Putty Compounds for Model Making and Miniatures

I employ a variety of materials in making my miniature sculptures. For me the most reliable adhesives and fillers seem to be the two part epoxy types. Today I did a little checking around of what many artists and model makers seem to prefer. I came up with list and thought it might be useful to readers of this blog.

Aves Apoxie Sculpt - This one's the most common putty recommended by modelers for smooth figure

model work and such. Some say it hardens very hard such as to be difficult to sand once fully cured, though. It's a bit pricier than some of the other options, though.

UPDATE: Aves is the best sculpting two part putty I've used for capturing fine detail, but it's not the strongest. Thin or narrow parts can be a bit too fragile.

Magic Sculpt - Lately I've been using one called "Magic Sculpt by Wesco", which I bought economically on eBay in a small quantity. It's worked very well for me. When mixed well in equal parts, it solidifies very solidly in an hour or two and is reasonably sandable. It's also very strong. I've based my brass rods in it in making my orreries and it holds quite well.

Bondo - Award winning modeler Lou Dalmaso seems to prefer Bondo much of the time in his weekly modeling videos. From scanning the forums, I think most guys buy the small 4.5 oz tube of premixed called "Bondo 907 Glazing and Spot Putty". It's intended for auto body work and may not be great for use on some plastics. Some guys say they prime before using it. Some quotes found: "The best way to apply the Bondo is with toothpicks." "The best way to shape the Bondo is to use small pieces of 220 sandpaper. I find that working with small pieces about 1"x1"."

UPDATE: I've used this one part Bondo product several times now. It is a nice hard putty, but can be quite runny out of the tube. It also has a pretty strong odor, so I only use it in the garage.

Hardware store epoxy putty (like Rectorseal EP-200) - Lou Dalmaseo doesn't use these for filler as much as an adhesive in building resin models. He finds regular 2-part epoxy too runny for some use, so he uses this in it's place. For instance, he used this type of putty in attaching starship nacelles because it seems to hold the part pretty firmly in place. He does try to scrape off excess, then sand it later and uses other fillers for final smoothing. In my own use of this type of putty, I found it super hard and strong, but set too fast and was very hard to sand or work once hardened. Perhaps hardness varies by brand.

UPDATE: I've had a lot of shelf life problems with this product. You really need to use it fairly soon after opening or at least one part seems to turn hard before you know it.

 Squadron Green Putty - Single part putty in a small tube that many modelers like a lot. One guy said

it can be thinned and smoothed with Testor's liquid model glue.

Milliput - This is another 2-part putty some modelers prefer.

Sikkens Kombi Putty - One modeler called this "the best spot putty on the planet". He sometimes uses Evercoat body filler for large areas, then then skims the top with Sikkens. He says he buys the smallest size and you have to get it from an automotive paint jobber that sells Sikkens products. I found a product sold online called Pronto Kombi Spot Putty that may be the same thing, but we'll have to try it out sometime.


Tamiya putty - One modeler says this "buries" Bondo, though he uses both.

UPDATE:

Pratley Steel Putty - I needed as strong a putty as I could find for use on a model car axle and this filled the bill well. It's a two part putty that comes in a fairly small package, but it's the strongest putty I've used.

How to Display Your Miniature Orrery

I recently received a nice inquiry from someone who had received one of my miniature orrery pieces as a Christmas gift. She was wondering what would be the best way to display her "small treasure". It struck me that I had never been asked that question and it would be worthwhile to discuss it here in my blog.

When I began making miniature orreries (back in 2011!) I posted them in the "OOAK dollhouse miniatures" section of eBay, where adult dollhouse collectors would find unique 1/12 scale miniatures for decoration of their dollhouses and roombox displays (I currently sell them through Etsy most of them time, BTW). I

believe most of my purchasers to date have been dollhouse enthusiasts, but I have heard from others who simply display them as interesting art pieces in their own right.

I'll admit when making them I usually envision it sitting on a tiny table or desk in a woody Victorian dollhouse library, perhaps amidst delicate lamps and tomes about steamships or Sherlock Holmes.

One reseller on Etsy placed one of my pieces inside jar-shaped rotating music box that perfectly fit the piece. I've actually considered selling some of them inside a glass "snowglobe" without the water, of course. You can purchase empty snowglobes (or "waterglobes") at this website, National Artcraft, if you wish. I've not tried this yet, but I think the one with a 3 inch interior diameter (#B) or the next one larger would be the right size for most of my pieces. It might require a bit of crafting to make one look good that way, though. I think the bases for those might be discarded, too.

Another option would be to place it in one of those glass display bells available at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. You can also buy them on Amazon. Those come in a couple of sizes. You usually need to buy the glass and the wooden base separately, but they look nice. One of those might be a bit short for your piece, though.

craft stores like

If you look around a store like Hobby Lobby, though, you can often find lovely glass boxes with soldered metal frames in various sizes. I think one of those would work very well with a piece like yours. Be sure to take a short ruler or measuring tape to the store after measuring your orrery piece.

In the next weeks I will try to post some pictures of interesting ways to display my pieces. If you have one I would love to see a picture of your way of displaying it-- or you could just use the comment section below to let me know how you show of our orrery piece.

Wade

Wade Watson Miniature Orrery N27

 

This is a new piece I just completed and posted yesterday. The base has some features I have not done with many of my pieces. The brass is a cut section of a larger found finial. It was necessary to keep the top of the wooden base flat, so I did a concave shape around the bottom to give it more visual balance. The trickiest part of this piece were the gears between the base area and the planet supports. Because of the narrow space there I could only use the smallest watch gears I could find. Securing the gears there was a longer story than I'll relate here, but I'll say it required a few tries and retries before I got it the way I wanted.

New Miniature Orrery Piece With a Low Profile

It's been awhile since I posted a new miniature orrery piece in my Etsy Store, but I think this one will be well received. I've done a couple of them similar to this and people seem to like the low profile base of this type. This one incorporates the last brass piece I have of this shape, so I probably won't be making any more like it.

I'm also finishing up three other new miniature orreries, but they will look fairly different from this one. With two of them I'm incorporating tiny gear assemblies that are quite challenging to finish. I hope to have them posted sometime next week. Do remember to check in at my store from time to time. I soon will also begin posting some altogether different (and, I think, very interesting) sculptural pieces that are not astronomical miniatures.

Super Moon in My Room

My favorite Giz Wiz, Dick DeBartolo recently did an interesting video demonstrating an astronomical gadget I’ve never heard of called “Super Moon in My Room” by Uncle Milton. It’s basically a twelve inch plastic wallhanging relief of the moon. However, as is often the case with gadgets these days, it contains some high tech electronics. It lights up to simulate the various phases of the moon. A clock/calendar circuit enables these to be coordinated with the real moon outside. In addition to just being a fun gadget, I think this would be a great gift for someone bedridden who is unable to go out and see the real moon.
The Uncle Milton company seems to specialize in astronomical devices and also makes a ceiling-hangable orrery for kids to learn about the planets. I always love running across a new orrery.

My Favorite Orreries of 2015

In mid-year 2015 I started making new miniature orrery pieces again after taking a two year break. I opened an Etsy store that I have tried to stock with a several pieces at once, but thanks to you fine folks who have been buying them the inventory has remained very low most of the time. I'm always looking for ways to

vary or improve my pieces. The most noticeable change I've made with the 2015 Etsy series is the way I've done the sun. In the past I had sculpted the sun from gold polymer clay, then pressed a fine powdered gold coating. I decided to give these newer pieces a more realistic look by using real gold ball for the sun. I acquired a quantity of 8mm gold ball earrings, which are just the right size and look exactly like miniature versions of vintage metal "sun" balls used in orreries. Another thing I've done to give them a more metallic feel is to incorporate tiny brass washers to serve as the planet Saturn's "rings"-- not an easy task, by the way. The designs shown here have already been sold, but show the type of work I'm currently doing. Creating miniature orreries is a very intuitive process for me, though, so I cannot say exactly where I'll go with them in the future.

New Orrery of the Week

This piece is a very realistic style of orrery created with the dollhouse miniaturist in mind. After finding a main brass base piece I liked, I drilled a hole for the main shaft. I then shined the brass a bit on the lathe and gave it a nice coat of wax. Next I turned a piece of hardwood for the lower base, which fit perfectly. I then made a small black transition cap for the top of the brass ornament, since an unwanted protrusion had been cut from it.
I normally bend a number of complete sets of brass rod planet supports and prep them at once. These also require creation and tweaking of the central loops. Having made many orreries before, I now sculpt, bake and drill planets one type at a time from Sculpy Premo polymer clay. However I wait until I’ve mounted them on the particular piece’s arm rods before adding wispy clouds to several of the planets. This is done by drybrushing with artist’s acrylics and a small brush. The sun is actually a 6 mm gold plated earring. For the central shaft I use a brass tube and the earring post is epoxied into the top hole. The bottom of the brass tube is secured to the wood base both mechanically and with epoxy.