^^I've been asked about what I use for filler and this is the stuff. It's a product we use in the autobody trade to repair plastic bumpers. It dries fast, has two stages of workability, sands easily, feather edges without leaving halos, and will stick to anything. You can find it on Ebay or any autobody supply store. It's called Fuzor plastic repair -114. ^^ Ever have some ungodly gap caused by poor measurement? Well, here's how you can fix it quickly and easily. ^^Tape off your details first. ^^Load er up with the plastic repair. ^^Leave it to set up for 2 minutes and carve the excess with a knife. ^^Don't take off too much. ^^And once sanded, it should look like this. You can sand it in any grit so long as you finish it with 320. (unless you use a high build primer, then 180 will do. Here's an easy and fast way to tie in panels. ^^Begin by taping off the areas that need to stay clean. ^^Jamb the filler in there then...... ^^Peel the tape off as shown. It's important to peel it over itself as it cuts a nice sharp line. Afterwards, just shave the filler down as shown above and sand it smooth.
Here's how to create a body line with filler. ^^Sand down your project to allow the filler to bite in. ^^Drop a gob. ^^Begin by sanding the larger surface till straight and smooth. ^^Create your break line by using a strip of tape. ^^With a straight block and sandpaper, sand the secondary angle. Try to avoid using pressure, the grit will do all the cutting for you. Also, the tape isn't meant to take the full assault of the sandpaper, it mearly slows down any abrasive that passes over that area which will create the desired edge. ^^You can use two layers of tape if need be when creating minor angles. ^^This is what you'll be left with. Cut your panels free again. ^^And you're done. It's best to sand this stuff within the hour from when you apply it or it turns really hard and will take longer to work it out.
If you've ever wanted to round out your square transformers to create an entirely new asthetic, here's how it's done. ^^Begin by trimming off any excess plastic and round the corners as best you can with your dremel.. ^^This figure has a two layer forearm so I start by applying my core gluing it at one end and rolling it around to the other side and gluing it to the back. ^^Use a mini clamp to hold it down till dry. ^^The top portion of the arm will be solid so we apply a panel to it, wrappin it around as we go. It does not need to sit flat against all sides. In this case, it only makes contact with the front and back of the arm. ^^Hold em in place till dry. ^^Now we create a barricade to keep the shoulder joint movement. It's basically building a dam to keep the filler out. ^^Like everything in this tut, slop er up with some filler. ^^Using your knife, carve these panels as "round" as you can. ^^Now we drop another bomb on these shoulders with the intention of wideing the overall size. You don't need to build up the side of the arm as it should be wide enough from the styrene. (Y'know, the area mentioned earlier that doesn't get glued/make contact to the upper arm.) ^^Shave it down as best as you can. Notice it isn't perfectly round, merely notched in a circular pattern.
^^Now we begin sanding by freehanding the sandpaper over the arm. If you did it properly, the sand paper will take the natural basic shape of the tubular shape and knock off any high spots. ^^You'll need to sand the area where the original arm meets the styrene/filler creating a seamless piece. ^^Roll the top same as the side of the arm. ^^The piece should look like this when finished. You'll need to go in with your sandpaper and grind away at some spots to roll everything together. Test fit to be sure everything still moves.
^^Now we're ready for the forearm armor. This one has cutouts to allow the core panels to show through. It also has an extended elbow pad. ^^Glue er down...... ^^....and roll it out then clamp till dry. ^^Tape areas such as joints and detailed surfaces you don't want this stuff getting into. ^^Fill and carve. ^^Sand it out and check to be sure you still have hand movement. ^^Now we need to tie in the central arm. You'll want to tape that off as well and lay the filler into the void between the styrene armor and the original arm. ^^Carved and sanded. Check to be sure you still have movement in this joint. ^^Shown above are air bubbles that were in the filler. You'll need to dap some filler into these and sand them out before priming. ^^Shown above is what these arms end up looking like when finished.
I'd been seeing your tuts with the red stuff for filler. I was wondering where you got it and figured it was some prohibitively expensive stuff you got while making a living in your field. The price isn't as bad as I expected, and it looks useful as all get-out. Thanks for the head's up on what it actually is and ways to best make it work!
The biggest difference between bodyfiller and this stuff is that the Fuzor 114 is intended for plastic and adheres much better. The Fuzor is also able to flex without cracking should it be stressed where as a regular filler would just crack and flake off. Once dry, It's basically it's own plastic shell. I do say it's tough to sand in the tutorial but that's merely comparing it to it's ideal working time. As far as work time in case anyone is wondering: Once mixed you have approximately 1 minute to get it on as it gels as time goes on, so apply in small doses. At about the 3 - 10 minute mark, it's nice to carve but after ten minutes, it becomes very difficult to use a knife. After five minutes, sandpaper can be used. After an hour or two, it's fully cured.
