discussion Dealing with the dreaded fuselage seam

[BattleshipBob]

Evening all

I have come to the stage where the next job on the Tamiya He 219 is dealing with the fuselage seam. I have never had to do this and Stugs do not have this problem lol

I have a Tamiya scriber but buggier all else, could you kind people help with advice as to have to deal with this, PLEASE

thanks in advance

bob

 

[spanner570]

Bob, some aircraft do actually have fuselage seams, so best just check before you try and hide any.

The Me 109 fighter certainly has one along the spine of the fuselage....

 

[BattleshipBob]

Good point Sir, off for a butchers, pray mat out

 

[PaulTRose]

sanding block works for me

 

[BattleshipBob]

Nuts! No blasted seam. No idea what to do after i have distroyed all those seams!

 

[stillp]

Paint it!
Pete

 

[BattleshipBob]

Will underseal hide the seams lol

 

[Dave Ward]

Bob,
on YouTube - OK, it's a Rafale, but it describes how to deal with seams pretty well

Dave

 

[Guest]

You can scrape and/or sand the seam away quite easily, just like seams on gun barrels etc. A seam is a seam, IMHO

 

[Gern]

This has cropped up before Bob. Lots of useful stuff here:

https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/covering-up-fuselage-joints-lines.12341/

The one comment I would emphasise is to make sure you use enough glue in your joints. If the glue has done it's job properly, the plastic should have fused together leaving no seam, just maybe a tiny bit of plastic which has oozed from the join. If you miss a spot with the glue, there will be a gap between the two plastic halves - it is this gap which can be a nightmare to get rid of. No matter how much you sand, you will always have the gap, and most fill materials come with their own set of problems you need to deal with such as shrinkage, extra sanding and replacement of detail etc.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Evening Dave, many thanks!

Jakko its mainly re scribing is the pain!

 

[BattleshipBob]

Excellent Gern, ta very much

 

[colin m]

I would say, firstly, don't just accept a bad seam and assume you will filling and sanding your week end away. Do your test fits and you might decide the locating pins aren't helping, so cut them off. Also, sometimes, a slight chamfer on the mating edges (inside of the fuselage, the bit you won't see) can help close the seam up a touch better.
Sometimes, you might need to use a piece of old sprue to stretch one side of the fuselage to meet the other. Then you can go ahead and try all of the above.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Thank you Colin!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Bob
Sand it wet using emery, work from coarse to fine to really fine....,if incised details start getting lost, rescribe them before they disappear....you can also protect areas using masking tape so sanding damage is minimised....Albion alloys sanding sponges are your friends....
Good luck, and have fun.....

 

[wonwinglo]

Snow flake,yes Snow flake the best seam filler ever,build up oversize and then use wet and dry better than Squadron putty even,you can push it into the seam with the brush supplied easily and it sets quickly too and will feather in nicely.

 

[Guest]

Jakko its mainly re scribing is the pain!

Ah, OK, now I understand Your question gave me the impression you were asking for tips on how to remove the seam, rather than how to rescribe panel lines that go missing after removing the seam. I generally cut them with a knife, making a V-shaped cut where the panel line used to be.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Many thanks Tim, cracking advice chaps!!

Bit of both Jakko, no seams and very little filling on a tank!

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Bob, for curved fuselages I would use an etched metal saw to repair the sanded engraved line. These saw blades come in different shapes straight, curved or rounded. They are thin enough to engrave lines.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Si Benson]

Take a large cauldron, add three eye of newt, wing of bat, toe of frog, bay leaf and season to taste.....say the magic words ‘all hail the carpet monster’. Your model will now be perfect, enjoy the results with a pot noodle:smiling4: