SPA Modeler

Some of the 'troubled ' parts of the kit is the link between the nose and fuselage. bit of a misfit here.



Another angle of the misfit. solution should be quite easy and straight forward. I inserted a thin piece of styrene (0.5mm), added some putty and did some sanding.

I use acetone extensively through out the building process. There were large and small gaps that needed putty and sanding. with all the fine details, I just wasn't ready to spend much of my time sanding and rescribing it again. So I opted by using acetone from nail polish remover product (it's a diluted version of acetone, not the pure one).



The acetone technique works really best when I had to deal with difficult to sand areas (i.e.: small gaps between the CFT and fuselage, gaps between avionic hump and fuselage). In these sequence of photos, I am trying out the technique over flat and large areas. Just curious to know if it actually works the same way.

In this photo, the area was properly masked and then puttied, like the usual way.



Here, I have taken the masking out, leaving a nice strip of dried putty.



Then I start to treat the putty with acetone. using a Q-tip damped with the nail polish remover. just damp...not soaked. at this point i am beginning to see some results. I guess the trick was to repeatedly swipe the area in quick succession. I heard that acetone can actually attack the plastic. I was warned. and got my first experience with that when I let the nail polish remover 'sit' on the plastic long enough for the liquid to 'attack' it. So hence the quick but repetitive swipes.



The result is a clean and level surface - with ALL the fine surface details intact. Amazingly what I thought was 'potential' weeks of boring and endless sanding and rescribing... with the acetone trick, I manage to fill and smooth the gap of the CFTs, wings, vertical stabilizers, and gaps on the leading edges in one single night!

I like that acetone/swab trick... I have been using CA for nearly all of my gap filling for several years now, but in cases where I do use putty, this looks like a great technique.

Nice work Monty. A whole session of putty work is still way too much for me What putty are you using?

I am using Tamiya's regular grey putty, Nathant.

I am using the same techniques here for cleaning out the putty at this area.



the light-colored residue is dried putty, happens as a by-product after swabbing the acetone. its very thin and does not affect the surface detail or painting.



Another surface that is hard to sand is the area near the M61 nozzle outlet. Acetone did the job, without loosing any detail. I think the only problem with acetone products is that there is no two brands that are the same. some brands are very strong, some are very weak.

Monty, are you going to prime the filled areas to check for a flawless putty job?

Monty, terrific work and pictures. I thought that acetone would attack the plastic? Like the results, though.

Hey, congrats, I think.....could not make out exactly what the FB posts were talking about. But were you given some honors?

Thomas_M wrote:Monty, are you going to prime the filled areas to check for a flawless putty job?

Hi Thomas, yes...I sprayed a thin layer of Mr Surfacer 1000. The primer really help me eye ball any flaws. Some results were spot on. Some results were not so good. So I had to redo the process.

LyleW wrote:Monty, terrific work and pictures. I thought that acetone would attack the plastic? Like the results, though.

Hey, congrats, I think.....could not make out exactly what the FB posts were talking about. But were you given some honors?

Hi Lyle. Yes... it would. The acetone, at the purest level will attact the plastic. But the impure version, which are sold as nail polish cleaners (includes impurities as parfume, glycerine, water) are not that strong and wont attack the plastic as long as you avoid the acetone to 'sit' on the plastic.

LyleW wrote:
Hey, congrats, I think.....could not make out exactly what the FB posts were talking about. But were you given some honors?

Thanks, Lyle. I think that was my F-105D. We had a small modeling challenge, sponsored by the Academy and Revell importer. There were around three dozen of models. The event was hosted at a mall on a very busy Sunday. It was by popular vote by passerby and visitors.

I think it was the oldest kit, and the only one with raised panel.