Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've used a LOT of putty in the last 50 years. Believe it or not, the Testors grey putty has been my go-to for most of them, because it's cheap, it's easy to work, and it's ubiquitous. I have switched to Perfect Plastic Putty for a couple reasons, so let me outline them below. First off, I am going to assume I'm addressing the novice-to-intermediate crowd here. The reason is, "experts" have their own reasons for using their chosen products--and that's totally fine, no complaints here. "Beginners" can't really tell the difference between putties, so my review won't help much. It's the crowd that know why to use putty, how to shape it, how to actually USE it, that I address this review. This putty does not have an oil base. This is important, because the putty will NOT leak a little oil out every time you use it (think of mustard that has been sitting: you squirt some out and at first it's vinegar). This is a complication, because, if you are not careful (or if you use it like once a year), you will get a clog in the tube that will require extraction (or throwing away the tube and starting over). The solutions for that are: take a Q-tip and pluck off all (well, most) of the cotton from one end and drive the bare stem through the blue screw-on tip after EVERY use. Then, use the barren Q-Tip and scrape out the excess putty from around the threads of the blue tip. You would have lost this putty anyway if you allowed it to cure in there, so just get in the habit of doing that from the get-go and you'll be happier. The other solution is to unscrew the blue tip and leave it in a small bowl of water until the next time you use it, then dry it out with a Q-Tip and you're ready to go. Lesson: Putty is a consumable. You're going to waste a certain percentage of it even if you were en expert, because you sand away what you don't use. Don't be afraid to sacrifice some of your putty (in the tip) in exchange for a peaceful time doing the part of modeling that you enjoy. You will spend less time doing the ritual of tip preparation than you will trying to unclog the tip when you just want to create. Trust me: the small amount of putty you lose will pay dividends when you go to use the putty and everything flows freely and you can use it the way they intended. I have used this putty with Luer-lok syringes and found minimal improvement over the little blue tip that comes with the tube of Perfect Putty. In fact, I'd say the frustration of using a 3rd-party syringe is not worth the "accuracy" of delivery--especially when you need to make several passes with Perfect Putty to fill a deeper gap. Medical syringes have smaller passages, and Perfect Putty does not flow very well through them without a lot of trembling effort. Speaking of which, you might want to consider multiple passes. 3 thin passes with this putty will dry faster than one big bead of goop. Every time. Moving on: the putty dries white. The picture I've attached is of a pass of putty (pre-shaping, of course) to show how it looks on a larger Reaper miniature. Yeah, the Reaper Bones series are white, but they...don't exactly match. My solution is to use a flat white primer after final shaping and "blend" the wider area over the fill site. What you'll end up with is no clear distinction of top-color, and no sign that the filler was ever used. I say this, because most primer is gray or gray-ish. Even if you use a clear-matte primer, I would recommend that over painting directly over areas that have this putty adjacent to bare resin parts. I do have a minor complaint, but it is MINOR and it is VERY specific, so it might not apply to most people. If you are using this putty on a resin miniature of a relatively-larger scale (like my Reaper dragon), you need to take care not to have excess glue (super-glue) in the joints you want to fill. If you do, and some of the glue runs out (you squished it out), then wherever this putty contacts that dried glue, it will flake off on a dare and leave you a gap. The solution, I've found, is to make sure to check all the joints where you've used glue and make sure that if you want to putty them "closed," you first score the superglue with an X-Acto so the finish is not shimmering. Just make some scrapes on it so the putty has traction. This is also true with the Testors putty, so it's not a flaw of Perfect Putty, it's pre-work for ANY putty: just make sure the joint you're trying to seal has enough purchase for the putty to stick. Otherwise, the putty will Flake Right Off the parts where there's dried glue. Also, I want to address the 1-star reviews for this product: don't listen to them. Such reviews are frustration born of ineptitude and inexperience. Their review should have been of this PRODUCT, not their experience using the product. Keep that in mind. They couldn't make it work--that doesn't mean the product is flawed, it means they are incapable of using it the way the manufacturer intended. Finally, I was *NOT* compensated for this review, nor am I an employee of theirs (or Reaper). I will buy this putty again, and if I ever find something better for pewter-based products, I'll probably say so. THIS product: Perfect Plastic Putty, is exceptionally good (when properly used) for resin miniatures from Reaper and other manufacturers, plastic model kits from Tamiya and Monogram, Gundam models and probably anything where small/short plastic seams need to be sealed for aesthetic purposes. Just remember: this is a tool in your toolbox, it is not the reason your project is perfect. YOU are the reason your project is perfect.