InDeClay leggera, grigio chiaro

Among professional model makers the English term “Clay” refers to a special modelling material that will not dry out in the air and which can be machined at room temperature (15 °C to 25 °C). Clay (sometimes called Design Clay), then, is primarily used in the automobile industry for designing auto bodies. In order to keep costs and the weight of the model low, the rough shape made with the clay is transferred onto a base body made from RIGID FOAM (e.g. polystyrene foam) or wood. In the process, the clay, which is relatively hard at 20 °C, is pre-warmed in an oven heated to, depending on the clay, 50 °C to 65 °C so that it will become more pliable and easier to apply on the model.

After the applied clay has cooled off and thereby become hard again, it can, unlike normal plastiline, be machined. The desired shape is then slowly arrived at by means of grating or scratching. In industry, this work is done by a computer driven milling machine whereby the surface of the model is subsequently scanned again and retraced according to the CAD data. If too much material has been removed, warmed clay can be added to the surface after it too has been warmed by means of a hot-air gun.

In the automobile industry, finished model studies are usually overlain with very special films or paints so as to give the look of painted coachwork. If necessary, these special coatings can be removed in order to make any later changes in the shape. Modulor does not yet have these special materials in its product range - clay surfaces, however, can be also successfully treated with TONING PIGMENT or RESIN-DISPERSION INTERIOR PAINT.

The principle advantage of InDeClay (Industrial Design Clay) is its light grey colour, which makes it especially good at depicting surfaces and edges on models. The neutral light grey colour is also definitely better suited for presentations than the classic brown clay colour. When working with various blades, the light grey colour has the advantage that the light-coloured traces resulting from the processing are not really noticeable. A model will require a lot less reworking in order to produce a uniform surface. The homogeneity also makes further processing on a computer that much easier – in digital image editing a model made with InDeClay can be quickly coloured or enhanced.

In terms of technical specifications, InDeClay is comparable to TECCLAY: it is 100% sulphur free and likewise much lighter in weight than conventional types of clay. The pre-heating temperature of 50-55 °C is also identical. The given upper temperature should not be exceeded because overheating can lead to the wax content of the clay becoming liquefied. Warming the clay up slowly over a period of about three hours produces the best results.

The excellent workability characteristics are also in line with those of TecClay: it is odourless, oxidation free and has a solid surface. As a result, its edges are extremely sturdy (hold up in a wind tunnel) and the clay lends itself to being milled. It has very good adherence qualities to a degree that even applying small amounts in order to, for example, fix damaged areas, is not a problem. (If you want to apply larger amounts of the clay on a surface that has already cooled, you should definitely warm up the “old” surface beforehand.) InDeClay can practically be stored forever if kept at constant temperatures from 10 to 30 °C; it remains permanently elastic and will not harden.

Although this clay is sulphur free, it should not be used with addition-crosslinked SILICONES because it contains iron oxide pigmentation, which, upon contact, can inhibit silicone cure. We therefore basically recommend that any moulds made from clay models should only use condensation-crosslinked silicone because the risk of inhibition is substantially less. As an alternative, moulds can be made from clay models using plaster based materials or elastic PUR RESINS.