Painless Laces and Strings
By gordy
Laces, Strings and other threadings are tedious, laborious and frustrate-ious. After fumbling with stretched sprue, bumbling with...

Gordy

excellent article; one I think we've all needed and wondered about.

Question: does it need to be baked in the oven?

Rob

thanks,

no, but...
I presume that each type of putty behaves differently, I can speak of milliput (the putty i use and have the most experience with) when it cures "airdry" it feels more like very hard plastic and carves almost like soap, when baked it feels more like 'soft stone', however a little on the brittle side.

I understand what you mean. I remember your use of the oven on MUG. I've never used one myself, but have accelerated the drying process susing a hot lamp; the properties you describe are similar with magic sculpt.

I shall be trying this soon; actually some remedial work on my roman may be called for to give him laces on his boots.

cheers

Rob

on one of my "to do" lists is to conduct a shoot-out matrixing the properties of the major putties...

Now that sounds interesting.

Maybe do a poll on them to see which is the most popular in the figure sculpting community - push it out to the other forums (including the 'mini' brigade - 28mm)

Rob

good idea, any suggestion on putty types?

Putties that I have used:

1. Milliput (in various forms)
2. Apoxie (in various colors) (www.avesstudio.com)
3. Magic Sculpt
4. Gapoxio A&B
5. Kneadatite

Most of which can be found here:

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/supplie...rs/putties.html

The others listed on the above site I have never tried.

There are a couple of other ones I have used called Magic Smooth and Apoxie Clay. Magic Smooth has the consistency of vaseline and is good as a gap filler or creating texturing effects. Apoxie clay is like terra cotta to work with but dries hard without shrinking. It carves pretty well too. I have also mixed between types of putties. For example Kneadatite is great for making flags or draping cloth effects but does not sand well. However, if you mix a batch of Milliput or MS and add to it about a quarter of the blue Kneadatite hardner you will get a really flexible material that can be sanded. It also has a nice light blue color. Another nice property of Kneadatite is the ability to impress patterns into without the material relaxing. With A&B if you impress a line or pattern into after a few minutes the sharpness will start to sag. Not so with Kneadatite.

Kneadatite is very different than the other putties and when it dries is like vinyl. You can create the absolute smoothest surface with it if you roll it out on glass. The other neat thing about Kneadatite is the you do not have to have a 50-50 mixture of putty to hardener and can mix smaller amounts of the hardener to slow the hardening time to give you more workability but the stuff will dry completey in 24 hours neverthless. I have had problems with MS not being mixed correctly and the stuff never hardening.

I guess preference with any of this is a matter of trial and error AND consideration of what type of modeler you are: sculptor, carver or both.

Another consideration is shelf life. I have had a five pound can of Magic Sculpt for two years with no degradation but Milliput that went bad in less than a year. A&B also lasts pretty well.

Personally I dry all of my epoxie work in a crock pot at the highest setting with the lid off. This way I can get the material set in fifteen minutes so I can keep on working.

awesome, thanks, i'll use that as a starting point

Others:

Kneadatite brown
Kneadatite white
Andrea Sculpt
Chevant(?) - I'll post some links later of the most amazing sculpts from this stuff.
Also the Sculpey family, that seem to be creeping in more and more


Rob

I like Magic-Sculp for most applications. I've been using Duro for belts etc., because I can make them flat on a piece of glass, and then apply them later. I never throw away the scraps either. I either roll it out flat and use it for belts straps, or make it into snakes for buttons or somesuch other round gizmos. I used this lace method with Duro, and it worked great. I have a hard time getting these fine detail to adhere, so I've been putting on a coat of Future after it has set.

Hello John,

What do you mean by "Future". What type of product? The first thing that came to mind was Future Floor Wax

Guy, yes he is referring to Future floor wax. It is a favorite of tank modelers for creating a surface to apply decals.

John, I find that using the really thin superglue is great way to get Duro (or any putty) to hold in place. For example, if you trying to sculpt in place a minute dab of the thin superglue will hold the putty strong enough to allow you to work it without losing position.

I've done that too, and still do, but I find I can be a little more precise by using a brush and Future. The thin CA is stronger though.

Hi Gordy,

Again, very interesting. May I ask about the Milliput?

I also use this quite a bit (Xfine, white), and I was amazed to see that you add flour to yours...

Is this added as a stiffener? Does it dry faster? Or is it for added ease in handling?

Many thanks,

Robert

thanks,

the powder you see is actally baby powder (i presume flour can be used but it may be a bit heavier grain)

the baby powder (talc) helps keep the milliput from sticking to my work surface (glass) and the rolling tube, just like a baker would use when rolling dough

i do try to use it sparingly becuase when the rolled sheets are smoothed out with say some saliva/water and a brush it can cuase the talc to free loose from the putty and "bead" up a little bit...

I use this vaseline product that has lanolin in it (white cream as opposed to the yellow stuff). It works great for smoothing, rolling putty and eliminating the stickies. I got the tip from Gary Dombrowski. The nice thing about the lanolin vaseline is that it can also be mixed with water without beading. Maybe the lanolin acts like an emulsifier. When it dries it dries without any residue or bead up like the talc problem you mentioned. Plus my workbench is not covered in white powder that looks like I just snorted coke and sneezed.

lol! i'll have to try that... have you got a brand name?

Yes, it is called Vaseline Creamy:

aha!... creamy...