Question on scratchbuilding VTOLs

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.

Eli

> On Sunday, November 4, 2001, at 09:47 AM, Eli Arndt wrote:

> I'm considering a VTOL Project of my own but had a question for the

> is tough to work with in large amounts.

I can't claim to be any expert, but I can give you what I know.

I sort of depends on what shape you're looking for. for generally blocky

shapes, sheet styrene for a base, and then just filling the rounded areas with
green stuff should do it.

However, this doesn't work too well for large rounded shapes. I would guess
that carving balsa and then finishing with green stuff might work for that,
but I've never tried it to be perfectly honest.

> On Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Eli Arndt wrote:

> Hello all,

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,

> On Sunday, November 4, 2001, at 12:20 PM, Brian Burger wrote:

> For blending between pieces & filling gaps, I've got some of the

I think that by "green stuff" he's referring to Kneadatite Blue/Yellow
epoxy putty. It's what I was referring to in my post.

I can't stand Squadron personally. Good for very small gaps in plastic, but
that's about it.