Staining fillercoat

Here is a little trick I picked up a few years ago that has been helpful to me. I make 2 batches of fillercoat and use food coloring to stain the batches different colors.

Here you can see where I started with the green fillercoat. After it dried and I sanded it, my next coat was with the red. By using contrasting colors, I can easily see where I have sanded and where I have not.

Great tip LW;
Works with Rattle can primers as well, just alternate Standard light Grey with Red, brown or black. most have about the same size filler material with the red being a bit finer.

Do you have a recipe for your fillercoat?

Micromeister said:

Great tip LW;
Works with Rattle can primers as well, just alternate Standard light Grey with Red, brown or black. most have about the same size filler material with the red being a bit finer.

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I do the same thing when I paint.

tightwad said:

Do you have a recipe for your fillercoat?

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Yikes. This is one of those topics that is so very much a personal preference. A recipe one person loves another person might hate, and vice versa.

So at the risk of starting a religious war, I will attempt to answer your question.

First of all, know this, most of the time I am working with balsa. I have tailored my fillercoat concoction accordingly.

I have used the Elmer's wood filler in the past, but now I prefer Famowood. It is smooth, not the least bit grainy and brushes on beautifully. However, it can be rather hard when dry, and here is where I am "tweaking" my recipe.

My basic recipe is: thin the Famowood with water until you get the consistency of cream.

Now, in the case of the Phoenix model you see above, it has long, skinny 1/16" thick fins - somewhat fragile. So I don't want the Famowood to be so difficult to sand that I manhandle those fins too much. So for this batch of filler, I used some cornstarch in the mix. It has bulk but cuts the hardness of the Famowood, making it easier to sand.

I get 98% of grain filled in 2 coats.

As ever, YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

Thanks for the reply. I don't want to start a war either. You gave me a good basic idea of how you do it. Thanks again, I'm going to try Famowood, if I can find it locally, because I'm so disappointed in Emler's new wood filler.

tightwad said:

Thanks again, I'm going to try Famowood, if I can find it locally, because I'm so disappointed in Emler's new wood filler.

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I live in a small town and cannot find ANYTHING locally. Amazon is my friend...

Lawrence- If you think Macon is small-go south a little and drive thru Warner Robbins. The whole town celebrated when they opened a K mart!
(How small was the town? They had to widen the road to put in the white line)
(The entering and leaving sign were on the same post)
(they had to annex state property to put in a phone booth)
(they had to use a snare as the speed trap was too big)
(the post office still used pigeon feed)

fyrwrxz said:

Lawrence- If you think Macon is small-go south a little and drive thru Warner Robbins. The whole town celebrated when they opened a K mart!
(How small was the town? They had to widen the road to put in the white line)
(The entering and leaving sign were on the same post)
(they had to annex state property to put in a phone booth)
(they had to use a snare as the speed trap was too big)
(the post office still used pigeon feed)

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:lol:oint::lol:
Pigeon feed? How fowl! That explains the stains on the letters. :smile: