Putty Test

[lancerunolfsson]

Now before I had watched a lot of build videos or asked advice. I ordered some Testors Contour Putty because that was the only thing i knew existed that would not melt plastic. The Kneadatite (AKA Green Stuff) that I use on metal and for sculpting melted plastic on me when I tried it on plastic back in 1987 or so. So after watching a lot of videos and asking advice I wound up with a number of putties to try. + The Baron said the Green Stuff would not melt plastic. I decided to try all of them on plastic spoons since he also said some of them might melt plastic if applied in a thick wad. So I prepared 4 spoons one each of Green Stuff Marked "K" for Kneadatite. "T" for Tamiya White, "P" for Perfect Putty, "Tes" For Testors. Each Spoon got two applications. On the bottom I carved a little step to represent two misaligned parts that needed to be blended and to be tested with sanding after they set up. then a thick application towards the top to see if it would cause any melting. The picture below is after 24 hours set time.

Kneadatite: As you can see it went on smoothly and I could sculpt detail in it while it was "wet." At 24 Hours it was complete cured.

Tamiya White: It went on smoothly but I could tell by looking that it was not going to sculpt. Not cured at 24 hours my thumb nail made a mark.

Perfect putty: Did not apply smoothly stuck to any tool I tried to use to smooth it out even when coated with water or spit. (Spit works great for tooling Green Stuff.)

Testors: Applied very Roughly no tooling possible.

At 48 hours I decided to try sanding.

Kneadatite: Sanded well.

Tamiya White: Sanded well.

Perfect Putty: After a few passes with the emery board it was clear that it was not fully cured. It gave a rough finish and gummed up the board.

Testors: First pass took large chunks out of the putty it was not cured.

 

[urumomo]

Tamiya White not cured after 24 hours ?
Uh , no .
Those lacquer putties cure fast since they're mostly solvent like all lacquers .
It's not meant for heavy fill .
It is way softer than any epoxy putty so yeah , you'll be able to dig your fingernail into it .
........and , no , You ain't gonna " sculpt " it . ever .

Most all my putty needs on polystyrene are filled with the Tamiya lacquer-based putty .
I use Aves Apoxie Sculpt for larger build-ups . ,, but those are never for rectifying misalignments or other issues with kit parts .


I don't use Kneadatite or Perfect Putty , but being that Perfect Putty is a water based acrylic then using water on your tools to prevent adhesion to them ain't gonna work so well

 

[lancerunolfsson]

So you sand it while it is still soft enough to indent? I didn't try. If you did need to push it around when you applied it what would you used? I'm used to using metal tools ( I only use Kneadatite) with a little spit to keep the tools from sticking. I'm think for like filling holes in wings meant for armaments one has chosen not to mount. So one does not have to sand in the middle of a wing.

It seemed natural to me to use water on a water based product. I sticks to the tool dry. Maybe petroleum jelly? I'm thinking again smoothing stuff out.

I'm wondering if the stuff aside for the Kneadatite did not seem to cure for me because. The area they were left in overnight went down to 40 fahrenheit? with the Kneadatite I heat it if I want to accelerate curing. Though I did not here.

 

[urumomo]

Oh . Man .
I think this is getting way more difficult than necessary .

What exactly are you trying to fix ?

 

[lancerunolfsson]

Sorry I was at this point looking for future reference. I fixed my problem (I didn't need putty at all in the end) I was interest in how these other materials worked. Kneadatite should work for every thing for me. Now that I no it does not melt styrene. I have a lot experience with it. But if I was missing something about something else I was curious.

 

[urumomo]

 

[BLT]

I use the Vallejo putty... It can be sculpted and thinned with water... It doesn't dry rock hard tho... But I used it in my Darth Vader Tie build. Then again, I haven't tried anything else.

Only drawback is that it doesn't dry as hard as I would sometimes like it to.

 

[lancerunolfsson]

That's what I finally figured out about this experiment was that I had applied this stuff too thick and expected it to dry hard. All of it needs to be applied pretty thin. For thick applications The greens tuff works best for me the Perfect putty works pretty good for minor gaps and thin application's. Vallejo I did not try maybe sometime in the future. Thanks!!

 

[Peppylepugh]

I got one for you guys.
Crazy glue...
Any old regular cyanoacrylate. I have a bottle of
LOCTITE on the bench now.
Works a whole lot better when they are fresh/new.
Here's the trick, put them on in thinner layers,
with a toothpick, piece of sprue, whatever.
Let it set off. Sand, grind, chisel anything you
want.
Because, it is almost a plastic to begin with. Polishes up like glass. I wet sand most of the time. You can tell when it has set, it's not as shiny. It gets a dullness to it.
Mix a small amount of talcum powder into it, you now have a semi-moldable gel to work with.
This also slows down your set off.
You can use an accelerator, but you have to sand pretty quickly. It keeps setting off to the point it will be harder than the surrounding plastic and then you will wind up 'cupping' around your problem spot. Creating more work.
You could probably get away with sitting down to dinner, but I wouldn't stay for a brandy and cigar. And don't leave it on the bench for a week at the beach. When using an accelerate.
I very seldom use any tube putties anymore.
I have more, that have set off in the tube than any man living should have.
It works, I promise. A repeatable technique.
Guaranteed.
If you other questions or problems, give me a shout, we'll figure it out.

edit: I forgot to add, doesn't shrink.

 

[urumomo]

all that and you left out the baking soda trick

 

[Peppylepugh]

Ah, yeah, baking soda.
Tried that one time.
Sets off in record time.
You can actually see it smoke.
That is a no-shi**er truck driver story, right there.
It heated the test project up and hardened up to the point I couldn't cut it with 80 grit paper.
I put that in the industrial filler, real time, don't ever use in the hobby file.
Extremely bad idea in my opinion.

 

[the Baron]

+ The Baron said the Green Stuff would not melt plastic...

Me, or another Baron? I've never used GreenStuff. I use Squadron white-an old tube, of the original formula. And for sculpting, I use Aves Apoxie Sculpt.

 

[lancerunolfsson]

I got it wrong I could have sworn it was you. My apologies, I'm bad with faces.

 

[wjbrandel]

I use the tamiya putty and milliput for larger problems. Never had a problem with either one, after I learned to let the stuff dry all the way.

 

[sanford12]

There is also a Tamiya white water based putty that doesn't cure rapidly. Very good for giving a tank turret the cast look

 

[BLT]

Really great info in this thread...

Now we need one on aircraft aluminum and stretched skin effect.

Is AK Xtreme really all the hype.?!

In other news... BLT doesn't get model enough. Suffering from the global modeling pandemic Lkgitw-19...