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Filler for plastic


Tin_Bitz

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Hi,

I had started another topic about using filler on resin and there was talk about miliput not chemically bonding plastic.....

So my question is what filler do people think is best to use on plastic, things like aircraft seam lines and such like?

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Heat stretched sprue, ideally form the kit being built, applied with Tamiya extra thin, or super glue.

Miliput will not bond plastic as it is a two-part epoxy putty containing no solvents to bond, ('melt/fuse'), the plastic.

Christian the Married and exiled to africa

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Is there confusion here (or just me)? Miliput will not bond plastic to plastic, but will take to plastic perfectly happily. I prefer it to any other when large amounts are to be shaped, but Mr Dissolved Putty is the best thing I've found for filling unwanted panel lines.

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I will be glueing fuselage halves an wings together. I always have a seam line here and there to make disappear.

Is everyone saying that this stretched spruce idea with Tamiya extra thin cement work better than miliput ?

The tube of squadron green filler, does it shrink? Or affect the plastic in a negative way?

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Green stuff does shrink. That's one reason why Milliput is superior for larger volumes - that and its finer finish. There are also various car fillers that individuals swear by. I suspect these are cheaper by volume - but also suspect that like Milliput, they will go off unless you use them in large quantities.

If you are having problems getting fuselage and wing halves to meet then rubbing both parts on a large sanding sheet will make the mating surfaces much better. Then, traditionally clothes pegs, paper clamps and rubber bands were used to press awkward parts together until the glue could take the strain. (Statement of blinding obvious coming up - fingers and thumbs will do, except for long joints, but it gets a bit tedious and can leave fingerprints.) If you still have sizable gaps then yes, stretched sprue and ordinary glue will produce a stronger bond than any filler. If you are having trouble getting your joins to stay glued, try Mekpak - Methyl Ethyl Ketone, if you can find it.

Edited by Graham Boak
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They are only hairline seams but I will try this Tamiya and sprue idea. I always seem to get more milliput on parts of the model that I don't want to fill than the bits I do.

I do do all the usual clamping of the items.

I not much of an MEK fan as it's really not very good for you.

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Put masking tape on each side of the seam. Fill the seam area, sand down till you reach the masking tape level, remove tape and finish off. This will give minimum damage around the filled part.

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Ok so this is the only technique I've found to completely eradicate seams. Firstly If you have a wide gape to fill I either use CA or squadron white filler in order to get the seam to a more manageable state, this is then sanded and followed by a smear of Mr surfacer 500 which again is sanded. At this point I'm always left with the faintest of seam lines so I then thin the Mr surfacer and a line along the seam, this is then finished off with 1200 wet and dry and a polish with micromesh.

What I should mention is less is more with filler, try and keep as much confined to as narrow area along the seam as possible.

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Well this might be teaching some of you how to suck eggs, but I saw somewhere on the world wide net ( dont think it was here ) about mixing baking powder with super glue,so the other day i gave it a try; not on a model, but to help solve a little problem.

I wanted to decant some supermarket rattle can into a jar but there was no ridge around the nozzle that i could fit a drinking straw over, so I just spot superglued the straw over it and when that was dry went around the seam with a liberal helping of super glue and then sprinkled the baking powder over it, the glue dried rock hard as soon as the powder touched it, afterwards i removed the straw and now I have a perfect insert to fit other straws into. I cant see why this wouldnt work for filling seams, ill fitting wing joints etc, just fill the gap with superglue and sprinkle the powder over it. Dont take my word for it and try it on a bit of scrap first.

Just for the record, i use the cheapest super glue i can find. The secret seems to be is put the slightest possible amount on the part to be glued, the more there is the longer it takes to dry.

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For plastic I use milliput for large gaps and squadron white for smaller seams. Where I need accuracy, I use Mr Dissolved Putty and Mr Surfacer as well.

Cheers,

Tom.

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A useful filler, especially where plastic is thin or there isn't much to grip any other, is plastic soup. Dissolve scrap plastic in polystyrene glue until its gloopy. Paint on to the area/spot with an old brush, a bit of cocktail stick. When dry and hard it can be carved and sanded.

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