Aves Modeling Putty |  | Background While I was visiting the 2003 Chicago Hobby Expo last month, I spotted the Aves booth and couldn't help notice the enthusiasm of the two gentlemen behind the table. When they realized I was from Internet Modeler, they were even more enthusiastic as you may notice with the logo on the right bar that Aves is now one of our sponsors as well. Sponsor or not, we all have been subjected to a wide range of hobby putties and have settled on some product(s) that we've managed to make work for us most of the time. Being politely skeptical, they showed me their product line and the results from using these products. Now I began to pay closer attention. You see, there are two basic types of hobby putty out there, the straight-from-the-tube ready to work putty and the two-part, knead them together before you can work type. Both work great but have their pros and cons. The straight-from-the-tube variety, such as Squadron Green Stuff, works fine for filling gaps and blending parts together, but tends to shrink over time. Many people apply a coat of cyano over the sanded and sculpted putty to keep it from shrinking. One major advantage of Squadron Green Stuff is that it can be mixed with Testors Liquid Cement to create this thick green liquid that can be brushed into seam lines without requiring much sanding, though the shrinking problem may still happen over time. The two part putties, like Milliput, must be kneaded together and this stuff works great for larger tasks, but is difficult (for me) to work into seam lines and subtle problems. Enter Aves Aves putties are apoxy-based and therefore are two-part compounds that are mixed together 1:1 in order to get them to do their job. Apoxie Sculpt their regular putty product that I found easier to manipulate than Milliput, yet it cures impressively hard with no shrinkage. More importantly, the Aves putties are non-toxic and cheaper! Their putties come in different colors if you're wanting to minimize the color differential between the putty and the background plastic and simplifying the primer coat. Given the durability of the Apoxie Sculpt, I plan on trying this out on Academy's 1/25 Panther build-up next month to see how it works as Zimmerit. The Apoxie Paste is a thinner two-part mixture which is the ideal consistency for gap-filling seam lines without creating a more work whilst sanding the results smooth. When I mentioned the Aves putty to some of the advanced modelers in my area, I had no idea that they were not only aware of the product line, they use nothing else. Check out the line of Aves products on their website (www.avesstudio.com) along with nice instructions and tips in using their product. You can also order their product online. My sincere thanks to Aves for these review samples! | 
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