DIY putty for filling seams

Lepper

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Sep 6, 2013
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Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

While searching for a readily available (read: from Canadian Tire) putty/epoxy that works with styrene, I came across an astonishing suggestion: melt styrofoam in acetone. I hadn't realized it before, but styrofoam is just and expanded version of the stryrene plastic we're all so familiar with. So, the process, such as it is, is identical to this video from ModelManTom:
ToolTip: Melting Styrene 1

I'd just bought some new furniture, which was conveniently packed in blocks of styrofoam, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Unlike in ModelManTom's video, you don't have to wait 24h; the styrofoam melts almost immediately to produce the snot-like "putty" shown. It spreads pretty easily, too. Quick tip: the thinner you spread it, the faster it drys. Because it's exactly the same stuff as in your model, it sands exactly the same. Consequently, even severe sinks or cracks can be filled and sanded very smooth.

Give it a try!
 
Another, similar technique is to take a bottle of liquid cement. Testors, Tamiya, etc, etc., and then take your left over sprue trees, cut them up and put them in the bottle with the glue. The glue melts the styrene, and you basically end up with liquid plastic that you can pack into seams, sand smooth, looks like plastic, because it is.
 
I've done it that way before - sprue and glue - but this makes total sense...styrofoam.

Great tip. Gonna have to try that sometime.

And welcome to SMA Lepper, thanks for coming out of the shadows.
 
^ Exactly.

STYRofoam is just another form of polystyrene, so it's the same exact material as sprues but works much faster since it is expanded (not extruded ) polystyrene.

Nice tip, thanks for sharing the video.
 
Definitely need to remember that tip. Only caution with the Styrofoam is that I think primers will melt it. I used to fix small plastic parts to tooth picks then push the ends in to Styrofoam to hold the pieces in place. I would then spray primer out of the rattle can on to the parts but always noticed that the surrounding Styrofoam would dissolve in contact with primer. Could be the brand of primer I was using too.
 
Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

While searching for a readily available (read: from Canadian Tire) putty/epoxy that works with styrene, I came across an astonishing suggestion: melt styrofoam in acetone. I hadn't realized it before, but styrofoam is just and expanded version of the stryrene plastic we're all so familiar with. So, the process, such as it is, is identical to this video from ModelManTom:
ToolTip: Melting Styrene 1

I'd just bought some new furniture, which was conveniently packed in blocks of styrofoam, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Unlike in ModelManTom's video, you don't have to wait 24h; the styrofoam melts almost immediately to produce the snot-like "putty" shown. It spreads pretty easily, too. Quick tip: the thinner you spread it, the faster it drys. Because it's exactly the same stuff as in your model, it sands exactly the same. Consequently, even severe sinks or cracks can be filled and sanded very smooth.

Give it a try!
That's a good idea. I drop spure bits into and old bottle of Tamiya extra thin and made "Sprue-goo". I used it to fix a gap, or try to.it worked in a pinch. I ended up finishing out with so putty.
 
Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

While searching for a readily available (read: from Canadian Tire) putty/epoxy that works with styrene, I came across an astonishing suggestion: melt styrofoam in acetone. I hadn't realized it before, but styrofoam is just and expanded version of the stryrene plastic we're all so familiar with. So, the process, such as it is, is identical to this video from ModelManTom:
ToolTip: Melting Styrene 1

I'd just bought some new furniture, which was conveniently packed in blocks of styrofoam, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Unlike in ModelManTom's video, you don't have to wait 24h; the styrofoam melts almost immediately to produce the snot-like "putty" shown. It spreads pretty easily, too. Quick tip: the thinner you spread it, the faster it drys. Because it's exactly the same stuff as in your model, it sands exactly the same. Consequently, even severe sinks or cracks can be filled and sanded very smooth.

Give it a try!
Once i saw a dude put his empty sprue into small pieces and put all those pieces into extra thin cement, after enough time mixture becomes to putty-like consistency and when it cures it becomes solid plastic
 
Once i saw a dude put his empty sprue into small pieces and put all those pieces into extra thin cement, after enough time mixture becomes to putty-like consistency and when it cures it becomes solid plastic
Sprue goo, brilliant stuff. Best to have a few different colours, grey, Buff and black. Pantherman
 

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