T
tecdes
Guest
Building a Wessex Helicopter & came on some difficulties not encountered until now. Joints are generally on models relatively straight & filled & then sanded flat.
On this model. In a few places there are serrated joints & the fit leaves some filling & no chance of sanding at all. Also there are a lot of shaped panels like half a ball for instance. In this case the edges of the panels are rounded & again not a bad fit but need filling. As the edges of the panels are rounded at the joints the fill needs to be slightly recessed so no sanding. Also there are rivets on the side of each join on the panels so no sanding.
So adopted a routine I use for house painting architrave & skirting board cracks. I used Vallejo Plastic Putty (why putty I do not know as it has a consistency like Polyfilla) as it is perfect for wiping in the joint. Also the tube has a needle type tube filler which gets the stuff into the joint easily without the use of tools. I then used B & Q Decorators Wipes to push in the filler & wipe the excess at the same time. The Wipes have a part alcohol base & leaves the surface smooth & the sides of the joint clean.
In the case of difficult to get to joints with the wipe I used a paint brush dipped in a drop of Vallejo thinners & this works perfectly used in the same way as the wipe. Filled partly the first time let it all dry & then did another fill taking infinite care ( you can always fool yourself it is easy) & looks OK preserves the rivets as not a sander in sight.
All the above joints are filled are for aesthetic reasons & none of them needed strength from the fill. For the straight main fuselage joints I have used Mr Surfacer 500 as there are no rivets. PS all the rivets are the stand up proud of the surface types not as easy to replicate as the recessed type.
Laurie
On this model. In a few places there are serrated joints & the fit leaves some filling & no chance of sanding at all. Also there are a lot of shaped panels like half a ball for instance. In this case the edges of the panels are rounded & again not a bad fit but need filling. As the edges of the panels are rounded at the joints the fill needs to be slightly recessed so no sanding. Also there are rivets on the side of each join on the panels so no sanding.
So adopted a routine I use for house painting architrave & skirting board cracks. I used Vallejo Plastic Putty (why putty I do not know as it has a consistency like Polyfilla) as it is perfect for wiping in the joint. Also the tube has a needle type tube filler which gets the stuff into the joint easily without the use of tools. I then used B & Q Decorators Wipes to push in the filler & wipe the excess at the same time. The Wipes have a part alcohol base & leaves the surface smooth & the sides of the joint clean.
In the case of difficult to get to joints with the wipe I used a paint brush dipped in a drop of Vallejo thinners & this works perfectly used in the same way as the wipe. Filled partly the first time let it all dry & then did another fill taking infinite care ( you can always fool yourself it is easy) & looks OK preserves the rivets as not a sander in sight.
All the above joints are filled are for aesthetic reasons & none of them needed strength from the fill. For the straight main fuselage joints I have used Mr Surfacer 500 as there are no rivets. PS all the rivets are the stand up proud of the surface types not as easy to replicate as the recessed type.
Laurie
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