b8factor wrote: 1. MagicSculpt. So far on a test piece I can tell this still, although very cool, is going to be heavy! I am not very experienced with sculpting but I am having problems getting a smooth surface because the material is sticky and the viscosity is a bit thick.
Good lord, man, how thick are you laying it on???
If you roll it out between two sheets of plastic dusted with baking powder, you can get it really thin, down under 1mm. Drape it over the basic shape, including the larger craters and work it into the surface to get a good bond. To work it in (and smooth it) wet your fingers. The epoxy putty smooths out wonderfully and you can easily blend one sheet into another. Once the surface has a thin coating, you can add more material locally and sculpt it to create the fine detail you are looking for. Don't ignore the possibility of pressing small rocks & pebbles into the putty to produce detail. You can also stipple the uncured surface with a stiff brush to produce a fine texture, like the small pockmarks of the smaller craters.
Notwithstanding the size of your base, I can't see adding much more than a couple pounds of putty if you roll it thin enough and given the generally soft contours of actual asteroids.
While cheap, the grout/polymer mixes are inherantly dense and difficult to put on in thin enough layers. Doing it in patches all around an asteroid shape would be interesting.2. PolyFilla cellulose filler. As seen by this post : http://www.therpf.com/f11/crackers-1-14 ... ndex2.html
I may also try the grout + acrylic polymer mixture.
see above.Question I have for the audience:
1. Anybody worked with the items above and can tell me based on what I have stated as my desired end product which you would recommend and why?
2. If I want to install a small styrene base with lights should I coat the exterior first and then cut/machine out the inside or just cut this puppy in half do all the work I need and then glue it back together and sand the seems before coating?
#2, and if you cut it cleanly and glue it back together with minimal glue squeeze out, you probably don't need to "fill" it at all. The overcoat material will fill any seams you might have created.
3. Anyone worked with lights know if power source and lights are nested int he foam will I be creating a fire hazard?
If you are using incandescents of any real size (3-5 watts) then you run the risk of overheating & melting the foam. It's unlikely to burn, but it sure may melt & distort. If you are using LEDs, then you're pretty safe. Make sure anything that may dissipate any real amount of power, like a circuit board perhaps or a transformer, is not located inside the asteroid. Remember, any heat you put into this thing is likely going to stay in ther because it is made of insulation.
4. When trying to create craters and sand I find even the 220 grit sponge tends to rip out foam balls and create line edges. Any technique that would work better to produce smooth round craters in the foam?
If you use an open cell foam and not the closed cell type (the one with the little foam nodules) you won't have this problem. There's little that can be done to prevent the closed cell type from pulling out the little nodules. Of course, if you are adding a layer on top, it may not be too serious if some of the nodules pull out, as long as the basic shape is achieved. The details are all added in the top coat.
Paul
