Skeleton Repair

572 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by 8Trak, 2 mo ago

lisa48317

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

Has anyone repaired a skeleton using Apoxie Sculpt?

I had entirely too many skeletons that didn't make it out into the cemetery last year due to having various appendages detached. From the research I've done - theoretically this stuff will work. The same company also has something called Fixit that does the same thing but with a higher heat tolerance.

Just wanting to know if anyone else has tried this or something similar - I'm game for all suggestions! I miss having my odd sized 6.5' and 4' skeletons out to play! I'm not concerned with making the joint mobile so really anything to keep the arm bone connected to the hand bone and that'll stand up to Michigan Octobers outside and being stored in our unheated garage the rest of the year!

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stick

· #2 · 2 mo ago

Also interested in finding out.

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corey872

· #3 · 2 mo ago

I don't specifically know. They say the Apoxie Sculpt adheres to plastic so that is a good start. But a lot is going to depend on exactly what type of plastic you have and what fixes need to be made. If your skelies are any type of the 'slick' plastics like polyethylene or polypropylene - those are chemical cousins of teflon, so you may not get much 'stick' from the 'glue'. The problem will be worse if you're trying to butt two pieces together to make a joint. You'll likely have a lot of force and not much area to keep the joint together.

Ideally, you'd have some sort of mechanical joint where that could be a screw, some wire, string, dowels, or other way to hold the pieces together - then the glue/clay would sort of add to that structure. Possibly these skelies are some sort of solid material? That would be even better, but still the ideal would be a good mechanical joint with extra 'hold' from the glue.

Throw up some pics of the damage - that would help a lot.

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8Trak

· #4 · 2 mo ago

lisa48317 said:
Has anyone repaired a skeleton using Apoxie Sculpt?

I had entirely too many skeletons that didn't make it out into the cemetery last year due to having various appendages detached. From the research I've done - theoretically this stuff will work. The same company also has something called Fixit that does the same thing but with a higher heat tolerance.

Just wanting to know if anyone else has tried this or something similar - I'm game for all suggestions! I miss having my odd sized 6.5' and 4' skeletons out to play! I'm not concerned with making the joint mobile so really anything to keep the arm bone connected to the hand bone and that'll stand up to Michigan Octobers outside and being stored in our unheated garage the rest of the year!

I’ve used Apoxie Sculpt many times to fix things or to reinforce areas with something pliable but hardens completely. It worked great on the inside of a Halo helmet for the head support band. I have an old grim reaper whose fingers kept breaking and it worked fine. Only caveat is that it can get heavy depending on how much you use. Start out with a little bit and see what you need for it to work, you can always add more.

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8Trak

· #5 · 2 mo ago

…and like corey872 said use something like a screw for the AS to grab on to, if you can.

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lisa48317

Discussion Starter · #6 · 2 mo ago

corey872 said:
I don't specifically know. They say the Apoxie Sculpt adheres to plastic so that is a good start. But a lot is going to depend on exactly what type of plastic you have and what fixes need to be made. If your skelies are any type of the 'slick' plastics like polyethylene or polypropylene - those are chemical cousins of teflon, so you may not get much 'stick' from the 'glue'. The problem will be worse if you're trying to butt two pieces together to make a joint. You'll likely have a lot of force and not much area to keep the joint together.

Ideally, you'd have some sort of mechanical joint where that could be a screw, some wire, string, dowels, or other way to hold the pieces together - then the glue/clay would sort of add to that structure. Possibly these skelies are some sort of solid material? That would be even better, but still the ideal would be a good mechanical joint with extra 'hold' from the glue.

Throw up some pics of the damage - that would help a lot.

I don't have any pics handy, but they're regular skeletons from places like Target / Walmart / At Home, etc. So they're smooth & hollow & fairly lightweight. The damage is like the elbow joint broke. Or the ankle. Or the shoulder. I have 2 that lost their heads, so I'll probably initially reinforce the spine with a wood dowel or piece of pvc. I'd definitely use some wire to hold the joints together first, then put whatever over that.
I didn't think about how heavy the material might be!

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8Trak

· #7 · 2 mo ago

lisa48317 said:
I don't have any pics handy, but they're regular skeletons from places like Target / Walmart / At Home, etc. So they're smooth & hollow & fairly lightweight. The damage is like the elbow joint broke. Or the ankle. Or the shoulder. I have 2 that lost their heads, so I'll probably initially reinforce the spine with a wood dowel or piece of pvc. I'd definitely use some wire to hold the joints together first, then put whatever over that.
I didn't think about how heavy the material might be!

Also remember the 6 foot rule: people viewing your haunt are usually about 6 feet away and are not going to be right on top of the skeleton to pick apart any anomalies, and at 6 feet at night will it be visible? As the haunter you’ll see it but others more than likely won’t. It also depends on how much time you have to spend on it.

Using some baling wire to attach joints together usually won’t be seen; I had four of the smaller skeletons stacked on top of each other hand to foot as if they were trying to climb onto the roof and used wire wrapped around all of them for support which hung from the gutter which held all of their weight. Nobody noticed the wire. Just my 2 cents.

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