I had a hard time dealing with panel lines. How can you remove them? I've used model putty but I can't work it out. I always create a hump and can't do more but to sand it down. Whenever I sand it, the putty breaks down so I have to do it over and over again. It's pretty annoying to see panel lines especially on the top of an aircraft. Any suggestions? Any other tools to use except putty?

:-) Hi shonen_red,
When you say panel lines I'm assuming you mean joint lines? The first step is to get a good joint. Test fit the parts, if they don't line up well it can sometimes be a good idea to remove the locating pins and gently sand the 2 fuselage halves. This has 2 benefits; it trues up the halves and creats "tooth" to help the cement grab. When the fit is as good as you can make it, hold the parts together, so they are aligned, and run in liquid cement. Capillary action will help the cement flow along the join. Plastic cement works by melting the plastic and creating a weld, if, wile the plastic is till in its melted state, you gently squeeze the 2 halves together, you can sqeeze out a bead of plastic. This effectively fills the joint. Let it dry then gently scrape with a hobby knife, then use fine grade emery paper. I finish with fine wire wool. There still might be areas that require putty, but these will be minimal.
Sometimes, however, you just can't avoid puttying the seam. But doing what I sggest will minimise it. When you have to do it; Only use enough to fill the gap ( I use a dental tool to aply it. Ask your dentist, I did) you can use an old hobby knife blade. It might not be a gap but uneven parts, in this case you will require more because you will have to feather the putty in to the lower side. If there is detail around the seam then apply masking tape close to the seam, before application, remove it after application (takes away most of the putty, which is also a way of minimising the amount of putty used), reapply to protect the detail. Let the putty dry, then sand off. Use progressively fine grits, starting grit depends on the amount of putty. The coarsest grit I use is 220 (rearly) then 400 then 1600 then 0000 wire wool. The emery paper scrathes the plastic, so each finer grade is illiminating the previouse scratches but leaves finer scratches, the wire wool polishes the plastic and the putty, illiminating the scratches. Any detail removed or panel lines sanded out are then re-engraved. HTH :-)
Mal
PS What putty are you using?

You could try the white liquid used to white out mistakes when writing letters, the brand name here is Tip-ex. I use it as a filler on small gaps on models. It dries really quickly, adheres really well to the model, and is really easy to sand with fine wet and dry paper. If you try it a word of warning, don't put too much on at once as the only drawback I've found is that too much at once and it sometimes doesn't dry in the centre of the blob of tip-ex and makes a mess when sanding it flat. Oh, and don't forget to give it a good shake before opening to make sure it is well mixed as it can be a bit runny if you don't.

sometimes using white elmers type glue works can't sand it but a damp cloth will remove it in layers. super glue is something else I've used but generally everything that Holdfast says is the way to go

I've been using Gunza Sangyo's Mr. Putty. It's the only modeling putty I've seen here in my local hobby shop.

:-)



I've never used it but I'm sure it's good quality, you shouldn't have any problems with it. Are you letting it completly dry? I use Squadron White Stuff and it is dry within 1/2 an hour. Many moons ago I used Revells Plasto, I think, I would leave that a day to dry. If it's "balling up" when you try to sand it, it isn't dry.
Mal