Re: Question on scratchbuilding VTOLs

On Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Eli Arndt wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm considering a VTOL Project of my own but had a question for the
> "experts" out there.	Any hints on what makes a good material for
> sculpting large structural features or blending part together?  I'd
like
> to avoid sculpy and green stuff as one needs baking and the other is
> tough to work with in large amounts.

For blending between pieces & filling gaps, I've got some of the
Squadron
putty - it's not green, but I assume that's the 'green stuff' you're
talking about.

Using it in great big blobs is hard - it takes *forever* to cure hard.
Better is to use smaller layers of it, and gradually fill your gap. This
stuff shrinks just a bit when it dries anyway, so you'll probably need
another coat even on a small gap.

The best techinque I've found is to actually overflow your gap slightly,
let the putty dry, then use 600 or 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper (called
'garnet
 paper' sometimes) to sand the putty back down to the surface it's
supposed to conform to.

If you've got a very large gap/hole to fill, stuff a piece of scrap
plastic or something in to fill most of it, then use the putty over
that.

For actual sculpting of whole components, I think that ribbon epoxy
putty
would work best - can't remember the name of it, and I've actually never
used it myself, but some of the actual miniature sculptors here should
help.

Hope that helps,

Brian - yh728@victoria.tc.ca -
- http://warbard.iwarp.com/games.html -