My wife is an artist and while watching me work on a cast plaster bridge tonight she brought over a product she uses from time to time in her work, Epoxy Putty. It comes in a tube and consists of two soft and pliable materials, one inside the other. Evidently you cut off a chunk and then mash the two products together with your fingers (so the typical two part epoxy only in putty form).
She says it dries and hardens into an almost steel like material, and colored gray like Chooch bridge abutment castings.
It sounds intriguing. Anyone have any experience or any ideas on how to make use of its properties? I am not sure it is the product I need to fill a gap on my bridge but there may be other uses.
I have used it many times and keep some in my train tool box. I’ve used it to repair damaged track switches, shell screw holes, repaired car bodies and rebuilt screw posts. It drills and taps like hard plastic and can be painted. There is conductive and non-conductive puttys. I’ve found it in hardware stores in the adhesive section.
I always have some handy at my workbench. It’s also available as “plumber’s epoxy putty” at most hardware stores, (probably cheaper than at art stores).
It’s very useful for situations where you need something stiffer than regular epoxy. Once hard, (about 30 minutes), it can be filed, carved, drilled, just like styrene. It’s good for building up thickness, instead of layering styrene, (which takes much longer to dry and harden up), filling holes without shrinkage. I also use it to plug large bolster holes and freight car roofwalk holes. You can use it customize figures, (make new limbs etc).
Try the stuff, it’s a very useful product, oh yeah, you can fix plumbing with it too!
I’ve used that stuff from time to time. What I get is called “Marine epoxy putty” and is designed for boat hull repairs UNDER WATER. It will stick and dry under water! Hows that? It’s also good for making bridge castings and abutments.
I use JB Weld as a general use item. Two separate tubes you mix in equal parts. A little heat aids curing. For really exotic use, there are other engineered industrial two part epoxies, both metal and ceramic filled, that are available. I have used Elmer’s with plastic dust or sawdust as a filler. Great stuff all around in my opinion.
I have used the kind that comes in 2 sticks. Tear off equal amounts from both and knead them together. I used it where I had too large a gap in the rails. It worked well for that, but was a little tough to knead together because the sticks were stiff (or maybe it was my arthritis). Your wife’s sounds like a better version. Does she get it at art supply stores?
Is this a resin or epoxy. It sounds much more workable than some of the other epoxies.
A note on JB Weld and it’s variants, these work excellent on diecast frame repairs and modifications, however for cosmetic shell repairs ( leveling and hole filling) a softer material would be better. Most of these epoxies dry very hard and sanding, filing and feathering into surrounding styrene can be difficult and the finished repair may show through the paint. It does work well for bolster repairs and other uses as other described.
FYI: Epoxy is a resin. It’s actually called epoxy resin. There are many different types of resins; urathane, polyeser (the old Magnuson kits were made with this). Todays commercial “resin” castings/kits are made with urathane resin.
I would not consider any resin as a final finished surface when used as a filler. I would still apply body putty and sand untill fully blended.
Any epoxy I have used comprises two parts; resin and hardener. One without the other is useless. In my experience, limited though it is, the directions are very careful to direct the user to measure the two parts equally carefully, and to mixe them very thoroughly in order to prevent a soft set.
I have used epoxy putty as filler in the frogs of HO #12 and #16 turnouts. Wheels will sink unless there is something filling up the gaps. The epoxy putty is good in that it can be worked nicely with a jig to regulate wheel-flange depth and further sanded or filed for extra smoothness.
Epoxy refers to the process where a substrate and catalyst (usually Bisphenol A) are mixed to make a chemical reaction happen, and the substance then hardens. Epoxy’s can be paints, glues, resins or putty’s -the process has been around since the 1920s.
In the UK one of the most common model makers glues - Araldite - is an epoxy. There are loads of different puttys which use the same chemistry, some are coarser than others because of other stuff they have mixed in them.
Like a lot of chemicals high exposure isn’t good for your health, the more volatile resins and glues should be used in a well ventilated area.
Yes the epoxy putty I am talking about is two parts. It looks like a sausage with two materials, an inner core of one and then an outer casing. I assume it is so manufactured that if you cut off a slice with a knife that you have the desires proportions of the two.
Actually Epoxy is a thermosetting epoxide polymer that cures when mixed with a catalyzing agent or hardener. Its not the “process” in how it happens. Epoxy resin is produced from a reaction between epichlorohydrin and bisphenol-A. These are two different products, I think you were thinking of the second one. The company I work for uses different types of resin to make polyurethane foam seat cushions.
Milliput is a two-part epoxy putty made especially for modelers that is very easy to work with. It can be used as a filler or for making small parts. Similar to some other putties mentioned already, you cut off equal-size pieces, blend them together with your fingers, and apply to the surface you want to fill, or form into the shape you want to make. One nice feature is that if you are filling a gap or hole, the putty is very easy to shape with a moistened finger before it sets. It can be sanded or filed when dry (overnight), but it is pretty hard so it helps to remove the excess before it sets. It takes paint well and doesn’t shrink.
I work with stone for a living and I have all sorts of experience with all sorts of resin based and epoxy based products. Fiberglass is usually made with a strong manmade fabric as the substrate and polyester resins as the binder. Epoxy based products are a whole different monster and you can get them in almost any form; several thicknesses of paste, pourable liquid, penetrating liquid, ect… Polyester resin is made up of a resin, and a very small amount of a catalyst, which begins the hardening process. You are really only forcing the resin to set by mixing in the catalyst. It still remains polyester resin, but now it’s hard.
Epoxy is made up of a “part A” and a “part B”, usually mixed in a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. The two substances get mixed together, forming a third substance. The original 2 substances no longer exist because they’ve changed chemically into something else. After it cures, epoxy tends to be anywhere from 4 to 10 times as strong as polyester resin based adhesives. That’s why they use it on all the critical parts in the aerospace industry.
If you use it in modeling you don’t need much to glue just about anything, and if you use it in a paste form, you can actually sculpt it into solid objects, as long as they aren’t too big. (they need to be light enough that they don’t collapse under their own weight before they begin to set up. Once they do start to set, they shouldn’t be worked any more because it will all sort of crumble into mud balls.) Not a pretty picture…
The biggest advantage of epoxy is that you can get different types which set over different periods of time allowing you more time to work before it starts to “go off”. (begins setting). A general rule of thumb is the longer it takes to set, the harder it is after it’s cured. I would save the use of epoxy only for the stuff which needs to be exceptionally strong. It does get alm