I'm doing some passenger car bashing and, never having done this before, I'm wondering how to go about filling in the openings where unwanted windows were. I've considered gluing in the clear plastic and using putty of some sort to fill the cracks and perhaps over the plastic if needed. On the other hand, I've considered gluing in a plastic piece behind the windows, and filling the whole with putty. Or something in between. Then I wonder how well the clear plastic (lexan or whatever it is) will take paint. I'd sure be interested in some comments from those experienced with this.
In the 1 to 1 end of things the railroads often converted a car from one configuration to another by the simple process of welding a piece of steel across a doorway or window opening and then everything got filled in from the inside. This was seen most often on the older heavyweights and can be seen represented on some heavyweight N scale models. I have done some conversions both by filling in the space with the roof/glass insert in place as backing then cutting some thin styrene to fill in and finishing with putty and sanding, or by placing a very thin backing like .010 X .040 styrene strip and then filling with layers of putty and again sanding. With this process the window insert needs to be sanded a little thinner in the area where the backing is to allow the glass to slide in without distorting the car sides. And the most difficult process I have used is taking several cars and removing the sides then cutting and re-arranging. The last can be a P.I.A. because now I had a bunch of seams to get carefully fitted and filled where needed. Newer cars with flush glass inserts can be a little easier and the clear plastic that is used will take a solvent based paint easily. You may want to take a better route by checking if the couple of manufactures of car sides, both brass and plastic, make a side for the car you want. Then it is either remove the old sides from the donor car and replace or if one of the lightweights use the American Limited core kit. Also styrene strips can be used to reduce the window dimensions by gluing to sides and tops so that the original window glass insert can still be used.
Recently read of the use of tape (clear or invisible) over the inside of the opening and 2-part epoxy being used to fill the hole. Haven't tried it yet but it would likely work better than the styrene I have tried to use, only to have it bow in when the car was held at that point.
I like to apply the tape on the outside surface and apply the epoxy from the inside of the shell. When you remove the tape you have a nice flat surface. Sometimes you get air bubbles in the epoxy and will still need to use a little putty to fill the holes.
+1 on this method,but use Scotch tape,and JB Weld.The JB is a heavy,fine grained filler,it will harden virtually bubble free if you're careful,and it sands like plastic.No such luck with Epoxy..The Scotch tape has a really fine grain to the glue,so you get a nice finish..You actually need to be careful to not even get a fingerprint in the glue,it will show up!!! Make sure you rough up the edge of the window frame a little so the JB sticks.Try to avoid having a step on the frame,too,the JB may not go under it between the tape,screwing up the job.You also want to put the tape on something dead flat,so the fill comes out flat.If you do it careful,there's only minimal sanding,just to kind of blend it in..
As you can see from my post earlier I have been using the old 1960s-70s technology of filling and sanding in layers using the old modelers putty and thin styrene. The JB Weld sounds like the way to go and has to be a lot less fuss and time. I wonder about using this product when trying to splice car sides. No matter how much you try to get the respective ends trued up there is almost always a little gap that needs filling and it sounds like this might be the way to go to join the sides and fill any small gaps also.
John,JB is a great filler.It has almost the same consistency as plastic,has virtually no shrinkage.sands very similarly,and it just loves to flatten out.If you pour it into a window from behind,the inside will be almost as smooth as the outside.If I'm casting a shell for myself,I often use JB mixed with iron or lead powder,it casts beautifully,and is much heavier than casting resin.
Great responses guys and thanks for all of your help. I think that JB Weld will be at the head of my efforts. I've got some, but I'm not sure why. Now I know. Thanks again!
