Many Thanks for looking into this Gus! And thanks to the forum for the tip on this. I 've been an old Aerogloss user since the 60's, but I have an afterschool rocket club with 29 kids, and needed something a little less ....volatile. This Elmer's stuff is great! sorry I didn't learn about it sooner. I thin it out with water to about Eggnog consistancy (to keep the Holiday theme alive) and one coat does the job of three Aerogloss coats. I've used it on several of my models, and on the Quest Astras that the club has built.
Now what am I going to do with all that Aerogloss?

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Steve Coker
NAR#13865

for real stuff you can just simply mix saw dust (from the project your working on) and glue to make your own "filler" works every time.

Here's the new stuff... Product 891. I got this one at Big R in Indiana over Christmas...

Hope this helps! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

That is actually fairly OLD stuff. Note the 2004 copyright. That should work pretty well.

The new stuff was shown a few weeks ago in another thread, with the new blue and orange graphics. STAINABLE is still prominently printed, but it is much different.

As Gus said, the microspheres are noticeably larger, or harder, or both, and it also contains "Real Wood Fibers" that muck it up pretty badly. Takes a substantial amount of water to work with it, and the fibers tend to bunch up and it goes on very lumpy. Having to use a lot of water means you have to be very careful about warping. I wouldn't use this stuff on 1/16" stock. I've tried and come out with wavy fins that didn't sand out very smooth.

I'm toying with the idea of using their regular filler, and putting my own microspheres into it. (but there's a Hobby Lobby here with a lot of little 4oz. tubs of the good stuff. a bit more expensive, but if that's the only thing I can point people to, that'll do)

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Roy
nar12605

The regular stuff sands just as easily as our old microsphere F-n-F. It's not significantly heavier because almost all of it is sanded off. I've been using it for quite a while now. It still smells like the old F-n-F, so I think it's the same product minus the microspheres.

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I love sanding.

I used that before I was able to get my hands on FNF. I didn't see a big difference either. Either one works for what we are trying to accomplish. Like Roy pointed out, the main thing no matter what you use is to make sure you don't thin it out too much.

Oh, Ok... I've been looking for it for a good long while. The product number on the bottom is 891, so I figured it was the new stuff given the product numbers given by the OP. I figured that was it when I saw the reference to 'ceramic microspheres' on the label.

I've been using regular Elmer's sandable filler, but I only bought one of the tiny little tubs and it's about gone, so when I saw this stuff I ran with it.

Don't know much about the new packaging...

Yall have a good one! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Thanks for the groundwork Gus - I've been chasing a mythical product all weekend. I've always used Sanding Sealer for my find (and BNCs) - but was intrigued to try the new stuff - and was searching for Carpenters FINISHING Wood Filler - I swear I've read about a finishing version of that product somewhere on line here. Yet all I find is either the Carpeneter's Wood Filler (as shown in this thread) or the Stainable version of the product.

Which one are y'all using? The regular or stainable product? Is there such a thing as a "finishing" version (presumably finer and easier to polish).

I finally broke down and purchased the small tube of the white wood filler - figuring that would be the easiest to paint over. Haven't tried it yet.

Thanks!

Paul

Stainable, that's the one with the microspheres to make it easier to sand.

Paul,
+1 to what Gus said about using the "stainable" product, but I prefer this stuff not for general finishing but for filling large imperfections only.
As you know I still finish the old fashioned way with dope.
I tried using the Elmers stuff and wound up with more than one set of warped fins...that was enough for me as I had never had that issue with AeroGloss.


With AeroGloss products, I have found the smoothest finish is obtained with 2-3 coats of AeroGloss Balsa Fillercoat with sanding after the second and third coat, followed by 2 coats of AeroGloss sanding sealer with sanding after each coat. One can skip the use of balsa fillercoat and just use sanding sealer for a smooth wood finish, but it will not hide all the grain.

Although Pactra AeroGloss products are pretty much long-gone, one can still get the Fillercoat and Sanding Sealer from Sig and Brodak. Brodak also offers an impressive array of colors of good old-fashioned butyrate dope in 4oz and 16oz cans that rivals the assortment ever offered by Pactra. Brodak does not make their own dope, it is actually re-packaged full-scale aircraft Randoph dope.
I still use new-old-stock AeroGloss because I have an old-stock supply that rivals the supply that Rider's Hobby of Flint had in 1982 !
If one looks hard enough one can still find AeroGloss, especially on ebay.

Be aware that the Elmers wood filler products are absolutely NOT compatible with butyrate dope and several types of lacquer. Plastic Wood is a filler product that is compatible with dope and the consistency is about the same as Elmers, except one has to thin it with Acetone, Xylene, or Toluene.
If you use the Elmers, make sure you topcoat finish with enamel, epoxy, or urethane. NEVER dope !

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !