wood filler

Ok fellow model airplane builders what is the best wood filler for little dings and dents?I have used elmores wood putty before woked great.:

LAST EDITED ON Oct-01-03 AT 04:30 PM (CDT)
 
I like Hobbylight balsa color putty.

It's light, sands well and can hide the most hideous screwups.

It used to be available here in Rio only at HobbyWorld, a shop kept by a fat lady that hated U-control guys.

I was the one that discovered it, and it became known as "massa da gorda" (fat lady's putty).

In Christ,

Ion

PS - If you "rat" on me you're a dead man. Nobody needs to know my nice woodwork is loaded with massa da gorda...

I use Carl Goldberg "Jet Model Mate Superlight Balsa Tint Filler". It works great. It’s the best filler I’ve ever used. I use to mix balsa dust or micro-balloons with an aliphatic resin like Sigment until I found this stuff. This pre mixed stuff is much more convenient, thins and cleans up with water and dries quickly.

I believe Hobbico makes the same type of product also.
Chris

If it is just a dent, plain water works wonders and you do not need any filler. Just wet the area and the dent will come right out. If it is a gouge than some sort of filler will be needed.

The ready to use spackling compound from home Depot or Lowe's works as well as the hobby stuff and is cheaper. Some have reported adhesion and shrinkage problems with both kinds but I have never had a problem.

I do not use the premixed filler unless it is a small gouge, if it is fairly large I use Aero Poxy and maybe that is why I have never had a shrinkage or adhesion problem.

Bob,

You beat me to it! Indeed water is my best freind. When I have a model ready to cover I give it a "bath" with a fairly wet cloth and let it dry overnight. A quick once-over with 400 and its ready to dope. Always try to swell the dents out, you'll save weight and unsightly spots in the finish as a result.

I like to use and old woodworking method to get out dents.
Take a wet cloth and a monocoat iron, or any similar heat source, and steam it out. Set the iron on high and have the rag wet. It will not soak the balsa which might accidently cause a warp or other undesirable effect.
Bill

I'll demonstrate my crude nature again: I use Epoxolite to fill dings.. (And I frequently have some large ones!)

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I once bought some Model Magic, which I could not distinguish from the Red Devil stuff from the hardware store at a fraction of the price. But this stuff has no strength.

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"It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion." -Anatole France

I use a very light spackling compound. No shrinkage that I can detect. Slightly bigger dings I use white vinegar and hot water. I put tiny holes in the ding area using a "T" pin and a brush for the vinegar/water mixture. Works great. This is on bare balsa before any dope goes on. On big gouges, I mix balsa dust, Ambroid and clear dope until I get a light brown goop. This works great. The balsa, glue and dope all sand nicely and all are compatable with the dope finish.
I think I'll try the hot iron trick next time. I forgot about that one. Thanks Bill.

One thing I should mention about small dings and scratches. I put them in while sanding the plane before the first coats of dope. I do this with finger nails that I was too lazy to trim, not using a blanket on the table or a foam pad. Prevention seems to be easier, but it's not.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-01-03 AT 10:21 PM (CDT)
 
Stephen,

Another place where a filler comes into play is during the surface prep phase of: Spray with Silver; Sand it all off; Spray with Silver; Sand it all off; Spray with Silver; Sand it all off........repeat until you get tired of sanding or the first contest is next week. During this process of getting the surface of your piece of art absolutely flat and smooth, you will find small imperfections from the size of a head of a pin to as big as a penny. These small depressions can be filled with Automotive Spot Putty. I use 3M Acryl-Green Spot Putty. Put on with a plastic spatula it drys quickly without shrinkage. Sand out with Wet (Sikkens M600) 400 paper leaves a perfect base for the next coat of Silver. And the best part is that a 21 Oz tube of this stuff can be passed down for generations. This is a surface treatment only; not for fillets.

I didn't know I made wood putty

http://www.the.elmores.btinternet.co.uk/stunt/_cat001.html

http://www.the.elmores.btinternet.co.uk/articles/articles_cat.html

Bob Parker taught me to beware of using spackle or Model Magic on concave surfaces. It has no tensile strength, so paint shrinks and pulls loose, forming a bubble. It's fine on convex surfaces.

I first met Bob in 1970 and if anyone can finish a plane to perfection it's him.