Hello! I’m brand new to this. I need help on a kitbashing problem. I jsut split 3 cabooses to make one big one for a track cleaner. I used bondo to fill in the joints where the cars connected. The problem is getting the body filler FLAT. There are rivets and other molded features around the joints I want to keep. Any Ideas?
I know where you’re coming from! One of my ‘do it soon’ projects is to add to my collection of SeKiFu (coal hopper-brakes - think of them as an unsanctified cross between a caboose and a 50 ton hopper car…)
It’s just a matter of working very slowly and very carefully with small tools. Dental picks and a chisel point filed on the end of a length of code 70 rail do it for me when I’ve gotten overly exuberant with the Squadron Green putty.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
It also helps to cover details you want to keep with masking tape to keep from sanding them off.
Also, you will never make a clean joint with one aplication of body filler. I use body filler very sparingly, and use multiple thin aplications and sandings to get a nice joint. Far too often I’ve seen guys glob on far too much body filler, which only makes more work and a better chance of sanding off near by details. I use an old X-acto chisel blade to apply filler. When you think you’ve got a nice joint, shoot the area with a coat of primer. It will be much easier to spot the areas that need more work. I will also mention that 95% of a seamless joint is in how precise you glue the two pieces together. The best modelers in the world won’t be able to hide a mis-aligned joint. All that said, don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come out perfect. Getting nice seamless joints takes lots of practice.
John
Also plan your splices to be away from details like rivets that you want to keep.
Some guys just go ahead and sand em off, then restore them. Also precise cutting and splicing could’nt hoit. BILL
What you might want to try usingin the future instead of bondo is Squadron putty. It comes iin gren & white and seems to take to styrene a little better and sands real easy. I would go with sand them out as few as possible of course and put them back in later on.
Thanks for the suggestions! That will Help!
Thank you and everyone who replied This is great help. I am going to try this again! Dave.
For precision sanding, buy some 1/4" square balsa wood and sand one end at an angle. Use wet/dry sandpaper and cut 1/4" wide strips (use a hobby knife on the back of the paper) Either hold the strips over the angled end or glue the trips over the angled end with rubber cement. Allows very controlled sanding. You can make one stick of 200 grit, one of 400 grit and one of 600 grit.
These work great for getting into tight spots.
http://www.micromark.com/MICRO-SANDING-WAND-SET,7760.html
(A relative of mine invented them.)
Mico Mark has a bunch of specialty sanding devices that might help.
I can’t remember what they are called but I bought a set of very small curved files. There are about 8 of them and each end has a different shape. So they can be used to sand very small spots or in very tight spaces… a couple of them are only about 1/8" wide and maybe half an inch long where you do sanding. Of course, the handles are longer.
dlm