Help with filling holes and seems on large scale ships

[**Mac**]

I suppose its the same for smaller ships but I've not noticed it as much until now. I'm working on a 1/200 ship for the first time and need some advice on how to completely hide seem lines and filled holes in the Hull. I've sanded everything, used glue, Mr surfacer and primed it to see the defects better. No matter how many times I fill the holes and re sand I still see the indents and seems..

I want nothing more than a nice smooth Hull......
I would be very curious to know the techniques used by the people who drastically modify their hulls.

[biggles2]

I use Squadron white putty mixed with a bit of liquid plastic glue, to make a paste. Spread it on along where the seam is, but neatly - that will cut down your clean-up time later. Let it harden over-night, and sand, sand, sand, until the surface is smooth and all you see is a thin white line between the plastic parts.

[Admhawk]

Styrene strips/rods and liquid glue. (Evergreen products)
Custom sanding blocks out of wood or acrylic. Crazy glue sandpaper onto them.
Crazy glue and baking soda.

If you have a long gap at a seem, stuff a piece of styrene plastic of similar size into it and liberally glue into place. Let cure overnight. trim and sand.

try not to sand with fingers, it pushes into the sanding area. Use blocks for smooth finish.

For odd shaped areas, drop some crazy glue in and then sprinkle baking soda. Repeat until you've built up enough 'meat'. Use a file to get it rough shaped in, then sand. Surface will be porous, so finish with glazing putty.

For holes, use evergreen styrene rod of appropriate size. drill hole to size of rod for good fit. glue. trim and sand.

Also, sometimes you see larger seams because the putty is a different surface than the plastic. a thin layer of paint can exaggerate this effect. sand and paint a few more times to even things out.

And finally, sometimes it's just easier to put a strip of plastic right over the seem and hide it, rather than fill it. tell people it's an armor belt!

[aaube]

My Arizona had such gap between the upper and lower hull... A ''generous'' application
of wood putty did the trick. After it dried overnight, sanding with a wood block was
quick and easy. A second pass was needed in the forward area.

Alain

[**Mac**]

Thanks for the tips guys. Keep em coming.

[Channell]

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.