The most important part is to get a strong seam; if you can't as-is, back it up and/or fill the seam with styrene strip. It's important because you'll never get a seam to disappear if there is ANY movement between the joined parts.
After that, I prefer to use Squadron or Tamiya putty as it melts plastic and primer like plastic solvent for a strong weld, can be melted with solvent and when dry is a similar hardness to styrene.
The bad thing about the stuff is that Squadron putty dries really fast... sometimes TOO fast. Tamiyia dries a bit more "plastic-y" but is also more watery and doesn't fill gaps as well. Both generally require at least 2 (and often 3) applications; use less putty than you think you need and accept you will be doing several applications.
Don't bother with Testors contour putty except in very limited circumstances where you don't need/want a seam weld (one good use is fake weld-lines ironically enough
); it dries much softer than plastic and is very difficult/labor intensive to erase seams with.
The other important point is to use a sanding block of some kind when you sand seams and to sand perpendicular to the seam when possible.
Sanding sticks are nice for smaller seams but they don't last long; I extend their useful lives by using them as tiny sanding blocks with small strips of sandpaper.
Otherwise it's basically like doing drywall on a small scale... get your base material lined up and firmly affixed, then putty, sand, putty, sand, putty, sand with fine grit and prime, then go back if necessary and putty/sand prime any bad spots again. With a little practice you will reduce your number of applications, your time spent sanding and your errors that need fixing after priming.
The most important part is to get a strong seam; if you can't as-is, back it up and/or fill the seam with styrene strip. It's important because you'll never get a seam to disappear if there is ANY movement between the joined parts.
After that, I prefer to use Squadron or Tamiya putty as it melts plastic and primer like plastic solvent for a strong weld, can be melted with solvent and when dry is a similar hardness to styrene.
The bad thing about the stuff is that Squadron putty dries really fast... sometimes TOO fast. Tamiyia dries a bit more "plastic-y" but is also more watery and doesn't fill gaps as well. Both generally require at least 2 (and often 3) applications; use less putty than you think you need and accept you will be doing several applications.
Don't bother with Testors contour putty except in very limited circumstances where you don't need/want a seam weld (one good use is fake weld-lines ironically enough :smallsmile:); it dries much softer than plastic and is very difficult/labor intensive to erase seams with.
The other important point is to use a sanding block of some kind when you sand seams and to sand perpendicular to the seam when possible.
Sanding sticks are nice for smaller seams but they don't last long; I extend their useful lives by using them as tiny sanding blocks with small strips of sandpaper.
Otherwise it's basically like doing drywall on a small scale... get your base material lined up and firmly affixed, then putty, sand, putty, sand, putty, sand with fine grit and prime, then go back if necessary and putty/sand prime any bad spots again. With a little practice you will reduce your number of applications, your time spent sanding and your errors that need fixing after priming. :wave_1: