Saturday 1 September 2012

Academy Jaguar 1:144

Another kit I picked up for 4 euro to practice airbrushing. Only 2 small frames, 1 clear part.

Assembly is pretty straightforward and doesn't require any special skills. I'd definitely call this a starter kit. The parts do not fit very well together and have obvious gaps all over the model. There are numerous ways to fix this, even if you're new to modelling.

After applying glue and pressing the parts together, wait a few minutes than apply pressure again. The plastic has become soft by the glue and by pressing both parts together, the softened pastic will (try to) fill the gaps. Use rubber bands, tape, pins or clamps, whichever you have nearby to hold the pieces together until the glue has completely hardened.


Even after this, some gaps remained. I filled those with putty. Spread the putty generously and push it in the gaps with a scalpel or any flat iron or wooden tool. Let dry a few minutes, then gently scrape the excess putty away. If you do this before the putty is hard, you can avoid having the use sanding paper to smoothen the surface again. Scrape carefully, as to not remove the putty from the gap you just tried to fill.

You can find many kinds of putty in your local hobby store. I use Vallejo plastic putty, because it has a needle-tip to apply the putty directly where you want it.

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