Will It Melt?

[crankydinosaur]

Okay so I need to put a a base around my Carnegie Australopithecines (for a project, shhhh it's a secret right now) and I was going to use Sculpey III. My question is when I bake the clay will the Australopithecines melt? Is there anything else I could use? All I can think of is clay or resin - and yes I need to bake the clay. The Sculpey baking times are  275 °F (130 °C) for 15 minutes per 1/4 in (6 mm) thickness. It's not going to be very thick but I still don't want Mr. and Mrs. Australopithecus to be a melty pile.

[Lanthanotus]

I'm not sure if the plastic will suffer from being baked at 130 °C, most plastics "survive" the hot water method (90+ °C) without any signs of damage but that's still at least 40 ° off and there's also a difference in exposing a material to hot water or hot air. Are you aware of Fixit Sculpt (click) which is selfhardening?

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Apoxie works well for me, however for bases, I would also suggest styrofoam sheet or expanding foam, though I'm not sure exactly what you're looking to do. Paper clay works nicely, too. It is air-dry and you can make it with a blender.

[Archinto]

Thefigures have to be on the base while youre cooking it? They cant be put in with glue later? Thefigures will get damaged. They may not melt but could burn and look very unsightly.

[Doug Watson]

I would not risk your figures at 275 °F (130 °C).
If you are determined to use Sculpey the simplest and safest way to do it is sculpt your base and while the Sculpey is still soft press your figures into the base in the position you want then gently remove them leaving their footprints behind. Then bake your base without the figures. After it has cooled and even painted just glue your figures to the base in the footprints with a 5 minute epoxy.

Just realized they have bases, well if you are willing to encase them in sculpey then you should be willing to cut off the bases. I would cut them off and proceed as I explained.

Quick Google search gives the melting point for industrial PVC as 160 °C, but the heat distortion temperature is 54 to 80 °C and the thermal deformation temperature at 92 °C. That is for harder PVC pipe. So while it may not melt I wouldn't be surprised to see them slumping over their legs or other nastiness.

[Paleogene Pals]

If it was me, I would do what most on here are saying and don't bake your figures. I personally would make the base out of Magic Sculpt or some other epoxy resin. If you must use Super Sculpey, just press the existing base of the figure in the base you are making. Bake the base by itself, and, then, blend your base into the figures' bases using epoxy resin. I would use 5-minute epoxy to ensure a strong bond between the figures' bases and your base. Anyway, not saying anything new just reinforcing the advice on here. Another thing to consider if your baking plastic is the potential for toxic fumes. I doubt little dino figures would produce very much if any but just better to avoid it.

[crankydinosaur]

Thanks everyone, yeah I was kinda iffy on the whole putting in the oven thing but I couldn't think of anything else! Now I think I'm going to try Apoxie it should work perfectly.

T H A N K  Y O U 

[Cosmosaur]

I know this topic is really old but I just thought I would add this. I prefer Friendly plastic.
You put it in a bowl of hot water, it sofens, then you sculpt it into whatever you want. Wait for it to dry, and if it doesnt work out, best part is you can heat and reshape it as much as you want too.