I was reading a topic here on armorama and a guy said he used durham water putty. He said it could be found in a home improvement store. And lucky me a Lowes just opened here, but everyone working there is new so they dont know anything. Can anyone just point in the right direction in which aisle i can find this putty. It would really save me time.

If there is an ACE Hardware store nearby, check there. That is where I got mine. Not sure where you would find it in a Lowes. Maybe try the putty section. Good luck. "Q"

this stuff dries rock hard-you have to get it right the first time. I would use plaster or something like that for your ground.
click on picture below

well Red4 there does happen to be a ace hardware in this crummy town thanx alot. does it really work good?

Have seen Durham Putty at lowes on the asile with calking/glue putty materials. Home Depot sells it as well.

Check where they have putty, drywall putty, spackle, plaster of Paris. I was just at Lowes and they carried it here in San Diego

Neill
www.johnneill.com

Depends on what you are going to use it for. I helped my son with a school project. We built a pyramid with it. Definately dries rock hard. I would suggest using it for plasterwork on buildings or such. And as already stated, get it right the first time as it sets pretty quick. It is great for use over styrofoam as rock. It can have a pretty grainy texture which helps in this regard. Good luck. "Q"

What crummy town in Georgia? "Q"

I've been using Durham's Water putty since the dawn of time.
I love the stuff..... just need to learn to get use to it's cure time, if you want to do any carving for brickwork, or cobblestones.
Heck, I can't find a base the size I need for my DDD campaign, so I'll make up a simple mold box from some foam board, and pour the size I need, edge it with some cheap ass boxwood I have lying around, and sculpt the sea on it.
One great little trick, is after it is pretty well set up hard, or even while hardening, sprinkle on a little water, (I use a cheap spray bottle from the dollar store) then shake on some dry Durhams ... you'll end up with a nice rock textured base, and you can continue to do this over and over as each previous one dries until you get the effect you want.
It you put a piece of plastic wrap over it, (after it starts to firm up) you can impress your wheels, tracks etc into it, and be able to remove the vehicle afterwards, after the Durhams dries.(Before it reaches the rock hard stage) It does not stick to the plastic wrap, but being covered, it will take longer to dry/cure. If you impress too deep, you probably will run into problems though.(If it works it's way around the curved upper part of a tire, easy to take care of, .... don't impress it too deep) Any gooshed (is that a word???) up Durhams can be easliy trimmed. It trims easy, with a hobby knife dampened with a little water, if it's just hardened, but not completely cured.
Got that nice custom made, expensive, wood base, and afraid to mess it up doing the ground work? Simple, trace the top shape onto a thick piece of plastic card, cut it out to fit the top of your base, then build your ground work on the plastic card. usng several layers of durhams until you get the desired thickness. (Use the above spray technique works here also) After it cures, the plastic card will pop off cleanly, and you have a perfectly fitting ground work for that expensive custom made base, with no masking. A thin layer of 5 minute epoxy brushed on and you have a perfect fitting groundwork with out damage to the wood. Also works on high gloss polyurethune, doesn't stick well to it and will normally be able to remove it, unless there were/are deep groves, or sections of uncovered wood.
You can thin your epoxy for easy brush painting, by using some lacquer thinner, and some cheap epoxy brushes from the hardwear store.
You can tint it by adding some cheap craft acrylics, and this also seems to affect the cure time, (taking longer) and also the hardness.... (not as hard) after curing.
The 5 pound can, cost only a few dollars, and lasts a long time. I usually use a plastic spoon from Wendy's, and an old Uncle Ben's bowl for mixing. Both being plastic, clean up is simple, I let the stuff dry, and gentle flexing pops the dried stuff out, and I got a clean bowl and spoon for the next project.

".....Heck, I can't find a base the size I need for my DDD campaign....."

What size exactly are you looking for Dave?

Tread.

BTW, thx for the quick water putty class. I guess I'm going to have to give that a whirl....