3 easy steps to eliminate gaps and preserve detail

Save your files and sanding sticks from that nasty clogging putty and eliminate those gaps permanently using simple tools and techniques.

[manofthehour]

FANTASTIC ADVICE! The wet cotton swab for finishing putty, the sparing application of super glue using a needle, and the recommendation of a half hour being the sweet spot to sand is just invaluable advice! THANK YOU!!!

[RichardKroboth]

Those methods you use are handy for any modeler. I’m a model railroad builder and one of the methods I use was from an article from the December 1967 issue in Model Railroader magazine. The author was scratch building a Baldwin Locomotive Works diesel engine using sheet styrene. He made his own putty by saving shavings and small scraps of the styrene and putting them in a glass jar and adding liquid cement. It’s worked for me but I like your method too.

[vincentlussier]

For filling joints, try putting masking tape on both sides of the joint about a millimetre or less on each side of the joint. Thin out the putty with some Tamiya liquid glue in a plastic milk carton cap and then brush it on. This way you loose no panel lines or rivets! I have always had problems with CA glue.

[johnmoran]

Excellent tutorial, professionally done. My protégé picked this up after one session. Where was this 40 years ago? Ha ha.

[TexJester-noth]

I like the idea of using styrene to fill larger gaps; I've used that a few times. I build 1/24 and 1/25 cars and trucks.

I've also found good luck with sprue goo, using Testor's glue in the red tube and sprues from the manufacturer/kit I'm working on. I've found that the various manufacturers use slightly different plastics - Moebius, for example is quite different from AMT, which itself is slightly different from Revell. If I use a Revell goo on a Moebius kit, it doesn't set as well. Truck is to use as little glue as possible that will melt the sprue, and you get a high sprue-to-glue ratio - doing this, it sands and shapes as easily as regular styrene.

And I love the Corsair in your logo! The explanation and the logo have earned a subscribe! 👍🏻

[robertthorpe]

Nice. I do the same thing except I cut my plasticard into a thin wedge and fit it into the gap as tight as possible.Then I glue and sand.

[Iskelderon]

If you want to give the filled gap the same material properties as the rest of the part (e.g., to keep some translucency), you can also dissolve some of the sprue in Tamiya airbrush cleaner (only one percent difference in the mixture from their extra thin cement) to get a 100$ compatible putty to be spread with a toothpick or something similar.

[ericb.davenport]

Excellent. Thanks for the video. Best regards, EBD.

[Colin]

Regarding the irregular gap in the motor cowling. You could take a fine saw and extend the groove up to the end of the gap. This would ensure a square end and consistent gap to the end. At this paint you could fill the gap with the thickness of styrene of your choice. You are guaranteed to not use much filler putty.

[lorenzcassidy]

I find useful to mix some graphite powder (from ground down pencils) to my c.a. glue as small gaps filler: this has the advantage of making the c.a. glue a little bit softer and easier to sand down. Also, it actually strenghtens the gap and, as the mix is usually darker than the surrounding plastic, it's visually easier to check your sanding job as it progresses and the overall final result.
My 2 cents, anyway.😅

[nationalparksdiary]

This is genius! Thanks for the great advice, it’ll help me quite a bit.

[daniel_f]

That super glue applicator from a sewing needle is very clever.

I’ve been using toothpicks for ages and have almost never been happy with the results. It always seems to be too much or too little. I’m off to the wife’s sewing box to steal a couple of needles.

[lucgagnon]

Filling a gap with styrene is a good way to get red of it and it will not schrink in time. I'm always applying putty like I'm doing painting : I'm putting masking tape and only getting the area I want to fill. Some other way is to fill gapes with a mix of plastic dust and CA glue. Depending on the gap that needs to be fill. Sometimes, I'm even sanding areas with masking tape still on model to avoid sanding off important details. It's up to every modeler to find his way to do things. Yours are very instructive ! Thanks for sharing.

[planu]

K.I.S.S.!!! Especially in this hobby! Very Refreshing to SEE a LOGICAL solution to open GAPS! WOW, sheet styrene, or styrene rod or stretched sprue! Then (CA/Super glue).
But the other ingredient is Taking your time. Don't rush it as you showed without broadcasting TAKE YOUR TIME.
Folks, Real School here! Simple filling gaps....Don't make the mistake of shoving Putty, Spackle, Concrete, Asphalt,
Mud, Dirt, Sprue GOO (Never really dries)
Just Thank You!!! Build as you like, but hopefully don't become a Lemming just to be cool. Make model building FUN Not
more complicated.
Blessings
Darrell Killingsworth

[zorax]

I use Miliput for most of the gaps. The stuff is amazing.

[kenshinhimura]

Great tip! I have been using stretched spruce to fill my gaps. A little tamiya cement and toothpick to shape it. Works wonders.

[matthewcox]

I love the method of using the sewing needle, I use it to fill the small gaps on my models.

[the.just.able.biker]

An excellent video on filling gaps.

Im new to this hobby and im currently building a Tamiya sea harrier, which is a very old tooling and some of the gaps - especially in small parts like the thrust nozzles - are hellish.

I'll definitely be getting some of that putty and ca glue.

[jean-charles]

That's nice tips indeed. I use this putty from Vallejo, and also sometimes... some wall surfacer that you can find at DIY stores! Modeler friends were skeptical, but it did not shrink since.
(and you get a new subscriber :-)

[stephenjones]

been a modeller for 50 ish years dont know what the American equivalent is but polyfilla fine surface for walls always works for me, wipes off with a wet cotton bud and is a fraction of the cost of model filler .