Hello All,
I have a question(s) about combining liquid cement and body putty (Squadron White) to make a thinner putty.
1.) Does liquid cement mean any plastic glue? I use/have Testors (in the orange tube) and testors liquid (with the brush) in the small glass bottle. Can I use either of these or does liquid cement only mean the glue w/ the brush in the small glass bottle?

2.) Once you have this new putty/glue combo-- Do you use it simply for filling seams or is it also supposed to act as the glue too-- also would this combo damage the plastic surface that it touches since it has cement in it?

Thanks in Advance,
Sean

Typically when you read liquid glue it means the stuff that is water like (not the orange tube).
Usually when I have heard the tube stuff sited they call it 'plastic cement'.

I have never done this myself so I am only going from what I 'think' would work or happen.
I would only use it as filler, not as a combo. Use the right tool for the right job. The glue will make a harder putty and allow the putty to bond better. I would imagine that you wouldn't use the putty over the entire seam, just where there are gaps.
As far as affecting the plastic, there would be some affect, exactally what I hestitat to say. I've seen a tecnique that applys liquid glue to the surface of a model for the purpose of softening the plastic so you can textuer it. I would imagine that there would be a bit of affect only because you have the glue there. Definitely test it on some scrap pieces or on sprue.

Sean,
Does it say on the tube of Squadron White what to thin it with? I know Squadron green thins with alcohol.
If it does thin with liquid cement, test with a small amount and see what happens.

Hi Sean.......I use regular red car putty to apply zimmerit...without thinning it at all. I just put it on with the Tamiya Zimmerit Tool and away I go. It's sure a lot better than trying to use Testor's putty. I did do one Tiger by "hot-knifing" it. It turned out pretty well also.But I digress...If you are using the Sqadron putty to fill seams or whatever you might be cheaper to buy a tube of red auto putty and just use it as is. Jeff

I use Tamiya filler and Tamiya extra thin glue. I fill the gap hollow etc with filler then use an old brush dipped in glue and smooth it out. This has the effect of layering the filler and giving a minimum, if any sanding job when cured. I have not noticed any damage to the surface from the glue unless you touch it with a finger nail or something else hard.

You can thin any Toluene based plastic putty with liquid cement, i.e. the bottle. Same active ingredient. The Toluene is what make the putty adhere to the plastic melting it as liquid cement does. It's not that uncommon for a newbie to try to weight the nose of a plane with green stuff and watch in horror as the nose falls off a couple days later. This would not make a very good cement by itself. Assemble the kit using your prefered glue/cement. You can mix a slurry of putty and cement and apply it to the seam needing to be filled. This will be a bit smoother than the original, meaning you'll have less sanding to do. One guy from the club swears by touching the putty with acetone based nail polish remover. I tried this last night on a resin figure and it seems to have worked well. And, yes, this putty, with or without being thinned will attack the surface of regular styrene plastic, so be careful with it or you'll spend a whole lot of your time sanding. Also, thinned putty, because there's less there and there's more of the volatile ingredients, will cure faster.

Pipesmoker,
No, the Squadron white putty does not say what to thin it with...
I tried using the nail polish remover method, and I must say it works extremely well. I will also try the liquid cement/putty combo as well, I guess the main idea here is to thin the putty, not really which way one does it. Thank you all for the info.