My first 3D kit: a 1/48 Monster. Advice sought. What to do with wide panel lines?

[28ZComeback]

Good afternoon, 

 

i recently purchased and received a wonderful 1/48 3D printed kit, of a WW2 transport aircraft.   The kit is made of a light weight plastic material and appears to be sturdy, yet I worry that the wings may fold and collapse upon themselves as gravity takes its toll—the manufacuturer recommends plastic bands that reinforce panel lines.  I have a number of questions for those who are more experienced with these kits:  how do you support a big plastic kit with thin plastic landing gear?  Besides filling and rescribing panel lines, what is the protocol for eliminating wide panel lines? (I had a method once of lightly sanding the lines until they “melded” back into the kit surface).  What is the best glue for 3D subjects?   I worry that super glue will harder and won’t sand like the surrounding surface. Thank you all! 

Edited October 2, 2024 by 28ZComeback

[dnl42]

When you write 'light weight plastic material', this begs the question if this is FDM (a.k.a., filament) or SLA (resin) printed? There are many FDM materials and the adhesives vary.

 

Anyway, I agree with your concern about CA and hardening. I use CA as a filler, and if you wait too long too long to sand it, especially overnight, you just embedded a rock in your model. I learned this the hard way and lost a 1/144 C-97. Now I wait about 20m before I finish the CA with files.

 

The plastic LG might be OK depending on their construction. At 1/38 it's unlikely you'll find AM bronze LG, which would be plenty sturdy. Whatever you do, don't think that white metal LG will be sturdier than plastic--they're not! Perhaps even softer.

 

BTW, RC models are being printed with a 'lightweight PLA'. The 3D printing striations are less of a concern for those subjects.

[Ebf2k]

What kit are we talking about?   Do you have pictures?  I'm not sure how plastic bands are going to help.

[28ZComeback]

https://one-man-model.main.jp/index3.html
 

it’s the Whitworth Armstrong Ensign in 1/48 scale. 
 

it’s a very light weight plastic. 

[dnl42]

It looks like they're FDM-printed ABS. Tamiya has ABS cement. There are other brands, too.

[Ebf2k]

For gluing the large parts like wing to fuselage, You might want to consider using some epoxy, depending on how big the parts are.

Note that I have never worked with an ABS plastic model. For a styrene or 3D resin model to fill in large gaps, a few recommendations:

• fill gap with styrene card trimmed to fit to make gap smaller, then can fill in remaining gaps with putty or filler as usual
• There are sandable CA glues, most are black.
• mix in some baking powder with thinner CA glue, makes it sandable, but less bonding strength.