I’ve been in the hobby for over 20 years, but one thing has always annoyed me: filling holes and seam lines on miniatures. I’ve tried various putties like Liquid Green Stuff or Vallejo Plastic Putty, classic Green Stuff, but nothing has completely convinced me. If you feel the same way, read this post. I’ve now finally found the perfect product for gap filling.

Whether it’s air bubbles in resin models, gaps in metal, or seam lines in plastic kits, it’s annoying, but filling gaps when building models is unavoidable. There are various products for this tedious work, but none have truly satisfied me so far:

  • Games Workshop’s Liquid Green Stuff and Vallejo Plastic Putty: These acrylic-based fillers are odourless and easy to use. Simply apply them to the model with a small spatula or old brush, then wipe away whilst damp, or let them dry and sand down. The problem with these water-based products, however, is that they shrink when drying, leaving a small depression. Usually you have to apply the filler multiple times to compensate for this, which wastes a lot of time. Additionally, the adhesion to the model is rather poor, and larger pieces of putty easily crumble away when sanding.
  • Tamiya Putty and Mr. Hobby White Putty: These fillers are solvent-based. They adhere much better to the model, but since they slightly melt the surface of plastic, you can easily clog up or damage details. They also reek of solvent and cause headaches in poorly ventilated areas.
  • Sprue goo: Sprue remnants melted with plastic cement are very well suited for filling larger gaps. But sprue goo reeks even more than solvent-based putty, and the aggressive plastic cement not only melts the sprue remnants into a sticky mass but also quickly clogs details on a model.
  • Green Stuff: Classic Green Stuff is good for sculpting and can also be pressed into gaps and seam lines. However, the putty is quite firm and doesn’t sand particularly well once cured. Since the adhesion to the model is rather poor, when sanding, the entire Green Stuff often comes loose from the model.
  • Milliput Superfine White: Not too bad, but a bit too brittle and chalky for my taste.

I’ve finally found the perfect gap-filling product

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But now I’ve finally found what is, in my opinion, the best solution: Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type. Similar to Green Stuff, it’s a two-component putty that you need to knead together to activate. This requires a bit more preparation time than putty from a tube, but it has many advantages.

Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick type beige and white component plus the packaging and a clay shaper tool arranged on a workbench
Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type yellow and white putty, plus the clay shaper tool I’m using

Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type is much softer and more “buttery” than Green Stuff (or Brown Stuff). Especially when you use a bit more of the yellow epoxy component. This makes it very easy to spread thinly on the model to achieve seamless transitions, especially with a rubber tip clay shaper tool. It doesn’t shrink (at least not as much as acrylic putties), and once dried it adheres very well to the model and sands beautifully. For me, this combines all the best properties of epoxy putties and acrylic fillers.

Detail of a seam line on Urkhan the Dark Warden's cape, filled with Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick type
Perfect filling of the seam line on Urkhan the Dark Warden’s cape with Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type

Where to get

Tamiya is a brand you don’t normally find in hobby shops. Since Tamiya’s target audience is mainly in the scale modelling community, you should look in specialised stores. Or you can check Amazon and similar retailers. Price-wise, a 25g pack costs around £6 to £7 (or dollars/euros) and lasts a very long time if you’re only using the putty for gap filling. Tamiya offers several putties in their range. I recommend the Quick Type variant, which dries in about 5 to 6 hours at room temperature.

Get Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type

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