Ha ha... "VGM-dude". Ive never been called that before. I like it!
Thanks for your kind words. To answer your questions, all I used was Pla-plate... No putty. The same goes for the joints. They are different thicknesses of pla-plate. I built it piece by piece until I had the final shape with detail then sanded it down. No wait.. sorry been a long time since I did this. I did use putty to fill in any small gaps on the kit as well as used putty to reinforce the seal on the joints and for molding purposes. All the "tube" looking details are pieces from the trees the parts come on. Reuse and recycle! haha!
For the shield, I put down thick plastic holder pieces then placed pla-plate over them, and puttied any holes.
Hope this answers your questions.