ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR MAKING PROTOTYPES
When Making Plastic Models, Keep These Materials in Your Prototyping Toolbox.
By Ken Tarlow
PART THREE
In this issue, I want to discuss two more important items for making plastic model prototypes.
1. Auto Body Filler--If you want to create a blend between two pieces to create a look this is more appropriate for a consumer product, you can use auto body filler, like "Bondo," that you can get in any auto parts store or plastics supply store. It comes in a large can, which is the filler, accompanied by a tube of hardener.
You take about a golf ball size worth of the filler and squeeze out of the tube about a one-inch length of the hardener and mix it up thoroughly. Then you can apply this with an ice cream stick or any other kind of device to spread this material out.
Now you can fill any kind of gap. You can create fillets. You can blend two pieces together any way you want. "Bondo" dries quite hard in about 15 minutes. It sands very nicely, and you can use your Dremmel tool with your drum sander or your disk sander to sand away the parts that you don't want.
2. Wet or Dry Sandpaper--Sand with "wet or dry" sandpaper to get a really smooth finish. You can start with 180 grit sandpaper and then progress to finer papers--220, 320, 400. The finest sandpaper is 400. Make sure to get "wet or dry" sandpaper. This looks black and it has a cloth back. You can take pieces of it, and keep a tray of water next to you, and as you sand, you dip the sandpaper in the water to clear away all the material that you've been sanding that clogs the sandpaper. With this method using auto body filler, you can actually make any shape you want because you'll be sculpting it and sanding it to the desired shape and dimensions.
Once it's sanded smooth, you can then use a glazing putty, which is also available in an auto parts store, to smooth out small areas. It's a very thin, toothpaste-like material. It comes in a tube and is best when applied at less than 1/16 inch at a time. It's used for doing the final detail body work, filling in pinholes and other slight irregularities. Once it's dry, you can then sand it with 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper. When you are finally done, you can coat it with a sandable spray primer paint. When that has dried, you can fill it some more with body putty if needed.
From this point, you're ready to go right to a final lacquer or enamel paint. The paints are available in your auto parts store or a good hardware store. When you're done, you can create some very finished, professional-looking prototypes.
NEXT ISSUE: More on Prototypes
The above article was excerpted from Ken Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from the Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and$5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to the Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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