunky & near liquid)

i've ever tried to use a tamiya 2-part epoxy (which is easily available) which i find it not user friendly, & i threw it away. those light curing, milliput or evercoast i've not seen or use them before. but as long as the current 3 types i'm using gives me the results i want, i don't see the need to try the rest as of now.

that's, unless there some chemical putty which after applying onto styrene plastic can make the plastic bend!!!
anyone seen / heard this!?

hehe...cheers!

Rockinanko

I really appreciate the great answer you've given here! This is exactly the kind of information that will be very useful as I experiment with scratchbuilding and altering bodies!


I really like the idea of being able to transform a kit into a custom build by use of puttys.

I'm assuming that the Tamiya normal putty would suffice in a resin pinhole situation.

I recently bought some Mr. Surface that I'm waiting to ship in and I will try this out also.

I think your right about trying various methods and products and finding a winning combo for each application.
Thanks alot for taking the time to help me out! I appreciate it

Sixx

I have used Tamiya white Putty, milliput, and Evercoat. I have often got my shapes correct but, could not get rid of the ghost line after painting.


So, I have a new favorite...Aves Apoxie Sculpt. It is two part like milliput except it comes in two jars. You roll it together just like milliput and can smooth it with a little water like milliput. However, it sands smoother and so far I have not had any ghost line problems after painting it with Tamiya Laquer.


Mark

I have often got my shapes correct but, could not get rid of the ghost line after painting.


humm, ghost line...

well apart from giving a smooth sanding, the next option is giving a 'thicker' priming effect. but still a good sanding is the key.

may i ask if you use the desending method on sandpapers..ie; from 1000wet to til 2000wet? or using flat sanding blocks on straight flat surfaces etc?

Light curing:
Since you brought up light curing putty I thought I mentioned my experience with this stuff.
Its THE most expensive putty I've every used, but well worth the money if you're short on time or just don't like waiting X amount of time.
The Tamiya stuff cures in 1 minute under sunlight and in 2 minutes under a fluorescent light.
Notes:
1. prior to using the putty sand the area to be puttied with 400 or lower grit sandpaper (I also use my x-acto and scratch deep lines in the area). The original binding powers aren't that good on this putty so you will have to give it more to tooth on to.
2. After the puttied has cured, you will have a yellow "goop" on top of the putty, wipe that off with lacquer thinner or it will be unpaintable. It should have a yellow crusty color when 'clean'.
I mainly use this in small amounts, fixing pit holes or small areas that need to be filled. Sands very nicely.

For major body mods I would suggest polyester-putty. Easy to use, cheap, fast. The Tamiya stuff cures in around 45 minutes IIRC, automotive poly-putties have cure times from 5 minutes up to 2 hours I think.
Pros: Cheap, fast, very easy to sand and shape.
Cons: Holes (90% of the time you will have to recoat the puttied area to fill up holes made when mixing the putty), very dusty when sanded, not that rigid (if say you where making a door completely out of this, I would suggest some kind of support)

From my experience, poly-putty is best for major rough shaping, 2 part epoxy for rigid parts, light curing for small fixes. I try to stay away from 1 part putties altogether, but I do use tamiya basic when I'm lazy :tongue:

HTH, Steve

sorry double post

2. After the puttied has cured, you will have a yellow "goop" on top of the putty, wipe that off with lacquer thinner or it will be unpaintable.
I'd be darned careful about using laquer thinner to wipe anything off a plastic kit :eek7: I'd think you'd be in danger of damaging the plastic.

I have found that just wiping it over with a tissue is fine. You sand the damn stuff afterwards anyway which removes any trace of the goo. Primer and then paint go over it just fine.

Thanks Steve for making some sense out of the light curing putty~ I did buy some last month, tried it and obviously didn't use it right, but I'll definetly take the time to try it out again. The tip about running some grooves in the plastic makes sense :grinyes:

humm, ghost line...

well apart from giving a smooth sanding, the next option is giving a 'thicker' priming effect. but still a good sanding is the key.

may i ask if you use the desending method on sandpapers..ie; from 1000wet to til 2000wet? or using flat sanding blocks on straight flat surfaces etc?


I have tried using said putties several times and tried different methods. I believe my sanding was good but, the problem seemed to be more related to the difference between the plastic and the putty absorbing paint. In some cases the putty appeared to pull back from the plastic after being painted.


I have managed to have success on the first try using Aves that is why I had to mention it.




TW

the problem seemed to be more related to the difference between the plastic and the putty absorbing paint. In some cases the putty appeared to pull back from the plastic after being painted.
Maybe it's a silly question but did you wash the plastic after putty work, dry it and then use primer before applying paint?

whatever it is, this issue of ghosting on the prep bodies will always be my no.1 lookout when i'm finally wanna prime my fleet of mod ferraris...all consist of 50% resin putty & 50% of styrene! i'll return to this posting if i have any weird findings thereafter.

as we all use different kinds(grades) of 2-part putty or epoxy, i believe there could be a possibility of such withdrawal symptoms happening to everyone here every now & then.

if we could just document all our findings here for references, we might just discover which are the most 'solid' types good for our modeling works.

what do you all say?
cheers!

Maybe it's a silly question but did you wash the plastic after putty work, dry it and then use primer before applying paint?


Yes, I nearly always wash and dry the parts before painting because, I have usually just got done sanding the parts to make the shape or fight the ghosting.

I normally use Tamiya primer because I can follow it with Tamiya paint.


TW