The Abbey of Aves

Got a question about techniques, materials or other aspects of physically building a model? This is the place to ask.

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Butters
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Post by Butters »

Mark Yungblut wrote:You are better off making the paste from the regular Aves thining with alcohol.
Thank you. I concur. The paste is good only for heavy-duty adhesive applications.
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Butters
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Post by Butters »

Well, I tried my Aves Sculpt for the first time today. It's waaaay better than the paste. Easier to work with, and the ability to add alcohol and control it is a Godsend. I did create a new term however: Aves Panic. This occurs when you made slightly too much annd you run through the house hunting for other things you can use it on!

As a result, my shower door is reattched and a nice little Ravenstar Border cutter with a badly miscast shuttlebay has a new rear end!

:D
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Post by Kylwell »

I tend to shape my leftovers into odd shapes and toss it into a bowl to cure. Then I use them for groundwork filler.
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Butters
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Post by Butters »

Well, I started sanding on my hardened, cured Aves. It sands nice, unlike it's horrid cousin. I may well get all the sanding done in one night!
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Post by Kylwell »

You can also machine it. I've turned chunks of it on my lathe.
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Post by Butters »

I did indeed get all the sanding done! Used a palm sander and finished off with sanding blocks, handheld sanding paper, and finally steelwool. I cannot believe how smooth and perfect the surface feels! :shock: It feels like polished stone.

Can Aves be scribed? Or will I need to 'saw' it with a razor saw? Also, does it have any problem with super glues or accelerators?

Good lord, this stuff is cool.
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Post by Kylwell »

Yes it can be scribed but be gentle about it. Multiple light scribings work much better than going in heavy. It can chip that way.

As far as glueing to it? No problems that I've encountered.
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Post by TER-OR »

Scribing is tricky at the Aves/styrene interface. I tend to use a razor saw in those situations.
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Post by Butters »

fortunately, in this build, there is no Aves/styrene interface. No lines transfer across that boundry.

The Aves scribed amazingly well. I did most of it with razor saw but some with a scriber and straight edge. Now, it's not perfect (it is my first real Aves experience) but since it's for an Ork vehicle, any imperfections can be explained away!
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Post by Captain Riker »

I made my first attempt with an Aves Sample Pack on my first resin build yesterday. Pretty good results but after reading here I tuned what i had done yesterday with some more filling and began using water to help thin it and smooth it.

FREAKING AMAZING.

As someone esle said in this thread I (almost) tossed my tube of squadron putty. It was so smooth I thought I did something wrong. but it's curing just fine. I then took some to a 1/2500 starship and man, I can't beleive how much time I've spent sanding putty.

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Post by Dark Star »

Without reading through all the posts, as a new user myself, how well do other materials such as wood and plastic glue to Aves? Specially when you have such a smooth surface?
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Post by Kylwell »

Dark Star wrote:Without reading through all the posts, as a new user myself, how well do other materials such as wood and plastic glue to Aves? Specially when you have such a smooth surface?
Pretty much like they do to plastic. Rough the surface up a bit with some coarse sandpaper and you'll have little issues.
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Any structural value to Aves?

Post by starmanmm »

So, is it only good for filling in gaps and such or does it offer any structural value?

My need is regarding the 22". Where the pylon meets the nacell, I was hoping that it can not only fill a void but provide some strength to the bonding of that joint.
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Post by TER-OR »

It's perfect for that, Starman. If you want more, embed some metal tube in the Aves - or bolts if you want to bolt everything together. I've embedded rod in one side of a joint and tube in the other, making a removable mount.

Alone, it's good for providing extra glue surface, and if you cement some styrene on the parts then place the Aves there, it will have more bonding area.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-or/438 ... 647004702/

There's part of what I did to support the engine tubes. Those tubes will accept rods as part of the support structure. I would also add more putty between the fuselage top and those tubes so what you see is only part of the process.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-or/set ... 383798994/
In this set you'll see me use Aves to correct a wing joint. The entire joint is filled with Aves on the other side, as I set the wings into the forward-swept position.
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Post by starmanmm »

Thanks TER-OR.

I do have square brass tube running inside the pylon, but partly sticking out inside the engineering hull and partly into the nacell.

Epoxied these parts last night, so tonight I will use the aves the hide the gap and add the strength I feel that I feel maybe needed.
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Post by Captain Riker »

if you mix water in to make a paste how much and what consistancy should it be? I've been thinking of some of the tutorials on Swanny's Models where you tape off the seam and brush in some filler. In this case I can see an almost paper machet like consistancy being needed. Is this possible?
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Post by JadedMonk »

Aptly! Thinner consistencies will be more delicate and may take longer to cure. But I have done just as you've described with consistent positive results.
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Post by TazMan2000 »

Hello all,

I'm an Aves newbie and I was originally hopeful but skeptical of this product. When I first used it I was a bit upset on how it did not readily adhere to styrene and would peel off flat areas and stick to itself when using tools to scrape off thickness. Watering it down did improve results greatly but the lifting and peeling would still occur, even on sanded areas.

My mistake is thinking this was regular putty, like Tamiya which actually melts the styrene in order to adhere to it.

I was working on a large flat, slightly rounded, area that had a depression in it due to scribing panel lines too aggressively through thin plastic. I missed the underlying support. and the scriber broke through, bending the plastic in. I was so disappointed, since where there are panel lines, there are generally support structure underneath, and I doubted that I would be able to realistically make this look like battle damage.

In comes Aves. I treated it like plasticine and squashed it into the depression. A day later I scraped off the excess and sanded it down. To my surprise it adhered to the styrene and sanded smoothly, so much so that it was impossible to feel the ridge between the aves and the styrene, and absolutely no chipping.

Its truly a remarkable product.

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Post by Butters »

TazMan2000 wrote:
Its truly a remarkable product.
And all said, "Aves-men"

Verily, a question, brothers: How best to thin Aves? If I mixe a small portion and drop it in a slight bit of alcohol, it just sits there. Yeah, even if I mash it up a bit, it just sits there, mashed up... looking sad.

The only way I've beenable to achieve a spreadable consistancy is to wet my fingers in alcohol, and mush a small piece on my working surface. it's fairly wasteful as the Aves coats my fingers as much, or more, than my surface.

Understand Brothers, I do not blame the Aves, only myself for being unworthy! :oops:
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Post by starmanmm »

Maybe using their solvent might do it for you?
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Post by Butters »

starmanmm wrote:Maybe using their solvent might do it for you?
Figures. Instead of using the vast collection of what I already have, I need to buy something else. ](*,)
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Post by starmanmm »

Think of it as holy water! :please: :evillaugh:
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Post by Mark Yungblut »

it'll work with the alcohol. First make sure it is the 90% strength version. Then what I do is put it on a flat stiff palette and work the alcohol into the putty a little bit at a time with a tool like a mini putty knife. It takes a while to get it to a smooth consistency but it does work.
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Post by Butters »

Thank you.
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Post by Gouf »

OK I have some old Patlabor 1/35 vinyl kits from the late 80's (Saturn, Peacemaker, etc).

I want to know if anybody has used Aves as filler for vinyl kits.

I want to fill them, or at least put a 1cm layer around the inside of all the vinyl parts to re-enforce them and keep them from warping over time. This will also allow me to build/implant a joint system for them.

Has anybody done this? And thermal heat/warpage issues? And shrink issues?

Thanks in advance,
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Post by Kylwell »

Aves shrinkage is minimal if any. Heat produced when curing is no more than room temperature. You should be fine with that idea.
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Post by Gouf »

Kylwell wrote:Aves shrinkage is minimal if any. Heat produced when curing is no more than room temperature. You should be fine with that idea.
Thanks :) What is the volume of an Aves 4lb kit? Pint, quart? etc?
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Post by TER-OR »

IIRC the 4 lb set is a quart of both parts. It lasts me quite a while.
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Post by Treadhead »

I've been using Milliput Super Fine grade of epoxy putty. How is this different from Aves? I heard that they are similar. Dare I risk heresy and ask if Aves is better and why?
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Post by Joseph C. Brown »

Here in the States, Aves putty, MagicSculpt, A+B Putty are preferable to Milliput. They all have super-shelf-life longevity compared to Milliput. And they are usually cheaper to buy when comparing volume.

Just my opinion... shared by many others, though. :8)

Ah, almost forgot. Consistent quality of product. Milliput has earned the rep over the last 2 decades of being very hit-or-miss on it's quality. When it's good, it's great, but when it's not... ugh. Aves putty, MagicSculpt, A+B Putty are remarkably consistent in product quality.
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