"Filling Holes in Resin Buildings" Topic

I have been working on some pretty old cast resin buildings from a now defunct company. They are pretty nice, although simple, little models, but were cast not so well. They are generously sprinkled with tons of little microholes and there are a couple pretty large voids on one of the buildings. Fortunately, they represent pretty damaged adobe buildings so some resin distress can be camouflaged.

I have tried Green Stuff, Milleput and JB Weld, so far. Green Stuff seems very poorly suited for this, as it sticks to tools and fingers far more readily than resin. JB Weld kinda works, but it is a little bit too goopy, and tends to leave dimples, rather than curing flush with the surface.

Milliput is the best so far--it fills holes reasonably well, works well for the larger voids and is good for reconstructing missing details. ON the other hand, it is kind of expensive to use as plain filler and I used up quite a lot already. Is there a good, and relatively inexpensive filler material for stuff like this that you folks know of?

I haven't used it on resin buildings but on other items and that is spackling paste. It is cheap, doesn't stick to the applicator that I have used and fills holes. Any excess can be sanded down using sand paper. Again I am not sure if it would work but it does work on my basement windows when whatever was used years ago to make them started flaking off.

I agree with Disco Joe. You could also use plastic wood

OK, thanks. Cheap is good, as a fair amount ends up getting scraped and sanded off anyway.

I had a piece of resin scenery with lots of little air bubble holes. I tried Green Stuff on some of the larger holes, and whittled away the excess after it had dried. As you say, it didn't work particularly well, but I was able to fill some of the larger holes with it. I used several heavy coats of craft paint to fill in some of the smaller holes. It worked, though it wasn't as nice as it might have been. Again, it had the advantage of being cheap, though having to make two or three coats means it was more time consuming than I'd have liked. I don't think I ever did find something that I was totally pleased with.

Grelber

Plaster of Paris

Use 5 minute epoxy glue. It mixes up fast, is cheap and dry in five minutes.
You can saw it, paint it, cut it just like the resin.
Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Along with what the Bunkermeister said, you can use medium viscosity super glue for the microbubbles or the smaller holes. Once dry, it sands or can be easily filed.

Mike

I use Durham's Water Putty for many things. Very easy to use and easy to paint over.

Plumbers bathroom caulking.

In addition to what's already suggested, Liquitex Modeling Paste. This is an acrylic product for applying shapeable texture to a surface (think brush strokes, waves, etc.); it's an acrylic polymer mixed with marble dust. It dries hard and can be sanded, and takes paint well.

As a bonus you can mix it with acrylic paint to produce a colored filler. With Liquitex paints you add 25% paint to color the paste the same as the paint.

Thanks for all suggestions.

There is a kind of "Paintable" putty, very thin, but adheres better, and would fill in much easier. Would take several coats, but it does work.