Assembly Tips

There's nothing better than watching your model in its full glory after you have assembled it together. But, before you put your model together, you should read this section. Note, you should read and follow the instructions that come in your model kit. This way, you'll have a general idea of how the model will fit together.

Before Assembly

Before assembling your model, you might want to touch up your model with some paint. This technique is recommended for smaller parts of the model, although larger pieces could use the same treatment. It is a good idea to paint most of the smaller pieces while it is still on the frame. You can also detail some of the smaller pieces with a pen or pigment liner while it is still on the frame (like a Gundam's head for example). This makes it much easier to handle smaller pieces of your model. Larger pieces of the model can be painted and detailed on or off the frame.

Cutting Parts

When you cut parts of the frame, you should do so carefully. Some parts on the tree can break easily, causing damage to your model's parts. The best way to cut the parts off the tree is to use a scissors or a wire cutter. Using a scissor or the wire cutter, you will cut as close as possible to the model's part, not too close of course. After this, you will have to shave the extra plastic pieces or flesh with a hobby knife. Be careful not to cut yourself. When you have finished shaving the piece, you should have a smooth and even surface. If you want, you can sand or file the area to make it even smoother.

Filing/Sanding

For small pieces of plastic flesh that you cannot reach with a hobby knife, you'll have to sand or file it down. I don't have a recommendation on the type of files you can use. However, if you can get a small file with a very fine sanding surface, it should do the trick. The idea is file down that useless piece of plastic flesh. Remember, when filing, you should file in one direction only. You can go a little further by using a little sand paper to smooth out the job. Take note, that sandpaper leaves minor scratches on your work, including ultra fine sandpaper. The scratches are more noticeable on darker color plastics. Again, you should sandpaper in one direction only. Sandpaper can also be used to smoothen up a rough paint job, just use a fine or ultra fine sandpaper on the spot that needs to be corrected and then repaint the area.

Putty Work

This is a little something I've decided to experiment with, I'm not an expert at puttying but I did give it a try. The putty I used was Testor's Contour putty. It's a little gritty when it comes to the texture, but works well. However, it does dry fast. The applications for putty can range from fixing gaps in seam lines to fixing mis-aligned parts. I experimented on a 1/144th WingZero Gundam Wing model.

Place the putty onto the area you are going to fill. You can use a tool with a smooth edge to spread the putty on the area you want. Take note, the putty does not have to be smooth. Worry about getting the putty in the right places first. Wait till it drys, this takes about 12 to 24 hours to properly dry ( depending on how much you applied ). From this point, you'll have to smoothen it out. The next step after your work is dry, is to begin smoothening the job. You should remove any excess putty with a blade. The rest of the work can be smoothened out with some ultra fine sandpaper (600 Grit). You should then check to see if there are any mistakes. If there are, you can work some more putty to finish the job.

For more details, check out my puttying tutorial.

During Assembly

Putting your model together shouldn't be too hard, as long as you follow the instructions from the assembly plans. Here are some tips that could be beneficial. Make sure that you cut the parts that you need during assembly. It is just a precaution so you would not loose any parts. Once you place your pieces together, it is pretty tough to take it apart again. So make sure that you do place all the right pieces together. For example, make sure that those polycaps that go inside the legs and hands of your Gundam model go inside the specific part before assembly. If you don't get the parts right, taking it apart could result in breaking the pegs. During assembly, if any parts are loose, you should glue it together.