Sculpey sculptors

[swords]

Hey folks,
I don't know if any of you have tried sculpting in Sculpey home bake polymer clay (turns from clay into plastic when heated to 200*F) well I've been irritated with not being able to finish full 12" figure sculpts due to my home oven being very small. So I made this over the weekend:

It's a heavy duty steel cabinet from Menards hardware store (manufactured by Suncast). Inside I put a swivel head outdoor wall mount halogen lamp (300 watts) from the hardware store for $8. There's just a positive and negative wire connection to deal with on the back to put an extension cord on it. After that you simply plug in! Now I can do sculptures in one piece up to 30" high x 18" x 18"!

 

[scottychaos]

Check this out..
its a class on my G-gauge model railroad forum.
The class is by Chris Walas, who is an avid G-gauge modeler, and also happens to be a movie special-effects whiz..
His more famous creatures include all the FX for the movie "The Fly" (Jeff Goldblum version)
and he also worked on the creatures for the movie Gremlins..

chapter1
http://www.mylargescale.com/article....-01.asp

chapter2http://www.mylargescale.com/article....-01.asp

and check out Chris's trains..
ALL the figures in these photos are hand-made with sculpey!

http://4largescale.com/chris/

 

[swords]

Those are some nice trains and folksy type people on that site! I like the hobo with the big beer belly!

What is the difference between HO scale trains and G scale? Seems like all they have at the hobby shops I go to is the HO scale stuff but I've never seen (or noticed) the other stuff. One time my uncle devoted a whole room to a scale train set and his matchbox cars he'd collected since childhood. He'd made a whole town in there it was pretty awesome but he never painted up any people or made any himself, only vehicles and buildings.

 

[Amateur_Expert]

maybe you could of taken apart a heater and mod the coils to fit in the case.

 

[endparenthesis]

That's like the most hardcore Easy Bake Oven ever.

 

[swords]

 

[scottychaos]

Swords,
here is the difference between G-scale and HO-scale..


this is HO:

this is G scale!

Scot

My G-scale Alco PA's

 

[mabudon]

Yes, I was going to jump in with the answer, but those pics are worth a few thousand of my words....
As you can see, the "G" stands for "Gee, I bet those ain't cheap"

and H O is for "HOwever, I think I could maybe afford one of them tiny ones"

 

[scottychaos]

well yeah, in general G-scale is more expensive than HO,
but like any hobby, there is a huge range..

In HO scale you can buy a brass steam engine for $800,
and a plastic diesel for $40.

In G-gauge you can buy a live-steam engine for $10,000,
and a new plastic steam engine for $90..

comparing apples to apples,
most HO scale diesels run $50 - $100,
and most G-scale diesels run $150-$300.
so the difference isnt really *that* significant..
there are some plastic HO engines that are more expensive than some plastic G engines..

Scot

 

[swords]

I like those "Gee those are expensive ones"! My uncle had the HO size. I like anything that can be totally decked out with details but yet still in miniature. So I'm gathering that due to the G and the previously mentioned "Garden" means these are for use in an outdoor mini-RR setup?

Oh, I wanted to put a note, if you try this heat cabinet, forget the halogen lamp. My guess is it only got to about 90-100*F. My little green guy's head didn't fully harden. So today I will be installing a portable electric hotplate from Target 6" diameter x 3" high self contained/temp regulated electric cooking plate. I'll put a wire shelf rack from home depot about 1/2 - 1" above the hot plate which will use the same amount of space that the lamp would have and it will have proper heating. I'm gonna remember that oven thermometer today too. I'll update the post with new pics after I get it right THIS time!

 

[scottychaos]

yes, "G-scale" is often used outdoors, in "Garden Railroads"..but not always.
people model with G-scale indoors as well..you need a lot of space though!
If you run small steam engines, you can get away with 4' diameter curves..
the bigger diesels or steam engines require 10-foot diameter curves minimum..
thats why a lot of people make their railroads outdoors!

here are some examples of super-detailed G-scale engines..
(none of these are mine)

those are some of the highlights!  

 

[swords]

Wow, those are uncanny! The trains that still run in Chaska & Shakopee MN look like the last yellow one there. I'd swear I was lookin at the real deal, all it needs is some graffitti!

Here's the oven update with the portable hotplate setup I was describing:

The Hotplate was from the small appliance section of Target ($20) and the kitchen cupboard rack was $9 at Home Depot (it has another portion which will strech it to 36" inches long. I would suggest if anyone tries it to get the plain metal cupbord rack like this one and not the rubber or painted ones cos the heat will likely burn the paint or melt the rubber. The foil is down below just so you can see the shape of the hotplate it has insulated pads that it sits on. It gets to 250*F in the box on medium and the plate has a self regulating temp so it's very easy to set up and no wiring like with the lamp!