Sticklander:
Hello folks! :hat off
As a long time avid fan of Warhammer and Chaos Dwarfs, I have had some experience with green stuff and sculpting, but not a lot.
Recently I’ve started to get more and more into complicated conversion and sculpting.
At the moment I use a few basic tools; scalpel, tweezers, Citadel sculpting tool, and I only work with green stuff.
I was wondering if any of you could recommend any other materials to work with, or other tools to help me hone my skill!
Thanks! :cheers
Thorne:
Don’t just use greenstuff. Consider adding other things like miliput sculpy and as odd as this may sound plasticine. Find a mix your comfortable with too some puttys have different qualities that may prove benificial.
Also think about mediums on how to help your tools slide. The most common is water but petroleum jelly and dish washing detergent can help.
Also key is getting a good sculpting tool. As a rule of thumb the GW one isn’t great but its the one I use most often BUT I did spend a long time with some wet and dry sand paper getting it to my specification.
Fuggit Khan:
Milliput is awesome stuff…I really like FIMO clay. Also useful for making molds, a good tutorial here:
CoolMiniOrNot Forums -
And one tidbit that I don’t see mentioned too often is that green stuff can easily be perfectly smoothed out with tools (or just your finger) by dipping the tool in water first…green stuff will not stick to anything that is wet. Petroleum jelly does the same trick for milliput.
Grimstonefire:
You are going to want a selection of rounded tools.
I would recommend something like these. I bought some and bent (with pliers wrapped in thick cloth) some of them into really rounded curves.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-pc-Candle-Soap-Wax-Carving-Moulding-Sculpting-Tools-Brand-New-TZ-/281018719457?hash=item416e055ce1
I picked mine up in hobbycraft, but I can’t seem to find them in their online shop. They had a few more useful ones than in that link.
It’s the only decent way to sculpt things like cloaks, which would be very hard with the GW tool.
I would also recommend getting a hobby knife with scapel type blades and only use it for carving greenstuff. Not for general sprue cleaning or cutting up models. You can clean fingerprints off dry things really easily with a sharp blade, but get it slightly blunt and it becomes harder work. Not to mention that if you’re clever and have very steady hands you can sculpt really fine stuff with them.
Sticklander:
@Thorne and Fuggit Khan: I was thinking of branching out into other types of modelling putty, so I shall look up the types you guys have mentioned.
I’ve been spending the last few days experimenting with green stuff, and though the GW tool is somewhat restrictive, it’s surprisingly versatile, depending on how you use it.
@Grim: Yeah, I have been making sure to only use certain tools for certain tasks. Mostly only use pliers and a file for sprues.
I’ll nab those tools off ebay though, especially since they’re so cheap, and see how they work out. Thanks! :cheers
cornixt:
Sculpey/Fimo are great for practicing since they don’t go hard at all. And if you end up with something you like then you can bake it and keep it.