Death By Putty!

[gooberliberation]

Ever go a little overboard with putty? I do all the time. Frequently I find myself having to add an ungodly amount of filler, naturally I slather on some putty and sand after a few hours, but find it still isnt even remotely the right shape yet so I add more...

Next thing I know I've got an airplane fuselage collapsing into a gooey mess! Here's an experiment I peformed this week to try and find a cure.



This is a 0.4mm thick sheet of evergreen styrene. Much thinner than most model airplane components, so putty should eat through it pretty quickly.



I smeared superglue(cyanoacrylate) onto one side of the card and let it set for about six hours.



Next came the putty, about 1.5mm thick of Tamiya gray putty onto areas of the card both bare and glue'd up, much thicker than the plastic beneath. I chose Tamiya because in quantity, it seems to take longer to dry than Squadron, possibly because the surface forms a hard shell quickly, sealing in all the plastic-eating goodness. I didn't bother with Testors' contour putty.


Card after 2 days. The back side of the plastic sags significantly on the non-glue side. That whole side turned gummy and flexible while the glue'd side is nice and rigid.. hmmm. . Both sides show some warping from putty drying up. Wouldnt do that on injection molded parts.



Here I outlined areas where the styrene started to sag as the putty ate into it. The solid black dot is especially protruding. Small dots of bubbling appeared on the glue side where the plastic was left uncovered; overall, that side kept its shape and i would have no problem sanding everything flat. The bare plastic side on the other hand is a disaster and feels like it'd pop if i sanded it vigorously.

No pressure was applied while the putty was drying, just clipped the card in the middle and let gravity do the work. If this sample was put through a putty-sanding cycle, more pressure would be put on so damage would be much worse.


And there ya have it, folks. Applying CA glue to styrene helps protect it from caving in and causing need for more PSR than needed.

[Mossie]

Nice trick Goober.  You could probably get similar protection using Future/Klear, easier to apply too.

[Supertom]

Oh yeah.  Back in the day, when I didn't know better, I got a tube of Squadron white and started using it to anchor in nose weights.  I had saved up for an Italeri Su-34 kit (when it was brand new, back in uh, 1996), and I had put everything together, and three days later the nose had collapsed in on itself.

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^
I think that every modeller has made, at least once, this fault when fixing ballast. ^_^
I did it several times  

[gooberliberation]

Nice trick Goober.  You could probably get similar protection using Future/Klear, easier to apply too.

I think I'll test that next.  

[Howard of Effingham]

i am only on iirc my third tube of squadron green stuff in about 12 years and i am
sure that in recent years squadron have amended the wording on the tube to warn
that it is not suitable for use as ballast/nose-weighting. maybe someone here knows
for sure, better than i recall.  

HoE

[Mossie]

For ballast, I've never had a problem with Milliput, same for building up large areas.  Takes longer to cure than standard putty, but it doesn't melt your model!

[anthonyp]

Oh yeah.  Back in the day, when I didn't know better, I got a tube of Squadron white and started using it to anchor in nose weights.  I had saved up for an Italeri Su-34 kit (when it was brand new, back in uh, 1996), and I had put everything together, and three days later the nose had collapsed in on itself.

Heh, I did the same thing when I first used Tamiya putty.  I ran out of the Testor's stuff that I usually use, and thought the Tamiya stuff would work fine.  Into the nose of the Testor's Javelin it went.

One day later, I put my thumb through the nose of the Javelin.

Nowadays, I use these little quarter ounce weights that are easily cut into smaller pieces, and I stuff those into the nose of whatever needs weight.  If they're required to stay in place, I'll either use CA or some Testor's putty on top of the weights.

[Daryl J.]

By and large, I've quit using solvent-based putties.   For the price of 3 tubes of Squadron White, one can get a modelling putty known as Magic Sculpt in the US.   It's an A+B putty with a fantastic working time, is scribable, sandable, easier to work with than Milliput (which I love) and has a long shelf life.   What I ordered in 2001 is still in excellent working condition and I've hardly dented the volume supplied.   Tolulene has a nasty way of distorting styrene in a very slow way as well as the quick meltdown.

I've long forgotten the source where it was purchased but a Google or Yahoo search should turn up some results.


Daryl J.

[lancer]

You can get Magic Sculpt over in the UK as well. Sylmaster sell it a tenner for an 8.8oz pack. Sounds like it might be worth investing in some.

[BlackOps]

Daryl, I use Ave's and have heard it's almost the same thing as Magic Sculpt. One question, can you smooth Magic Sculpt with water while it's still wet the same as you can Ave's?  Sure cuts down on the sanding.

 

[frank2056]

Daryl, I use Ave's and have heard it's almost the same thing as Magic Sculpt. One question, can you smooth Magic Sculpt with water while it's still wet the same as you can Ave's?  Sure cuts down on the sanding.

I use MagicSculp a lot. it's pretty much identical to Aves. You can smooth it down with water, alcohol or spit, if you're out of water and alcohol.

[Daryl J.]

Often I thin the original mix with a few drops of water too partly because my batch was new in 2001.

www.magicsculpt.com gets you to where one needs to go, however, they no longer ship direct.    


Great stuff.



Daryl J.

[bluesman]

Aves is great stuff too...non toxic and won't hurt plastic.

I have filled seams, joined dissimilar shapes and a great many other things.

[SebastianP]

If all else fails, ask the kiddies where they buy Warhammer stuff - then raid the Games Workshop place for Green Stuff. It may be a bit more expensive than other options since GW charges a premium, but it works the same...

SP