What putty?

i use white, but im a shit moddeler so dont listen to what i say...

Tamiya putty, maybe it is expensive over in the West?

willshak a utilisé son clavier pour écrire :

I use finishing epoxy putty for real cars. That's a lot chepaer than the putty for modellers and very efficient. It is possible to make it more sweet with acetone...

Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish mostly..

I use Squadron white,Model Master red,and Tamiya basic,depending on my mood. If you use a lot of modeling go to an auto parts store and check out the selection.It would be enough for years and cheaper too.

If you need to fill and sand in a hurry, use gap filling superglue (like Zap a Gap), the type that has the consistency of honey. Accelerator makes it workable immediately. A couple of caveats, though. If you want to fill a deep area, apply the accelerator before you apply the glue, or it will foam up and harden into a mess. Secondly, do your cutting, filing, and sanding immediately after it sets up. At that time it has a consistency similar to plastic. After an hour or so, it actually becomes harder than plastic and you will be unable to feather it into the surrounding styrene. It has some great advantages--it doesn't crumble and it is very tenacious--you can even restore chipped edges on thin surfaces like a wing's trailing edge, something you could never do with putty. Gerald Owens

The original formulation of Squadron green putty was fantastic...then they went and mucked with it...

Then I used Dr. Microtools red putty...it was great. Now you can't get it any more.

Now I use Tamiya putty. Love it. Dries a bit quicker, is very easy to sand and very fine grained. Works well with Scotchbrite. Give it a try.

Maybe costs a bit more than some of the others, but well worth it, IMHO.

I find the Squadron white putty to be too brittle...can't get it to stick and stay...cracks a lot.

Milliput is my first stop when filling is required. A two-part epoxy, it does not soften the kit plastic at all, but still sticks to it well. Using the Superfine (white) I have had good results filling panel lines and feathering edges when filling sink-holes. It's workable for about 30 minutes after mixing, and is very amenable to shaping and feathering with a wet spatula or cotton bud. Sets after a couple of hours at most, can then be filed, drilled or scribed.

I have never seen a model shop that sells it in the UK

White makes a great base layer for Tamiya putty but the white layer must be thin.

I think I tried it the other way round - green filled in with white...that didn't work.

Since I started using Berna Assembler clamps I find I use a lot less putty...a LOT less. I've been working the same tube of Tamiya putty for about a year now.

snipped-for-privacy@removethis.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk (Alan Dicey) wrote in :

I'll second that. I also use Tamiya, but that stuff dries too fast for my liking: it becomes unusable in a few minutes. You can soften it up a little with acetone, but that tends to just affect the surface of a blob of putty, leaving a hard core underneath.

Tamiya Polyester Putty Glazing and Spot Putty - dirt cheap from the auto supply store Milliput - both Standard and Superfine

Art

I use automotive spot putty (now generally called glazing putty in auto parts stores). It is much cheaper than hobby shop putty, but basically same stuff. One must buy it in large tubes, but these large tubes will last a long time (if you remember to put cap back on :-) ).

Is that the same stuff we called 'red lead' ('red led') back in the old days? It was dark red in color and put on thinly with a rubber squeegee. No mixing.

If it is taking it "days to dry", then you are using *way* too much, and *way* too thick, as well.

Personally, I prefer Testors Red Putty, or its equivalent, Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty. Thin it down with Testors Liquid Cement, to the cliched "consistency of milk". Brush it on in thin coats. It shrinks very little this way; and is dry in under an hour.