Putty or Patch Panel

[hgbben]

Upon working on Revell's 70 Cuda, i need to fill the exhaust openings on the rear valence for a custom look. For those who are familiar with the kit and this part, would you install a patch panel and smooth it out or just fill it with putty? Please provide reasoning and type of putty as well.

This topic applies to many scenarios out there so lets hear from everybody on this one.

[wayne swayze]

Whenever possible, try to fill patches/gaps etc with styrenecut to the shape needed. Glue in place, after glue dries, put a skim coat or two over the patch. If you make your patch the correct size, there will be no shrinkage of the styrene, and minimal putty. Sand and paint. Light years better than simply putty.

[Belugawrx]

I agree with Wayne

There is nothing worse than spending alot of time sanding a fill of putty

and at the worst time having it pop out

Fill and glue with styrene first ,..then start to hit it with putty

I like to start with Bondo premix (harder) and then white Squadron (easy sand)

[jwrass]

F. Wayne & Bruce.

Ditto

[Snake45]

What the others said--fill it with styrene. Cut/shape to fit exactly and then glue it in with liquid cement. If you do it right, no putty will be necessary after sanding to contour.

If you do need to do some filling, try superglue. It will never shrink.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Don't even THINK about trying to fill openings in the edge of a panel with putty of any kind. Putty has zero structural strength, and is intended to be a surface filler where it's entirely supported from the backside. Trying to fill an edge with putty (on a model or a 1:1) is a guarantee that it will crack out and leave you with a sorry mess.

Like the other guys said, use carefully-fitted styrene patch panels and allow them to dry very thoroughly before you putty to final contour, if necessary.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Art Anderson]

Don't even THINK about trying to fill openings in the edge of a panel with putty of any kind. Putty has zero structural strength, and is intended to be a surface filler where it's entirely supported from the backside. Trying to fill an edge with putty (on a model or a 1:1) is a guarantee that it will crack out and leave you with a sorry mess.

Like the other guys said, use carefully-fitted styrene patch panels and allow them to dry very thoroughly before you putty to final contour, if necessary.

To add a bit to Bill's (and other's!) excellent advice, you might think about cutting the styrene patch to as precise a fit as possible, so that it just "slips" into the space you want to fill, and from stock thick enough so that it "stands out" from the surrounding surface a little bit. This is where I like to use gap-filling CA glue, needle files and sandpaper sticks.

Once a patch is installed this way, I use flat needle files to dress it down flush with the adjacent surfaces (file across the glue joints--the original part can be your guide here).

I make my own fine sanding sticks with bits of basswood (but craft sticks from the likes of Michael's or Hobby Lobby work well too, just be sure to select a stick that itself is truly flat, not warped!), and glue a piece of 400-grit wet-or-dry sandpaper to that, then when the CA glue is dry on your sanding stick, trim the sandpaper as close to the edges of the wood, and you have a miniature body shop sanding board! if need be, CA glue a piece of wood to the back side of this sanding board to make it easy to hold between your fingers. With this, you can sand the entire patch panel area smooth and flush with the surrounding body panel, and a thin CA glue joint generally will make the use of any putty only minimal (in my experience, anyway!)

Art

[hgbben]

Thanks for the confirmation guys. Patch panels are in and glue is drying.