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[Nick-R]

I have returned to the hobby in my dotage so approx sixty year gap in what might be used in the sixties and nowadays.  I built a Billings Nordkap which has a plank on frame hull.  It was coated internally with a few coats of Eze Kote.  Externally I rubbed down the planking and used Balsa Lite for larger flaws.  After that it got three coats of EzeKote, rubbed down between each and then clad in lightweight glass cloth, again using Eze Kote, then painted using rattle cans.  The final finish was ok but the planking still shows through slightly.


I am currently building a Billings Smit Rotterdam which has a partially planked hull.  I would like to use a more robust filler which will leave me a properly smooth hull.  I have been warned off automotive fillers as being too hard to sand down.


Anyone got any suggestions?

[John W E]

Hi Nick-R


I think you may receive a lot of replies, various answers and methods 


My personal choice of fillers, does depend on the planking I have done and the material of the planking.   The softer the planking - the softer the filler I use.   I do mainly use Obechi planking,, which is slightly harder than balsa wood.  Sometimes though I use thin plywood planking. For Obechi/soft plywood I use a soft car body filler.   When I sand the filler I always use a wooden support block behind the sand paper or wet n dry.   I start by sanding the high spot off the car body filler first.   


After the hull is smoothed and the gaps are filled, I tend to coat the hull with either an epoxy resin; or, sometimes a polyester resin - using tissue mat with the polyester resin and normally I use pure epoxy and no matting.   


As they say the choice is yours.


Hope this helps.


John

[Nick-R]

Thanks for that.  What brand name would you suggest as a soft car filler?

[John W E]

Hi Nick try Isopon p38 Easy Sand ; it works ok on balsawood and harder woods as well. 


John

[Nick-R]

Cheers!

[JimG]

I tend to use a filler made from brushing epoxy and microballoons, this gives an easily sanded filler and the thickness of the filler paste can be set by the amount of microballoons added. A thick paste is good for gaps between planks while keeping it to a brushable consistancy is good as a finish for the wood, filling the grain and allowing it to be sanded smooth with wet and dry sandpaper used wet.It might need a couple of coats to get a near polished finish after the finest wet and dry sanding. The epoxy I generally use is Aeropoxy from Deluxe Materials, normally sold for wing skinning on aircraft models.
Jim

[Stavros!]

A darned good filler to use is Dolphin Glaze available from Halfords BUT make sure it come with Hardener and dont be fobbe doff with what happened to myself at a local one the spotty nosed erk tried to explain to me tha tthe hardener was inside hte packet well after he realised his error of his ways by explaining to him as a rtd body man and using it for a number of years he relented and went and got me some hardener.....i use it on steel wood and plastic models rubs down in a jiffy.....oh ASK Neil howard pritchard how good it is he has thrown his Isopon 938 in the bin




Stavros