The Little World

Try as you might to buy kits that need no major work, you are still at the mercy of the moulding shop. Tamiya may be a safer bet than FROG but do not let the tube of putty out of your sight…

This was a case of trying the new sprue goo mixture. I finally did what all the experts recommend and cut up some sheets of scrap plastic card then dissolved it in lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner is the Supercheap Auto Premium Acrylic in the 4-litre tin that I use as a gun cleaner. It is too powerful to use as a general thinner – it’ll craze styrene – but that very power means it will dissolve plastic card overnight and then etch deeply into the sides of a trench on a model airplane.

Today was a trial run for the goo – and as you can see from the illustrations it sunk deeply into that shameful gap in the wing. And it adhered – no secondary cracking. It was easy enough to trowel in with a small metal instrument and a sharpened cocktail stick. It set overnight and sanded just like regular styrene. And it cost fractions of a penny to do. Win.

The interesting thing is that it might be a viable alternative to resin in small silicone moulds. That would mean that a custom part you made yourself could be attached with regular cement.

More news as the experiments evolve.