How do you reinforce a resin kit.

[fastmongrel]

I have just received a resin kit of the Breda Ba64 in 1/72 manufactured by Choroszy Modelbud. One of the fuselage halves has a spot where the resin is very thin and fragile.

So the question is how do I reinforce this thin patch. I can order some slow setting epoxy resin (I have quick setting but it's a bit too hard and doesn't sand well) and smear some on the inside. Will this hold as I don't think I can roughen the surface of the fuselage without blowing through.

 

[fastmongrel]

Better shot

 

[Crimea_River]

Not familiar with resin builds and don't quite get why you need to roughen the surface. Maybe cut some styrene card to the right shapes and fully CA glue them. That way, you get a smooth surface ready for paint.

 

[fastmongrel]

don't quite get why you need to roughen the surface.

I meant roughen the surface to give a key for the epoxy to grab onto. Not had much luck gluing to smooth shiny surfaces.

 

[WARSPITER]

PVA glue generally sticks really well to resin but you have to paint it on in layers and let it dry. There is also the possibility of warping as it shrinks when drying.

One other method is to use silicon sealant. Gooey but it sticks and lets things flex.

 

[SpicyJuan11]

Why do you need to reinforce this is the first place? Sorry for the dumb question, but I'd like to know as I'm going to order some resin kits soon

 

[fastmongrel]

Why do you need to reinforce this is the first place? Sorry for the dumb question, but I'd like to know as I'm going to order some resin kits soon

The resin was very thin and see through and the slightest pressure made the resin bulge in or out. I was worried that any sanding or even holding it in the wrong place would cause it to break through.

What I did was very carefully roughen the internal surface with a glass fibre brush to give the epoxy glue something to grab. Then I layed on some epoxy glue then I put some thin strips of styrene on the glue which overlapped the thin patch and smeared more epoxy over the top.

I left it for 3 days and the fuselage was rock solid it was a little like reinforcing a glass fibre boat that has smacked a rock.

 

[fastmongrel]

You can see some of the reinforcing strips above the pencil tip

 

[Wurger]

 

[skyskooter]

Use Milliput. It is a two part epoxy resin putty supplied in two sticks. Break off two lumps of equal size. Knead them together and press on to the part. It takes 24 hours to set and adheres to any substrate. Dries rock hard, can be filed and sanded smooth. It even sets under water. I have just completed a resin kit where I used it to fill gaps and to form a wing fillet. Brilliant stuff.

 

[ThomasP]

I use Plastic Steel (from the tube) for a variety of things. It is very fine grained and after fully hard it can be filed, scraped, sanded, polished (to a degree). It can be smoothed for a period of about 5 min after application, and cures in about 16 hrs without any significant shrinkage. It can be used to fill in areas such as you have described by applying a blob and smoothing it with a ~putty knife or a piece of plastic shaped to the curve you are trying to fill in. I would suggest trying it on a test piece (or two, or three) first to get used to the time scale over which it is workable.

I usually clean the surface with alcohol before applying the Plastic Steel.