Phalpenny Posted November 26, 2020 Share #1 Posted November 26, 2020 Hello fellow builders. I have just completed the second planking on my HMS Flirt (Standard Edition). While I am reasonably pleased with the outcome, it is not perfect as there are small cracks between some of the planks. Can anyone recommend a good wood filler that would help address these imperfections? One consideration is how it will look on the unpainted areas - I'd like the colour to match closely the pearwood. Many thanks in advance for your advice. Peter Halpenny Ottawa, Canada Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanyed Posted November 26, 2020 Share #2 Posted November 26, 2020 Welcome to MSW Peter/ There are choices here. Ideally, redo the planking so there are no gaps. Realistically, it could be very difficult to match the pearwood. You can try making a pile of saw dust with any pear wood that you may still have then make a putty of the sawdust and wood glue to fill the cracks. The finer the sawdust the better. You can quickly make a pile of saw dust with a thickness sander or even a hand held orbital sander. Even a sanding stick with a 220 or finer grit will work, just takes a little longer. It may not be exact, but might just be better and easier than trying to find a store bought filler that matches in color. Allan mtaylor, Phalpenny and Ryland Craze 3 Quote PLEASE take 30 SECONDS and sign up for the epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series. Click on http://trafalgar.tv There is no cost other than the 30 seconds of your time. THANK YOU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AON Posted November 26, 2020 Share #3 Posted November 26, 2020 Peter Not to name drop..... David Antscherl (in our local model club) once showed me that a dab of wood glue in the crack and a light sanding to move the sawdust into the glue made the crack disappear like magic. Of course, he has a magic touch, and years of experience! Try this on a test set up of two pieces of scrap before doing it on your model to see if it works for you. Phalpenny, Ryland Craze, allanyed and 4 others 7 Quote Alan O'Neill "only dead fish go with the flow" Ongoing Build (31 Dec 2013) - HMS BELLEROPHON (1786), POF scratch build, scale 1:64, 74 gun 3rd rate Man of War, Arrogant Class Member of the Model Shipwrights of Niagara, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada (2016), and the Nautical Research Guild (since 2014) Associate member of the Nautical Research and Model Ship Society (2021) Offshore member of The Society of Model Shipwrights (2021) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanyed Posted November 26, 2020 Share #4 Posted November 26, 2020 Alan, Same idea but a LOT easier the way you and David do it. Thanks for the tip, a great help for many of us. Allan bruce d, Phalpenny, Ryland Craze and 1 other 4 Quote PLEASE take 30 SECONDS and sign up for the epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series. Click on http://trafalgar.tv There is no cost other than the 30 seconds of your time. THANK YOU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cleek Posted November 26, 2020 Share #5 Posted November 26, 2020 Well, there are "cracks," and then there are crevasses! But for cracks, I sometimes find a furniture finisher's crayon useful. These wax "filler sticks" or "crayons" come in a wide range of wood colors and can be purchased individually or in sets with a range of color. All you do is warm the wax in your hand to soften it a bit and apply to the crack and then rub away the excess. Fine furniture finishers use them to fill open joints and nicks and dings, as do gunsmiths on banged up gunstocks. They cost around three bucks apiece. Color chart: https://woodrepairproducts.com/product/fil-stiks/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAwf39BRCCARIsALXWETxVSo6lB0Guzfus1DrsLNcS6EnG11mDoXB0vhFS4_SFn8DkaBctn1kaAvsZEALw_wcB mtaylor and Phalpenny 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phalpenny Posted November 26, 2020 Author Share #6 Posted November 26, 2020 Really appreciate all the great ideas on this. I’m going to do some testing to see what works best. Thanks again! mtaylor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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