Easy Gunpla Tutorial - Fix Stress Marks, Damages and Blemishes!

Easy Gunpla Tutorial - Fix Stress Marks, Damages and Blemishes!

In this video, I will be going over a short Gunpla tutorial to help you remove those pesky white marks, blemishes, and seam lines all at once. This will give you a smooth, professional looking finish. I hope you find this helpful!

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Everything you need in this video:
- Tamiya Cement
- A small glass container
- A paint brush with a small tip
- Sandpaper – ranging from 800 to 2000
- A polish box
- The original runner where your piece was cut out
- A pair of good nippers
- Hobby knife (not mentioned)

Step One: You will need to first pour Tamiya Cement into the small glass container. There are no specific measurements on how much you want to pour in. I generally just pour in as much to A) cover the bottom, and B) pour as high as a few millimeters.

Step Two: With a good pair of sharp nippers and the same original runner from where the pieces were cut out of, you will begin cutting out very small bits and pieces and put them in the container with the cement.

Step Three: Wait at least 1-2 hours for the small bits and pieces to melt. Now, you have an adhesive that is the same color of the pieces you want to fix; ready to be applied. Just mix the material in the glass container until it is even.

Step Four: With your brush and your damaged pieces, begin applying the adhesive as you would for seemline removals. Now that you put the piece back together, you will still need to fix that small looking blemish that was left behind when you cut it out of the runner.

Step Five: Now that the piece is back together, and the material has been added to the seamlines and to the blemishes, leave it to dry.

Step Six: Now that the piece is dry, you are ready to use your hobby knife to remove the excessive adhesive along your seam lines and sand down the locations where you applied the liquid material.

[chrisu_XD]

Short. Instructive. No wasted time. => A masterful tutorial.

[emperorhadrian]

And this kids is how I realized I can just recast the runners into replacement parts.

[jtompkins]

instead of wasting all that cement, I've found that just shaving a runner with a razor blade into a little glass or metal bowl then adding a little cement at a time, is less wasteful and breaks the plastic down faster. Always be cautious of the fumes this produces!

[thrunzala]

6:06 Look at his sanding skill. It's so fast!

[HO-bndk]

I've done this since the 1970s. I'm astonished that other kit-stickers have never heard of it.

[PZBKrd]

I got this recommendation out of nowhere
it's like youtube knows I bought MG Sinanju many years ago but never started putting it together

[Shousaphine]

It's a good thing I'm a weirdo who saved my runners and boxes, so now I can fix all the ones I first built.

[taco]

I have been painting and modeling for 30+ years. I love it when i find something i didn't know and learned a new technique to take me to another level. Thanks man saves me a ton of time versus using putty to fill in the areas. Thank you for posting this i really do love learning something new. See you can teach us old dogs new tricks!

[SteveTK]

This is basically the same principle as making you're own wood filler.
Thanks for the tip

[imaginewagons]

Imagine when you finally fixed the seam and you forgot your polycap.

[makoto]

Actually that finished piece looks so good that i'm considering doing this to remove seam lines on the kits i like the most, great video!

[volatilesky]

To save a bit on how much glue you're using, similar results can be achieved by saving the shavings from sanding, and at a couple drops of glue to it, mix with an old razor or toothpick, and apply the paste as he shows here. . Shot glasses are super cheap at thrift stores and can be cleaned fairly easily afterwards. But this would work well if you've got some seriously large areas to fill over, not just a small divot or gap to fill.

Update: did this myself on three sets of 4 legs, the thigh and calf needed filling both on edges and ends. Made way too much, in the future I'd mix up maybe a pea or peanut size of plastic trimmings at most and 3-5 drops of glue. On the plus side, using a shot glass meant I could cover the top and the mix was still useable after 3 nights, though needed a couple drops of glue to thin it (becomes almost like chewing gum on a hot day after that long). Took a bit of trimming and sanding, but otherwise the results are very good results with only a couple of the larger gaps needed a second layer. What's interesting is that on a smaller gap, the excess can be smoothed across the surface of the part, and only a bit of sanding is needed after.

[skyeguy]

You actually taught me a super important detail of the plastic cements. Someone at the hobby store I visited claimed they can be used as a clear primer substitute. The fact that they actually melt the plastic certainly explains why it seemed to completely destroy the clear parts I applied it to. Hobby store employees don’t always know what they are talking about it seems. Lesson learned.

[charleslowry]

I work with other plastic model kits, but this tutorial equally applies. Fantastic demonstration and after 30+ years of constructing plastic models, I have never come across this concept. Fantastic!

[xxnikexx]

Wow!
This is a very good idea using the Tamiya cement to melt the plastic, and then apply it on the area that needs to be cleaned up to (at the same time) remove the seam line, fill in dips, etc.
It's a good idea especially since you're using the same plastic the part came off of so there's no risk of discoloration or mismatched tones/shades from painting.

Awesome! 💯👍

[Amberpawn]

The Tamiya airbrush cleaner also works for creating the sprue goo, and can actually be used in place of the cement. They're shockingly near identical compounds at ~99%.

[echsfln]

Us in the 40k community have been doing this for years. We call it sprue glue it’s great for filling gaps and fixing mistakes before painting.

[kristianjensen]

Good old "sprue glue". Useful for most model kits based on polystyrene plastics.

In a pinch it can also work as gap filler in other materials as the substance essentially dries/cures back into polystyrene.

[HermanVIII]

Very nice. I don't build gunpla, but this is really useful info for filling gaps and mold lines on 40k vehicles and other big models.

[hondacivet]

So glad I found this, I started building my first kit yesterday and accidentally filed some divots into a pretty visible spot. I was going to chalk it up to being my first kit but this gives me hope that I could fix it pretty painlessly!