Interesting fact I just learned. I was worried that adding features molded in Sculpey to a polystyrene kit would be problematic since baking the Sculpey would also melt the plastic. Not so. You can actually add your detail and boil the thing in water, which will harden the sculpey. Since the boiling point of water is 100°C, well below the melting point of polystyrene (about 185°C), your polystyrene kit should not be damaged.
I've never done this, but I've been told it works.
Adding features with Sculpey
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Less Than Super Ostrich
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- Location: Chicago, IL
Adding features with Sculpey
On the sixth day, God created man... primarily out of Aves Apoxie Sculpt and other greeblies found around his hobby room.
Hmmm... I think the problem with that is that unless the Sculpy is very thin, you would have to heat the thing for long enough to get the whole Sculpy blob hot enough long enough.
Unlike things like water, styrene doesn't have a sudden state change: solid to liquid at a certain temperature. Being plastic, it will soften and deform well below that temp. This is why some kits stored in attics where it can get hot (but still below boiling!) will warp to uselessness.
I had a Wirbelwind turret that I accidently left in my car once. A few hours in the sun later, I had a wonky, wobbly thing that was completely unusable. I had tested my car once during the very hottest part of the hottest summer, and the air temp of the car was 165° F. So your plastic could well deform when immersed in boiling water.
Try it out on a similarly sized piece of plastic with practice bit of Sculpy before trying the real one. Maybe for a thick piece of plastic with no sharp corners, and a very thin bit of Sculpy, but extensive work I think would be problematic.
Kev
(And ennyhoo - why not use Aves?)
Unlike things like water, styrene doesn't have a sudden state change: solid to liquid at a certain temperature. Being plastic, it will soften and deform well below that temp. This is why some kits stored in attics where it can get hot (but still below boiling!) will warp to uselessness.
I had a Wirbelwind turret that I accidently left in my car once. A few hours in the sun later, I had a wonky, wobbly thing that was completely unusable. I had tested my car once during the very hottest part of the hottest summer, and the air temp of the car was 165° F. So your plastic could well deform when immersed in boiling water.
Try it out on a similarly sized piece of plastic with practice bit of Sculpy before trying the real one. Maybe for a thick piece of plastic with no sharp corners, and a very thin bit of Sculpy, but extensive work I think would be problematic.
Kev
(And ennyhoo - why not use Aves?)
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en'til Zog
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- Location: The Wilds of Northwoods Wisconsin
Unbaked Sculpy will attack plastic like liquid styrene cement, with much the same results. Boiling will warp the styrene parts in the time it will take to cure the sculpy. What you wanna do is make the part removable from the plastic, bake it, then glue it back on. A little SmoothOn universal releaser, Pam, vegetable oil, whatever, will allow you put a barrier between the plastic and the Sculpy while you sculpt. Once you got what ya want, carefully pll it off and bake, then glue it on with CA.
If you don't wanna put the sculpy in the oven, use a heat gun. Wave it over the piece until it sets up. You can tell it's set up because it loses it's luster and turns dull. The heat gun doesn't work well with thick parts, but for thin stuff it's the bomb diddly daddy o.
Erin
<*>
If you don't wanna put the sculpy in the oven, use a heat gun. Wave it over the piece until it sets up. You can tell it's set up because it loses it's luster and turns dull. The heat gun doesn't work well with thick parts, but for thin stuff it's the bomb diddly daddy o.
Erin
<*>
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kallen-bortas
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There is a "air dry" type of clay that litterally dries by air. I used to to construct Klingon ridges on a plastic skull to make the "Skull of Molar" Once I constructed them, I let it dry for about a day, then used Goop to attach it to the plastic skull. Primered and painted it.
I'll check and see what brand it was, but I got it at Michael's. It does say "air dry". It does, so don't leave your bag of it open, or you'll have a brick.
I'll check and see what brand it was, but I got it at Michael's. It does say "air dry". It does, so don't leave your bag of it open, or you'll have a brick.
Assuming you mean Super Sculpey, according to the manufacturer's website it's 275°F for 15 minutes per quarter-inch of thickness. Look under "Curing".
http://www.sculpey.com/Products/product ... rsculp.htm
http://www.sculpey.com/Products/product ... rsculp.htm
The older I get, the better it was.