Embossing Powder for Invisible Filler

[Snake45]

Not long ago I restored a built Monogram '71 Cuda molded in black. The goal was to polish the black plastic but there was one snag: On the Monogram kit, the front valence is molded so it meets the body where there is no “panel line” on the real car. This seam had to be made to disappear. If I'd started with an unbuilt kit, I might have been able to glue the valence in with liquid cement and sand the seam out smooth (I often do this with model airplane fuselage halves), but as it had been glued in before, when I removed it, I found that the four mating surfaces were now a bit uneven and without filler, the seam would show.

So I glued the valence on as best I could with liquid cement, and let it all sit 24 hours for a fully cured bond. 

The next night I laid down a nice wet coat of superglue into, over, and around each seam. Immediately, while the superglue was still wet, I sprinkled a thick layer of black embossing powder over the entire area, pressed it down firmly with my finger, then shook off the excess. (If you have enough powder over the superglue, there is no danger of supergluing your finger to the body.)

Then I coated the whole mess with another good, wet layer of superglue and let it set for 24 hours.

The next night, the areas were ready to be filed to rough shape, then sanded (using sanding blocks), and finally polished the same as the rest of the body. Notice that I was able to blend in the lip/rim around the wheel opening, which doesn't really mate all that well with the kit parts.

In the photos, due to lightening for clarity (and enlarging), a slight seam and some tiny pinholes can still be seen, but these are virtually invisible to the naked eye on the finished model. I believe the pinholes could be invisibly filled with some black paint.

[smhardesty]

Another tool in the toolbox. Looks good.