Is there a sculpting material like this?

Factual Questions
1

Application: custom automotive interior–dash, center console, etc.
Required qualities:

  • can be painted
  • not ridiculously expensive
  • lightweight
  • can be hand-molded before it sets and sanded/drilled after it sets
  • dries/sets to hold a permanent shape
  • will not break when subjected to moderate vibration/shock
    Hint: I’m thinking about something that can be handled like modeling clay, but has the above properties. I could probably work with plexiglas and a blowtorch and achieve the desired result (and now that I say it, that might actually work out!) but I’d be far happier with something I could craft while installing.
2

Sounds like you need to make a mold out of clay/whatever and then lay fiberglass into it.

3

Take a look at “Sculpey” its a modeling clay you can bake in your oven. Only requires about 215f if I remember correctly.

4

Paste filler?

5

Two-part epoxy putties come to mind; the most popular are Aves and Milliput. Both workable when first kneaded, then set in about a day to almost rock hardness (drillable, sandable rock hardness, though :wink: ). Only drawback is price.

You might also consider urethane foam, sculpted to shape and then covered with fiberglass. Be a lot of prime/putty/sand to get it really smooth, though.

6

Bondo.

Nuff said.

3M acquired Bondo - but it is the same stuff [ tried and true] for decades. Sand it, paint it, do whatever you want, but be sure to tape everything else in the car before applying.

7

That’s what I came in to say. You may want to build an internal frame and flesh it out with Bondo.

8

Isn’t bondo pretty heavy?

9

Try searching video or tutorials for “fiberglass subwoofer enclosure”. Sweatshirt or other stretchy, heavy-weight fabric + fiberglass may work. What are you designing?

10

Car dash area for a 1987 Toyota MR2 (it’s an older car with no airbag system to consider).

11

There is a tutorial for a fiberglass dash on the Silvia forum here: http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/123975-how-fiberglass-your-dash.html

12

You can try Kitty Hair which is basically fiberglass reinforced bondo. Some people use it to do exactly what you want except they build off a skeletal structure first.

13

aircraft-grade kydex. but you have to have a form mold and be handy with a blowtorch.

14

There is plastic that can be molded at relatively low temperatures (140-160 deg). I am not sure if a car interior gets hot enough to cause it to soften.

http://www.bradmerritt.com/blogs/diy-blogs/shapelock-moldable-plastic

15

I work with a guy who customized his entire dash – mouths with fangs surrounding the gauges, monster glove box, cubic feet of “Ed Roth meets the Munsters”-goodness…

All done with Sculpey.

Oh, here’s a step-by-step with photos!

16

Huh. I’d’ve thought Sculpey would be too rigid, too brittle for a car dash. Do you know - has it lasted well?

I’ve done small, 4ish inch figurines in Sculpey. It might get heavy. That said, you can use some sort of filler or form underneath it (I used tinfoil). I’m not certain about the drilling, though. Like I said, I thought it’d be too brittle - maybe try a test piece before going all out.