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Willy, Barker and Neil_E....wait for it, AAAAANNNNNNNGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! wrong.
The real reason we use filler or putty is to provide a better surface to apply a coat of paint to. Your trying to create a continous plain from the union of two dissimilar parts of a union. I have known Tank modelers to use as many as four different colors (grits) of filler to correct mold imperfections in just one turret. Now, we're talking AMS.
When you spend one to three years on a single model for a contest you can bet more than half of that time your trying to show them what you did with a photo album that will be apart of your presentation. Putty or filler becomes crucial to a continous surface.
Next, is it healthy to pour so much of your life into a build? It depends if you allow yourself to have a life away from your modeling bench. Have you ever had a build that no matter what you did, it did not go as you envisioned? Planning ahead, and giving yourself plenty of time to accomplish what you want to do is the way to get the most enjoyment out of your build. Keeping it from being squashed, smashed or free from the barbeque smeared pudgy little fingerprints of IPMS judges can be the on going concern.
The following story is true: A great modeler that I have the privilege of knowing admitted this to his whole IPMS club. (They say confession is good for the soul.)
Our hero relates that he was returning to his hobby room in his basement with 'his latest build', a Japanese Bomber (NonWWI) that he had just shown at an IPMS meeting. He tripped going down the stairs. The plane did a gentle arc, impacted and cartwheeled halfway across the room. Miraculously and largely due to the carpeting the only imediately visible damage was to some gun barrels and radio areals.
Our hero sat it disbelief at his desk, one year of work damaged. Then the worst of it... On closer inspection he found the cockpit and nose decking had collapsed inside the model. The only way to salvage the model was to...wait for it... split the fuselage down the center seam as he described, '...like I was gutting a fish.' and to rebuild. He did a wonderous job and no one could have believed him until, he produced photos of the rebuild.
In modeling mental health is just as important as physical. In The Laws of Modeling 101 remember that specifically the 'Law of Finite Differences' in modeling says that, 'In most people's minds, the line between being different and being weird is thin and easily crossed.'
Pop quiz: If using an optivisor magnify's the flaws while you build, why use one?
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