brushable filler?

[62rebel]

while bemoaning the loss of half a tube of green stuff, i had the idea of splitting open the tube and scooping out the still pliable remains and putting them into an empty testors 1/4 oz paint jar and adding testors thinner to it to restore plasticity. not sure of how much thinner to filler ratio, i added too much (or i thought) and stirred it up until it was smooth and realized it was thin enough to brush on. since i was mucking about with trying to redo a failed '58 impala custom, blending in altered edsel front fenders to replace the rears; (visualize the fenders narrowed by pie cut from front to back, headlight pods for taillights) i was trying to resolve the many contours together and needed to smooth it all out. keep in mind i only applied the stuff last night (thursday) so it will have to cure for a few days. SO; we'll see, i'll keep you posted on whether this actually works. i know green stuff shrinks badly, but i like it, silly me.

[Mr. Can Am Garage]

What you're looking for is Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1000.

It goes on thin, dries very quickly and can be added to shortly.

[62rebel]

i just hate chucking stuff out (if you saw my modeling room you'd believe me) and i try to save or find uses for this kind of stuff. i got a "lifetime" supply of styrene sheet from autozone when they changed endcards on their gondolas(shelves). they just chuck 'em, and they're great stock, all you need to do is sand off the ad paint. or not, depending on what you're using it for. one side is plain white styrene. cards are probably 1x2 1/2 ft, think they're .030 thick (no mikes) and FREE if you ask the right guy.

[mrglubaum]

Hmmmm. This may or may not work. If you used regular enamel thinner, it may never dry! I've used lacquer thinner in green or red putty, and it does work, but it shrinks a lot worse than normal.

There's a guy on eBay selling a product called Premier Utility Paste. (Can your putty do this?) I bought some, and it's great stuff! It brushes on, dries in a reasonable amount of time, and shrinks very little, if at all.

I've also heard you can mix Squadron white putty with liquid cement and make a good brushable putty.

[62rebel]

my experimental mixture seems to work okay; most of it was sanded off anyway, just the small amount in the scratches and seams, and with a few coats of flat white it disappeared. waiting for the color coats to cure and will color sand it. i only do this much work on customs or stock conversions... which is why the tube of green stuff dried out... it must be 5 or 6 years old! usually blend parts with scrap styrene and MEK; it works fast and bonds well.

[j_nigrelli]

i believe Squadron Putty uses tuolene for a vehicle, which explains why it melts its way into the surrounding styrene to form a bond.

for $3 it may no be worth trying to reconstitute if it has gone hard in the tube. but i have heard of the disolved styrene in MEK trick. again it seems like a lot of work to me [like trying to reinvent the, uh, computer] but is purportedly the best way to insure no shrinkage in the fill. i think it is because there are no dissimilar materials to separate.