Seams to me.......

[MikeMc]

Those pesky seams on motors.

I wish I could figgure out how to get them flat! Valleys and oil pans. the bottom always shows that darn seam...I can hide it tranny thru bell housing but the oil pan and front pulley are awful In all my years of building I've ignored it but I can't anymore!!

Do I file , scrape , sand , or fill.....or all of the above??? I'm doing the Baldwin camaro and that 427 pan looks awful bad.....

and when the manifold went on....its high in the center....is it just me??

Tim Boyds don't look this bad...

Edited July 16, 2009 by MikeMc

[Foxer]

When the seam goes through the oil pan, I've always scraped, sanded and/or filled the seam. How much work it takes just depends on how good the engine halves match. I always true up the halves on sandpaper laid flat on the table before gluing. I always use plastic cement to help fill the seam with the melted plastic. Sometimes a little putty is needed if there's too much distortion of a large gap.

As for the valleys, it's usually the same deal. More often than not, the valley doesn't show and can take more filing. In other cases, the intake manifold may need some slight truing up with sandpaper of files.

Hope I took this correctly and hit the problem you're talking about.

Edited July 16, 2009 by Foxer

[E St. Kruiser50]

For me, I'm pretty picky about those ol' seams, so I bevel both halves of the engine where it comes together to form a 'Traugh". I glue the two halves together, let it dry, shoot on a coat of primer for a good base, then I spread in some Bondo Glazing And Spot Putty.

Let that dry, sand, then prime a few times, and VOILA - no seam

For the flat area's, like valley area's under the intake manifold that aren't flat, or the front of the engine, I use one of my small files that come in a set - CHEAP - Harbour Freight - and I make it flat.

[MikeMc]

well after reading this...I AM NOT ALONE!!!

still frustrated though!!

[Zoom Zoom]

I use those four-grit sanding/polishing sticks to clean this up. It's amazing how well they work; also use a triangular riffler file to get into sharp edges, and for small filling use some superglue and accelerator, and sand it immediately. It doesn't take much time to clean the stuff up if you have the right tools/materials. It's not a fun job.

Let's talk about seats. They're quite a joy too...they require glue, filling, sanding, and to me even more work than the engine to get the parts smooth. Again I use the sanding sticks and superglue/accelerator to do the job quickly, but it's one of those thankless tasks that's necessary but I don't find it "fun" in the same way I find doing bodywork/prep.

[MikeMc]

Thanks Bob

You are 100% correct about seats!

I feel better about my frustrations now after reading all of these replys, from my peers whose abilities are well respected in our hobby.

I was looking at a resin BB chevy oil pan as I was filing this kit motor it was soooooo nice and smooth I also remembered the two hours

I spent squaring up that block and heads ...so maybe this isn't all that bad

Bob I do not quite get the CA and accelerator trick... I end up with a hard mess..and end up with putty and sanding

Thanks again guys!!

[Zoom Zoom]

Bob I do not quite get the CA and accelerator trick... I end up with a hard mess..and end up with putty and sanding

Thanks again guys!!

The trick is sanding it immediately after it's kicked. Don't let it sit for over an hour or it ends up harder than the plastic. When it's first kicked it's roughly the same hardness as the plastic. Used sparingly, it's so much faster than dealing w/putty. For small fills, it's the only way to go IMHO. Putty still has plenty of usefulness, but for a small pinhole or small sink mark, being able to work it immediately is a definite plus.

[Art Anderson]

The trick is sanding it immediately after it's kicked. Don't let it sit for over an hour or it ends up harder than the plastic. When it's first kicked it's roughly the same hardness as the plastic. Used sparingly, it's so much faster than dealing w/putty. For small fills, it's the only way to go IMHO. Putty still has plenty of usefulness, but for a small pinhole or small sink mark, being able to work it immediately is a definite plus.

Like Bob says, file and sand CA glue as soon as the accelerator sets it up, easier to do that way. Now, about those nasty gaps between an added on oil pan, water pump housings, cylinder heads on inline engines:

Nearly all model companies use a bit of what's called "draft angle" on deep parts, like engine block halves, to allow the parts to come out of the molds easily, without grabbing the sides of the cavity, breaking them off parts trees. This results in stuff like engine blocks having a bit of a "pent roof" shape where you want to add say, a cylinder head.

I use 400-grit Wet or Dry paper, laid grit side up, on a piece of plate glass, to get a perfectly flat sanding surface, put some water on it, and carefully rub the assembled engine block on that, to get rid of the draft angles. This can take a bit of practice, and a lot of care, to get a surface that is not only flat, but also as close to a right angle to the centerline of the block as possible. When done, I have a flat surface that will let a cylinder head lay down tightly on it. As a general rule, I do the same thing with the bottom, or mating edge of cylinder heads, oil pans and the like to aid in this.

When attaching separate bell housings, I do the same thing, but use needle files there a lot. Additionally, I've done the same thing with the edges of separate hoods and trunk lids, but in doing so, several times, I've had to "stretch" the edges with thin strips of styrene, glued on with CA, to bring the edge out more true with the openings.

Art