CAF:101 Customizing Product Reviews- AVES SCULPT!

CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES: 101 “Customizing Product Reviews” – AVES SCULPTING PRODUCTS

I’d like to welcome you all to a new feature here at CAF: 101, our Customizing Product Reviews. I’ll be bringing you reviews of various different products that are essential for customizing action figures.
In my Facebook group, Custom Action Figures: Tips, Tricks & Trade, a common post I’ll see is folks asking for opinions about different products to use when making their custom figures. I generally see posts at least once a week asking about sculpting compounds. “What’s the best sculpt to use?”, “Who can suggest a good sculpting compound?”, etc., so I figured I would put some to the test and share what I find with you all here on CAF:101. In this week’s edition of Custom Action Figures: 101, I review some of the great sculpting products available from Aves.

Aves Apoxie and Fixit are two part, 50/ 50 mix, air drying, modeling epoxies. They have a working time of 1 to 3 hours, and cure rock hard in 24 hours. Since they are “air cure” epoxies, they don’t require any heat for the curing process. This is very important for customizing action figures, because I’ve seen on more than one occasion where someone has wasted hours of work and ruined their action figure by curing “Bakelite” type modeling compounds in the oven. I recall a couple of months ago seeing an Iron Man figure that looked like he had been in a fight with an acid spewing monster and lost!

Aves compounds are also “freeze-thaw stable’, meaning you can freeze any extra you have mixed up and thaw it out to use it again. You can also freeze the tubs if you buy it in bulk to make it last indefinitely. And one of the coolest things about it’s freeze-thaw capability is that if you need to stop working on something you’re sculpting, you can pop it in the freezer and take it back out when you’re ready to work on it again.

The differences between Apoxie and Fixit are slight, but noticeable. Here’s the description of each one of them from the Aves website at http://www.avesstudio.com.

AVES APOXIE SCULPT: “Apoxie Sculpt offers economy as well as performance. This 2-part product has a putty-like, smooth consistency, and is easy to mix & use. It is safe and waterproof with 0% shrinkage/cracking! Working time is 2-3 hrs. Cures hard in 24 hrs, and has a semi-gloss finish. Adheres to plastic, resin kits, wood, metal, ceramic, glass, polymers, foam, fiberglass, & more! Can be seamlessly feathered before set-up, or sanded, tapped, drilled, carved, lathed, or otherwise tooled after set-up, without chipping, cracking or flaking! Save time & money on finishing jobs by using Apoxie(R) Sculpt colors. Simple water clean-up or use Aves(R) Safety Solvent. Endless uses for artists, crafters, restorers, modelers, students, and more! Great for creating 3-D graphics and outdoor projects! Available in 12 colors.”

AVES FIXIT: “FIXIT® is a universal multi-media repair compound used to permanently fill, bond, seal, customize, fabricate and repair most anything. This innovative product offers 3-D sculptability, and will cure to a rock hard waterproof finish without shrinking or cracking. Fixit® is safe and easy to use unlike solvent based epoxies. It Sets up under water, stands up to UV Rays, fuels and heat up to 500 Degrees F< This product self-hardens has a working time for 2-3 hours, 24 hour full cure. It has been proven effective on metals, plastics, fiberglass, glass, ceramic, porcelain, wood, stone, masonry, cement, drywall, tile, foam, resins & more. It can be sanded, drilled, tapped, threaded, ground, carved, lathed, tooled or otherwise finished without chipping, cracking or flaking. Paint wet or dry, accepts all types of paints. Available in 4 colors.”
I asked some of my fellow customizers who use Aves products to give us some tips on using it. Two things that seem to be a constant are to let it cure some before you start sculpting it and keep your hands and tools wet. Here’s what they had to say.

Freeman Slavens
“After mixing wait 30 min to lose the stickiness & work with small amounts.”

Custom sculpted hair and beard by Freeman Slavens of Swizzlesticks Customs

Gary Stevens
“Add a bit of water to smooth out the mixing process. I use water / wet fingers to smooth out the transition places, where the sculpt meets the figure I am working with.”

Custom Abramovici Twins from Arkham City Video Game by Gary Stevens

Jeffrey Scott Hower
“Hmmm… just that it’s kind of a “go with your gut” on the curing time of when to work it so it holds the finer details – I typically work with hobby blades, needles & dental tools when it’s at approximately 50% cured – don’t rush things.”

Dreadlocks & goatee sculpted over a Star Wars Baron Soontir Fel head by Jeffrey Scott Hower

Travis Barker
“Here a few tips: -After mixing you can let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes to let it firm up. -Water works well for smoothing it and if you apply too much water, you can hit with a hair dryer on no/lo heat to rid your piece of excess water. -Aves solvent cleaner works great for tool clean up. -While sculpting wear latex or nitrile gloves to reduce fingerprint smudging.”

Custom “Zombie Raphael” by Travis Barker

Michael Schnuth
“Same stuff that’s in the directions. Mix completely, use lots of water on tools & fingers. I use fans or a hot light bulb to speed up curing. 0000 grit steel wool gives it a beautiful smoothness. It’s used for bondo puttying cars normally. Use a razor blade to clean up edges when it’s half set. I seem to be a little sensitive to it, but I use tons of it, so I wear gloves to prevent any possibility of a skin reaction.”

Custom “KILLER CROC” by Michael Schnuth (http://scarecrowstudios.net/)

So there you have it! After using the Aves products, I can definitely say that I recommend it to anyone who needs to sculpt features onto their custom figures. It does require a little bit of a learning curve, but it’s nothing that you can’t figure out with a little practice, and like I say in all of my tutorials… “Practice makes perfect!”. Get yourself some Aves sculpting compound and your “beater” figures (that I’ve recommended you get many times) and start practicing. Before you know it you’ll be adding hair, beards, muscle tone, armor… pretty much anything you can imagine to your custom figures!

To leave suggeststions or ask questions of Rob, make the JUMP TO THE FORUMS!