Hi all,
what would you advise to fill air bubbles on a resin kit ?
I'm not happy with the Tamiya putty nor with Italeri one. Even when thinned I find them too thick and I can't get a good result as the putty doesn't stick enough to the plastic in my opinion.

TIA
Olivier

I use two types of putties, Testors and Squadron white. Testors is thin and quick drying - I'd try that.

You may want to experiment with gap filling super glues if you want really thin. It wouldn't be My first choice - but it's a third option

I thin down some Auto body filler with a bit of Tamiya Extra thin glue..... (Squardon putty works as well)

Thanks Scott and Matt. I'll give a try to your method. The hard point will be to find Testor or Squadron putty here in France.

Olivier

If it's polyurethane resin (and that's true of most kits, these days,) try warming the parts, in an oven (if SWMBO allows,) or under a desk lamp. Mix up some standard epoxy glue, and, using a thin piece of wire, insert tiny drops into the hole(s.) The heat turns the glue into liquid, almost like water, and it will fill the hole so that a small dome can result. Return it to the heat, for about an hour (depending on the amount of heat - you'll need to experiment) and it will go hard. Sand that down, when it's cooled down, and you have a surface that's almost a perfect match to the resin.
Edgar

I use Revell plasto modelling body putty/Filler. Has a consistency similar to toothpaste. Easy to apply with a scalpel.
Revell should be easy to find.

Like Jesper, I use Revell Plasto as a filler for resin. For small bubbles it's worth trying superglue as you can persuade it into the smaller and more annoying bubbles.

David

For me, it depends upon the size of the bubbles.

For really small bubbles, I use a painted layer of Mr. Surfacer 1000 or 500.

For slightly larger bubbles (~.25mm - 1mm) [~.010" - .040"] I generally use a combination of superglue and styrene rod. I stretch some sprue so that it is small enough to fit in the holes and then use the small lengths of styrene to pick up some glue and fill the hole, leaving the sprue in the hole. This has several benefits: a) the sprue is a bit softer than a full bubble of superglue and will sand easier; b) the lengths of sprue are more easily seen and I don't forget them; c) especially for corner bubbles, the sprue forms a structural basis for the superglue to make a new corner without becoming rounded, like a drop.

For bubbles between 1 & 3 mm I use a couple methods: plain superglue if the hole is in the middle of a surface, the sprue & superglue method (larger sprue pieces) if it is at a corner and lastly, if the surface needs fine sanding, I fill the hole with talc or baking soda and then apply some thin superglue to fill the hole and bind the powder. This makes for a much easier sanding job but the adhesion is less than with the pure superglue so only use it if you are not going to be doing a lot of work on that surface later.

For bubbles larger than 3mm (assuming I haven't abandoned the kit as being too poorly cast to build!) I'll use 2-part epoxy putty. I like the A+B brand as well as Plumbers Putty in the orange & blue tubes. I have gone off Milliput in all it's flavours as it tends to skin over faster than the others and, when mixed is much stiffer and less tacky making it a pain to get it to stick to anything.

BTW if you should make a large correction with epoxy putty and then have it fall off due to lack of adehsion, just stick the putty piece back on with thin superglue. It will bond really well then and can then be sanded and drilled withiut worrying that it will fall off again.

HTH

Paul