Seams

[guiwee]

Hey guys this may sound silly to you all,but how do you fill seams?
I.e. putting two brake calipers together?
1.Should i put too much glue on it let it "squish out" let dry then sand?
2,Try to cover with paint?
Or does anyone out there have a better way.It would be nice to see a "how-to"on that. It seems like such a basic part of building but its a skill i lack.Ive tried that squadron putty stuff doesnt lay down good to me.
i went to my lhs and asked them what they use and he gave me some vallejo putty in their little bottles.Ill try it.He also suggested i try some of Mr.hobby surfacer stuff.Isnt that like primer?It comes in like different "grits" or something?They had bottles of like 500.1200.1000....what is this stuff please explain?

[DasWiesel]

Taking a bit more glue would be one possible method. You shouldn´t overdo it, of course. Taking glue in tubes might be better. It is usually more viscous than the one in .... well ..... those needle bottles.

Mr Surfacer is indeed great stuff! It is a kind of more liquid putty and should work fine for your described needs. I´ve just found that for you:
http://www.swannysmodels.com/Surfacer.html

[hirofkd]

>>1.Should i put too much glue on it let it "squish out" let dry then sand?
That's how I usually do. And for a small parts like brake caliper, I think that's the easiest way. The advantage is that you can keep the material uniform, and don't have to use putty at all, or only have to use a very small amount. The draw back is that, the molten plastic will take a while to harden. Fortunately, I have many projects to switch around, so time isn't critical though...

>>2,Try to cover with paint?
I don't think paint is thick enough to hide it, but you can use dissolved putty, like GSI (Gunze), or make your own by mixing Tamiya basic putty with Mr. Color Thinner. I use both, but prefer the latter because I can choose the thickness of dissolved putty anyway I want, according to the size of scratches I want to fill.

Besides conventional putty, you can also use superglue. Although you don't have to be this thorough for a small part like a brake caliper, the following might come in handy when preparing a body.

I glued parts together, waited for a few days, and sanded the surface to eliminate large gap, then I applied superglue.


After that, I sanded the surface with a medium grit sand paper.


Then, I used finer sanding clothes progressively up to 3600 grit.


Finally, I polished the surface with Tamiya coarse compound. Now the original smoothness of plastic is restored, and the part is ready for priming. I usually apply Mr. Surfacer 1000 with a brush to fill scratches, then sand again with finer polishing cloths, like 4000-6000 grit.


Mr. Surfacer are not meant to hide "untreated" parting lines, but to fill scratches left by sanding. (Notice the words, parting line vs. scratch?) The numbers work like the grade of sand paper, where 500 being the thickest and capable of filling relatively large scratches, and the 1200 grade fills tiny hairline scratches.

For example, you can apply Mr. Surfacer between Process 2 and 3 above.