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Stupid Milliput question

Discussion in 'Sculpting' started by Jehan17, Dec 18, 2009.

  1. Jehan17 Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Hi Guys,

    Ok this is a stupid newbie question and it's probably been covered before.

    Is there any way of preventing the sort of yellowing Oxydation/Hardening that forms of one of the two part epoxy putties such as Milliput or Magic sculpt?

    Should it be trimed off before use or it has no effect unless it gets rock hard?

    Thanks:confused:
  2. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Keeping it sealed in its bag will reduce it to a lesser extent. When you roll into a sausage prior to mixing, you should feel if there are any nasty lumpy bits then. If you detect any, then this is your chance to bin them. It only seems to form on the dark one, don't you think?
    Carl.
  3. gordy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    The yellow "crust" can still be used for rigging and inner bits ;)

    Strangley, I never seal up my milliput, I leave it out and it gets softer with age, must be the humidity!
  4. Mark Yungblut Member

    Country:
    United-States
    I hope I don't offend anyone here by saying this, as I used to use Milliput back in the day. But, there is no reason to use milliput these days when there are third and fourth generation epoxy putties available that have been specifically formulated for sculptin and modelling and that are (IMHO) easier to use and are more stable.

    Aves, Magic-Sculpt, A&B epoxy putty are all good putties with a very good shelf life and greater mixing tolerances. I have several pounds of AVES and A&B that are three yeas od and still as good as when I got them. The trick is to keep only a small amount out to work with and freeze the rest in a ziplock bag.

    Recently i have been using a new putty that I am finding to be pretty darn good. ProCreate putty ( http://www.kraftmark.biz/kraft.procreate.html ). Is pretty amazing stuff. it hardens even if you only put a little hardener in it and you can end up rolling out a thin sheet that you can practically read through, shape it (as in a banner) and when cured it will hold the shape yet give and flex enough not to break. The more hardenr you use the harder the putty gets. If you use Duro Green I HIGHLY recommend trying this out.

    If you do use Milliput I highly suggest you use the Freeze the bulk method mentioned above. also if you happen to have one of those food savers, cut the milliput up into smaller proportions and vaccuum pack the rest before freezing.

    Cheers,

    Mark
  5. Anders Heintz Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Mark,

    Do you 'speed cure' your sculpts? What I mean do you use some sort of heat source to speed up curing? If so, have you had any problems with ProCreate bubbeling up? I liked the putty allright, but everything that was speed cured bubbled up, and is useless when intended as a master for metal figures.
  6. Jehan17 Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Thanks guys for the solutions. Here's what I was refering to, in this case Magic Sculpt hardener:

    So if I get this right, Sealing the putty in a Ziploc type bag and freezing it should extend the usable lifespan.

    There is no adverse effects to using the yellowed section unless it gotten hard. Is this correct?

    Cheers,

    Attached Files:

  7. gordy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    EW!

    Jean,

    The only way to find out is to try!

    It looks to me like it needs to be stirred (kinda like peanut butter when it separates)

    Let us know the outcome,
    gordy
  8. roadking Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    My experience is that the yellow bit is fine but when it gets REAL brown it can effect the ability of the putty to properly cure hard. Exposure to air is the culprit, so sealing as mentioned previously is key to the life of the product. For many years I used epoxy putty purchased at Appliance Parts stores that really was the same as the A+B putty boxed in sleeves. This amount was perfect for most modelers needs and limited the area exposed to the air over time. The big tubs like you show in your picture above expose more surface.
  9. Jehan17 Member

    Country:
    Canada
    I have to say that the lid for the container had cracked so maybe that explains the state the stuff is in. Have others experienced the same???

    I think it'would be kind of hard to stir the stuff, so I'll try to get rid of the harder bits and keep the putty in a sealed container. Not to sure about plastic bags since the tend to bread over time.
  10. Anders Heintz Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Jean,

    Microwave the container for 15-20 sec, let it sit a bit then take out all the putty in the container and knead it together into one big smooth ball. That will help it out, and you can pick out the really crusted pieces when you are rolling it.

    What it does is heat up the putty so it becomes softer, this in turn will help you roll it and thouroughly mix it. It's not going to be good as new, but atleast it will be useable.
  11. Mark Yungblut Member

    Country:
    United-States
    I have not run into any issue warming the piece in an electric oven set to warm (approx. 150 F). You might contact he company and see what they say.
  12. TWOMOONS Active Member

    Country:
    United-States

    This is amazing...I was going to post this same thing today, after trying Milliput redux today, because my luck with A+B epoxy has been nothing short of throwing money down the toilet. The B part is so crusted and useless, it's done and I always have about a half of the A part left and NO B LEFT!
    Now, I'm talking this is with 10-12 boxes of this stuff, on three different orders...(how yours stays good for years is totally beyond me).
    So, I tried Milliput today....and I fully remembered, after 5 minutes, why I gave up using it so many years ago....absolutely terrible stuff, IMO. Hope Milliput supporters are not offended also, but the A+B stuff, even with the crummy B part, is miles ahead of Milliput. Even though frustrating as hell.
    As far as shelf life, I'm talking about opening a brand new A+B, and having the crust well on it's way down the whole B bar...just infuriating; I find the shelf life is terrible...in fact, I have complained to the supplier I use, and they have sent me just B bars to make up for the loss on the crusted ones! All crusted , too.
    So, I guess it's on to something else...but really a bummer lately with the A+B...and just forget the Milliput...I wasted $12.00 today.
    I'll use this "super fine" for groundwork...rocks and ground cover I guess.
  13. TWOMOONS Active Member

    Country:
    United-States

    This looks positively dangerous. Is this the thing Jack Nicholson fell in and became the Joker?
  14. gordy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Maybe I'm doing it differently -

    I open the milliput, and sometimes a bar might be skinned over, but the first thing I do is ditch the bags they come packed with, cut the box open length-wise and put them back in the box with no bag.. the older they sit in the open box, with no bag, the softer it gets, weird... like I said earlier, maybe the humidity.

    They stuff that is skinned over, I peel away and set it aside for interior stuff, like armatures and rigging..

    What I like about milliput:
    It has different qualities at it's various stages
    1-5 minutes it's like a paste or spackle
    5-20 mintues it's waxy non-sticky like
    20-60 minutes it's still pliable and resiliant
    60-120 minutes it's choppable and diceable and still maintains its' form


    • It is 100% opaque so I can see very fine details
    • When cured it carves like very hard chalk
    • Scrapes well without flaking or chipping
    • When carving the burs don't chip
    • It's has a very high breaking strength (a rolled bit thin as a needle will be very strong where as other putties can't hold a candle to it)
    I have tried other putties but keep going back for those reasons, ya it is old as dirt but I like it ;)

    I just hope the milliput folks don't dick it up like Humbrol did with their paints!

    And no, i'm not offended by yall who don't like milliput :)
  15. jim1215 Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    like gordy said i like milliput for the time you have to work with , and its strong as thin as a needle .i recently tried plumbers putty like atlas plumbers epoxy , very strong but you only have 10 minutes to set your ground work but cures faster and harder then milliput . but i am always unsure of my groundwork designs so i need more time and thats where milliput is better tan most , jimmy
  16. Ray Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Phil,
    Like you I've never had any luck with Miliput and don't use it. I started with A+B putty, though the first packet I had of it was from Virlinden, it was the same stuff though, just repackaged. I've also had the B part dry out and brown, in my case after months sometimes years on the shelf, but have also found that the good stuff can be dug out and seperated from the junk. The only time I've ever had the stuff bad from the start was when buying it from a local retailer where it likely sat on their shelf for years before selling. Now I get the stuff from Calrepco and always get a good fresh batch when I do, their link is; http://calrepcoinc.com/

    Ray
  17. Vermis Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    I had yellow rind develop on apoxie sculpt and two types of milliput, but I haven't noticed any adverse effects besides making the stuff a touch harder to mix, and very subtly tinting milliput superfine white.

    Thing is, I've only dealt with a little yellow rind. I've had tubs of apoxie sculpt sitting around for years, and the rind is nowhere near as brown as that photo of magic sculp. :eek:

    Also, I've long agreed with this:

    I still have try all the different types of milliput, just to say I have; but at the moment the only one I'd occasionally use is superfine white, when it absolutely, positively has to be strong and smooth. The smell, the sticky mess, the watery slip mess, the stiffness of yellow-grey and the hazard warning all put me off. SF-W does have a nice consistency when it starts to cure, and I can't argue with the price range, but for me the cons outweigh the pros.

    'Course, I'm not stopping people using it if they like it and get the best results with it. ;) But I'd recommend the other options first.
  18. TWOMOONS Active Member

    Country:
    United-States

    Yes, I buy from Calrepco too, Ray...that is where my orders are coming from...and for years, actually.
    I just always seem to get a B bar that's in some degree of "crustation"...and it makes me crabby (pun intended).
    I dig out the inner core of usable B part too...but inevitably, I am left with so much more A than B...the main guy sent me an extra B, but I don't really think they like it too much. Not so good for profits, but I'm just getting tired of the whole waste thing.
    Since Gordy supports Milliput so much, I am going back to it somewhat (at least another few tries) and see what happens with a little more patience. Maybe that's my problem.
    Considering Gordy's sizeable list of positives, there must be something about it that I'm missing so far.
  19. Jehan17 Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Thanks guys I see that I've hit a sensible spot here and maybe my question has not so stupid.:)

    I alway find that every tool has it's best uses and the same goes for putties.
    I use the Milliput Yellow-Grey for the simple reason that it's cheap at $10.00and so perfect for groundwork. The Magic-Sculpt I realy like for finer work but for me it's harder to find here in Ottawa and about twice the price. The one reason I have not tried the Superfine White Milliput is that I still have the MS.

    But the way on a French tutorial I've seen grey pastel pwder added to MS in order to negate that translucent effect so I'll have to give it a try.

    I want to repeat that the probable reason for that MS hardener going so yellow must be due to the fact that there was a crack in the container's lid. I just never had a way to compare to see if that was normal.

    So last night I removed my putties from their bags and placed them in Ziploc bags in the freezer. We'll see what happens:D
  20. tomapaul Active Member

    Country:
    Romania
    I like milliput for the exact same reasons as Gordy.I couldn't explain myself better.
    Sometimes I use it for the 1-5 min properties, other times I skip to the over 60min.
    It's very cheap(I get it for 2.66£-standard) and it comes in my mail in 4-5 days from the online shop in UK.
    I used a couple and never had problems with crummy parts.I store it in the fridge in the original packaging.It carves marvelous and the needle files love it too.When mixed with fimo it changes properties and gives me an extra hour of work.Really nice stuff.
    I also like greenstuff.

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