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Normally I don't go into great detail about the products I use. When someone asks what kind of paint I'll just tell them Testors Acrylic, give them my painting guide link, and call it good. But sometimes a product is so good and so useful; it requires a full explanation, and thus this thread. To make one thing clear, I do not own, work for, or have stock in the Aves Studios who makes apoxie sculpt. They're a family-run taxidermy business in Wisconsin and make their products on-site. Yes, I said taxidermy, and that’s how Apoxie Sculpt got its start, being used to make teeth, features, etc. From there it branched off into movie and sculptor work.

Ok… so what –exactly- is this ‘Apoxie Sculpt’ stuff I’m always saying I use? Well it’s a two-part sculpting compound that you can create just about anything with. It’s way stronger than milliput and super sculpy, washes off your hands with water, dries rock hard in about three hours, is completely non-toxic, can be drilled, sanded, carved, painted, comes in all the major colors, can be tinted and mixed, and adheres strongly to any surface.

Sounds too good to be true right, like some miracle sculpting stuff? I thought that too and ordered a small bit to test it out. Everything it claims to do, it does. I really didn’t know what I had on my hands (literally, hah!) until I practiced with it more. To start off, you mix part A and B together. Now if you’re just filling gaps and need soft putty, use it right away. Otherwise let it sit about 30 minutes or so and set up some so it’ll be more like clay when you start to sculpt. You can work with it all the way up until it cures hard, tinkering with the details and such until the final stage. You dampen your tools/fingers with water like you would when working with milliput and it keeps the apoxie sculpt from sticking to them. That’s convenient as Apoxie Sculpt sticks to whatever you need it to, becoming a permanent part of the object. That’s something oven-bake-clays like Fimo and sculpy can’t do.

I like to use Apoxie sculpt for making alterations on faces, sculpting heads, sculpting clothing or armor, making muscles, adding panels to vehicles, etc. This is the stuff professionals in the industry like Dynamic Forces, WETA, and even toy sculptors use to make master sculpts. And when you’re done, it just washes up. I handle Apoxie sculpt with my bare hands and even lick my fingers to smooth down sections as I sculpt, it’s that easy to work with. Aves has different types, or as I like to say ‘grades’ of sculpting compounds.

There’s Apoxie Clay that’s not as strong as Apoxie sculpt, but more clay-like where you can use it right away and carve really fine detail, like for miniature work. Great for sculpting new Transformer faces, tiny eyes, etc.

There’s Fixit, the strongest, most bond-glue-repair compound they have. It’s handy when you’re repairing metal, adding a section of arm, or anything where stress will be applied, as this stuff is like steel after it’s cured. Wonderful for reshelling a transformer when you need to adhere balljoints and door sections together.

Apoxie sculpt is the general purpose stuff. It’s easy to work with, great for holding detail and sculpting, stronger than anything in stores, and adheres to the plastic like it’s part of it. Not as strong as Fixit, but harder than Apoxie Clay. Inexpensive too so you can experiment with it and comes in the most colors. Once cured, it looks just like plastic!

Then there’s Fixit Sculpt. It has the strength of Fixit, the ease and general use of apoxie sculpt, and the fine-detail holding of Apoxie Clay. It also has a 5-hour curing time instead of 3, allowing you to sculpt longer! The catch? It only comes in one color, bone, and it’s more expensive than the rest of their products. If you can afford it and don’t need colors, it’s really the best stuff.

Now for the ‘spooky’ info! None of Aves sculpt-products release any sort of stinky vapors or heat up during the curing process. We can’t figure out if they cure by endothermic or exothermic reaction… there’s no temperature difference. Every other product on the market is one or the other; most heat up when curing like regular epoxy does. I mean that’s just the rules of science when you have a chemical reaction. Companies in china have bought Apoxie sculpt and have tried to reverse-engineer it, trying to figure out how it’s made and steal the formula. They can’t, and they’ve been at it for years. Nobody can determine what it’s made of or how it works. Any attempts to replicate it have failed. Only the owner of Aves knows the proper mix of ingredients and steps to make it, and mixes every bit of their product himself. It’s not just a closely guarded secret, it’s practically their family legacy. What we do know is that it’s safe to use and works really well at what it’s used for. This is one of those one-of-a-kind products that go down in history folks.

So, want to try out some Apoxie Sculpt? Head over to their site and read up on it and their other products. Aves Studios. Call them up and ask them questions. Erin or Amber will answer and they’re both really, really nice! Tell them Jin sent you if you want and they’ll know that you’re wanting to use this to customize figures with, and help you figure out what will work best. They don’t have an online ordering system so you will have to talk to them over the phone at some point. If that bugs you, you’re kinda out of luck because nobody really carries this in stores. You’ll be VERY lucky to find a small hobby store that stocks it, but then you’re left with some problems. One, you don’t know if it’s a fresh batch or been sitting for years. Two, you WILL pay twice as much, if not more for it because the price Aves sells their products for is the price they sell it to stores for. They have to mark it up. Three, you probably won’t get to talk to two cute sisters who have a great sense of humor, just that old Hobby shop guy who smells like old cheese. Call Aves, place order, receive product, watch your custom work be taken to the next level.

And thus ends the really long post. Enjoy!

you're a god amongst men

Thank you so much for that, Jin! I'm probably a long way from sculpting my own additions to figures, but that was still a very informative and engaging read. Kudos.

I've got a question, what's the generic term for apoxie sculpt? I live outside of the US and I don't like using credit cards.

Dude, read his article. Only one person makes it because they can't reverse engineer it. That's the ony stuff like that you can get.

I gotta get me some a that.

Asepticon wrote:Dude, read his article. Only one person makes it because they can't reverse engineer it. That's the ony stuff like that you can get.

Asepticon is correct. I mean you can go buy some 2-part plumbers expoxy putty but it's toxic, you need turpentine or something harsh to get it off your hands, and it takes the paint off your figure if you get it on a piece by accident.
Apoxie Sculpt was created by Amber and Erin's father (John I think is his name) who's a chemist of some sort. There's no comparable product to it in the world, and I'm being dead serious.

You can use paypal or send an International Money Order to Aves if you don't like using CC's. But this is a company that movie studios, places like WETA who do Lord of the Rings costumes trust.

Le Booked-marked!

Thanks Jin, i might give this stuff a try when i have some money.

I take it it is good for sculpting heads huh?

it sounds like something to experement with for my warhammer models.

Jin turned me on to apoxie sculpt almost a year ago... I would NEVER go back....

I pledge 100% that this stuff is the best IMO

Sonray wrote:Le Booked-marked!

Thanks Jin, i might give this stuff a try when i have some money.

I take it it is good for sculpting heads huh?

Let's put it this way... See that Bowen minibust, or that Dynamic Forces statue ya got there? Chances are the original sculpt was made from this or had sections made from it. WETA uses it in their LOTR sculpts and about all of the main toy companies as well.

You'll be working with what the pros use.

ALSO, the artist behind the sculpts for Alien Vs Preditor used apoxie sculpt to form the aliens heads (or at leat partially like Jinsao said)

Cool beans. Jin you're an awesome, awesome person.

One question though, you know how well it works for molds?

Using it to create a mold, or using it to fill a mold?