Great patch material!

[Darth Tedious]

I just posted this at RS as well.

Some of you might be using this stuff already, but I have just discovered it... or re-discovered it after aleady using it on wood and plastics for years around the house.

It's called Poly Instafil and is made by LePage.

It comes in small tubs. The image is just about actual size. You can spread it like peanut butter. It dries really quickly and turns to almost a plastic when it is dry.

It's pure white and takes acrylic and oil paints without any problems. Plus it doesn't shrink over time and fall out of holes.

 

GREAT STUFF!   

I just used it to fill the screw holes in m custom ARC fighter.

[CHEWIE]

Never heard of that stuff actually.  Thank you for the tip!

 

[jedistyle]

darth tedious - thanks for the suggestion, i have a couple questions.

1) does it stick to your fingers and other stuff you wouldn't want it sticking to?

2) will it stay on a flat surface, like a face? would you use it sculpt, like say facial hair? with sculpy i'am constantly stumped at how to keep the parts on the figure, they always fall of after they harden. i've thought about putting a layer of superglue on the surface before sculpy, but i'm not sure about that! will this stuff make that any easier a job?

thanks again!

[Darth Tedious]

Those are good questions jedistyle.

1. It does NOT stick to surfaces that you don't want it to. It isn't sticky, but more like a creamy sculpy.

If you let it air dry for a few seconds, it gets even more clay-like.

It will stick to your finger in the way that sculpy leaves residue, but rubbing your fingers together makes it come off right away.

2. I've never tried to use it on a surface. But I will now. 

[darth_ripley]

interesting suggestion...i will have to give some similar spackling compound i have here at home a try & see how it works.

[Darth Tedious]

I don't think it is quite the same as spackling compound.

This is from the instructions:

"Poly Instafil ® is a ready to use patching compoundthat will repair large holes in one application without shrinking cracking, as well as smoothing out surface imperfections. This filler is vry effective on drywall, plaster, wood, masonary and concrete. Poly Instafil ® has a very light texturewhich makes it easy to use on wall and ceiling damage where application and sanding might be difficult. Paintable and stainable. Not for busy or high traffic areas such as floors or hallway corners." 

It also doesn't "puff" out of the holes like plaster does in drywall during the drying process.

Here is a shot of my patch job. Pretty sloppy, I know, but if time were taken to patch properly, I think it would be seamless.

[darth_ripley]

i gotcha tedious, you're right regular spackling will shrink.

where did you get that stuff?

[Jesse James]

It sounds really similar to plasti-wood, which is a compound used to fill in cracks in boards and things.  I've been using it a lot around the house lately for some projects I've been doing but the way you describe this compound Tedious sounds a lot like plasti-wood.  It gets kinda brittle on your fingers and just crumbles off...  It sticks some but not a lot.  Dries hard and you can sand it down (obviously since it is for woodworking, haha) and it kinda spreads out like peanutbutter.  I use it just with my fingers by cramming it into the cracks in some 2x4's that aren't high quality but are some framing that I'm exposing...  So I want htem to be smooth and such.

Sounds very similar anyway...  May be worth checking out at Lowe's.  I've found a LOT of useful stuff at Lowe's actually.  GE Silicone II I've found is a good semi-fast molding compound if you're into doing casts.  Works well enough once you get used to it.  Very unique item.

[Darth Tedious]

i gotcha tedious, you're right regular spackling will shrink.

where did you get that stuff?

Home Depot.

It might be like Plastiwood. I've never used Plastiwood.

I also discovered that it doesn't need to be primed before painting.