Another styrene filler preparation.

[Don Garrett]

Who Dat? Mr. Wizard? Jeff.....don't blow yourself up buddy. Remember what happened when you got that chemistry set as a kid.
All kidding aside, I use straight automotive lacquer thinner ....not recommended without old fart supervision.:D

[hot ford coupe]

That's the problem, I couldn't get a thinner hot enough to get a good paste. I guess I've been looking in the wrong places. I use the styrene paste generally for small area filling, crack repair (say no to cracks) and belt sander boo boos. If I'm going to do large areas, I'll either use the 2 part body filler or I'll cement in pieces of scrap styrene , contour it and then fill as needed. For many applications, it's a bit impractical to mix a batch of body filler. For the really small pits and the really small areas, I'll use a hard wax as a filler. The whole point is to use the right material for the right job.

[BrittB]

I've had good luck with the liquid stuff sold by Plastruct. Tap Plastics sells Weld On 3 which is still the best there ever was.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=131&

[hot ford coupe]

Yes, the plastruct stuff works very well in my hands also. Britt, you mention Weld on 3. I haven't heard that name since the 70's. I didn't even know they still made it. That stuff definitely was the gold standard of plastic cements. Now I'm all nostalgic.

[BrittB]

Time for mail order from Tap! I use to buy the Weld-On 4 for making plastic filler as it didn't evaporate near as quick. You know what they say, "Once you use Weld-On, you never go back!".

[hot ford coupe]

I didn't know there was a Weld on 4. Back 25 years ago, it was in all the model mags as the cement of choice but there wasn't a hobby shop that carried it no matter where I went. Now I use primarily Tenax 7 and Plastruct liquid cement. Both give me great results. The Testor's takes too long to harden.

[BrittB]

Plastruct liquid is very very close clone to Weld On 3. I think the others are too hot and will actually craze the plastic on some Japanese/Korean kits.

[Bob Cline]

TAP has some interesting instructional videos, too. Has anyone used their casting materials?

[hot ford coupe]

Thanks again, Britt. I'm switching to Plastruct.

[BrittB]

TAP has some interesting instructional videos, too. Has anyone used their casting materials?

I have and it's the same stuff as you can get from other sources. Same stuff, different label.

[chuckster]

I'm usually what you would call a "lurker" , but noticed this topic and wanted to add my two cents.
Firstly, I also use Plastruct's plastic weld, it works really well. Years ago there was a plastic manufacturer
here in town (Lansing Michigan). They are still here but have gone mostly to industrial service. The main thing they do is custom acrylic and other plastic fabrication, specializing in those lab test chambers.
Anyway in my teens I used to visit them all the time, and in the lobby they always had a box of scrap acrylic pieces you could
buy cheap (not any more), but before I go way off-topic, the type of bonding agent most acrylic fabricators such as sign shops and such use in "bulk" is a chemical called, Methylene Chloride. It is the same chemical make-up as most of the clear plastic weld type cements. Years ago they would sell me a quart bottle for about four bucks, but cost has gone up, and lately, no one will sell it in small quantity (only like a ten or twenty gallon drum). And so I'm told, won't sell it anymore to "private" individuals because of some governmet rules of hazardess chemicals.
Long story short . . . I know, finally, it works very well on acrylic , butyrate, plexiglass, styrene , and a lot of other plastics.
One can tell if it will disolve the plastic in question with your finger. If it won't like on some plastics, it will only evaporate and not attack the surface.
Try to find a plastic sign or custom fabricator and maybe where you're at they will sell some to you.
Basically though after two weeks of trying to find it, and then turning to the internet, I finally figured to get it quicker and cheaper from Plastruct themselves.
Sorry about the Blah - blah - blah, but thought it might help.
Thanks guys!
Chuckster

[radish]

Another lurker reading old posts, but here's something to think about if you do use home-made "goop" for a filler.

I started to use a "goop" way back about the early 1980's.
I made it from Testors liquid glue, the MIK variety, as you used the bottle, the good stuff evaporated and you were left with something that worked, but not as well as a new bottle. So I cut up bits of coloured sprue and dropped them into the half empty bottle of Testors, a day or to later you then had some "goop" of the same colour as what the model was made with. Same deal back then, you could make it a thick or thin, or whatever variety/colour you wanted or needed.

Worked brilliantly for filling up small cracks, and you were even able to keep applying this "goop", 1 coat each day, and build up a thick layer with it.

Now for the rub,------ after 25 years, a model I used this "goop" as a filler on, well the "goop"is now starting to show thru the couple of coats of paint I covered it with, you can now see a darker colour where I used the "goop".

So, if your going to be keeping the model, then maybe it might be a better idea to use bog instead of "goop", if your selling the model and/or don't really care, then by all means use "goop".

regards radish

[Dougritt]

I have used baking soda and cyanoacrylate to make a very nice non-shrinking filler. Fill the void with baking soda, then drop thin super glue onto the baking soda. It gets hot while curing (exothermic) and hardens into an excellent plastic material which sands and takes paint well. This works for plastic, wood and other materials.