Jump to content

Modelling Putty - Post preferred kind here please


lucas

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone, I'm preparing to start up a CSM army and for my 2 HQ units I will be scratch building 2 daemon princes. My only problem is that I am unsure of what types of putty to use. I have some green stuff and I have used it quite a few times, but I'm hoping to find out about something that will work better. I know about procreate and milliput, but I have never used them before. If anybody could please tell me which types of putty they prefer to use, especially for large projects, it would be appreciated. I have some modelling experience, but I'm sure much of you have a lot more so I know I can count on the help and feedback of the members of this site.

 

Also, if someone happens to have the height/width of the daemon prince GW miniature please post them. Just an approximate number would be fine.

 

Thanks.

* Unfinished great unclean one sculpt stares atm me! Help! *

 

When i started with my GUO i made the bulk out of FIMO as it doesnt get hard untill you

pop it inside an oven. It is kinda cheap too, without it this fella would have been expensive!

He is massive and stands on a 120" base, and then i have a 5mm edge around him to do the basing.

 

After that i started with the greenstuff, bought like 110" from ebay for 20$.

 

No idea how large the GW princes are, i made my own :unsure:

If you are starting from scratch...

 

Here is a well written, extensive article on the use of green stuff, with some information on some other sculpting putties.

 

There are two main characteristics to consider in Polymer modeling putty/clay. Air hardening or oven hardening.

 

The most comonly available (in art & craft stores) is oven hardening. Here is a Wiki on Polymer Clays (mostly revolving around the oven hardening variants, like Fimo & Sculpy). These are an excellent inexpensive way to create the bulk of a large original sculpt.

 

With oven-baked products, start with your basic shapes and bake it off in stages as each successive layer is complete. This stuff is very prone to deformation just by pressing on it. If it is cured in stages, you have less risk of destroying parts that are already done. then use an air-curing product for the fine detail work.

 

Air hardening putty/clays are almost always two-part epoxy derivatives. Some are more clay-like, but most are like taffy or chewing gum.

 

Green Stuff (Kneadatite® Blue/Yellow® Epoxy Putty)

We all know this one, originally manufactured by Polymetric Systems Inc. The consistency is like chewing gum, but gets slightly harder over time. Holds detail well, but not hard edges, unless you wait for it to cure and shave it with a sharp blade. Does not sand or file well.

Personal observation about cured green stuff: the older it is, the "stiffer" it gets. I would not call it harder, just less rubbery.

 

Brown Stuff (Kneadatite® Brown/Neutral Epoxy Putty)

Manufactured by the same company as Green Stuff. Similar properties as green stuff, just "harder" when cures. Can be more easily sanded, filed and drilled. Can be freely intermixed with green stuff.

 

Both of the above stick well to plastic.

 

Milliput

Two part epoxy clay. Water soluble while still uncured. Cures to a rock-hard consistency. Brittle and prone to chipping/cracking due to impact damage. DOES NOT stick to plastic & resin well - rough the surface before application. Can be intermixed with greenstuff - see the article linked to at the beginning of this post.

 

A technique I just learned about for smoothing the pits in robes & cloth on poorly cast metal miniatures: Add just enough water to a small mixed batch of milliput to make it a thick slurry. Brush the resulting slurry onto the affected area with an old brush - instant smooth surface.

 

ProCreate

My assessment: This product is somewhere between GreenStuff and Milliput. It has some of the clay-like properties of Milliput, but also has a slightly rubbery give while working with it (but not nearly as much as green stuff). If you are used to Sculpy products, you may like ProCreate - it is very similar to that product in how it "gives" while being worked. Once cured (and depending on the ratio of base/hardener) can be files, sanded, carved, drilled & tapped.

I picked it up out of curiosity. Since my experience with it is limited to exactly one very small use, I hesitate to recommend OR dissuade from it.

 

Hope this helps.

Thank you carbon, this is just the kind of post I was hoping for. I'll take a look at each of the types you listed and probably compare their prices and end results before I make a descision. It was really helpful how you gave me the pros and cons of each type. I was just wondering which types of clay stick to the hands like green stuff dos while it is being used. That often annoys me.
  • 1 year later...
I'd use Fimo polymer clay you can get a multitude of different colours and you bake the parts that you've made in the oven for 30 minutes the good thing about Fimo is the level of detail you can get and its very easy to work with if it gets slightly dry just brush it with water and knead it with your fingers to replenish lost moisture. I've been using it for my own custom bases and hopefully should have an in depth guide on using this material posted on the forum soon, when i do so i'll post a link here to see what you think. The bad thing is i ain't painted them with GW paint to see how it takes to it but the good thing is they end up solid after baking i've dropped my bases tons of times and not a scratch ;) hope this helps...

Hello there!

I have literally just done what you are planning to do, build a daemon prince from scratch. I found that Green Stuff is too rubbery and rips easily. I recommend "Milliput superfine white" it is an epoxy putty which is really easy to craft with, it is similar to green stuff but a lot easier to use. also like Green stuff it can be frozen if you mix too much of it and defrosted and used later on.

To summarize I would recommend Milliput for the main modeling, but then use green stuff as a top coat to get all the details (I did not add the green stuff layer as the model I was sculpting did not need it).

One tip I will give you is to build a "skeleton" out of paperclips and sculpt around that (I did and it was so helpful on the physiology front)

 

Malanok

 

P.S I wish you the best of luck!

 

 

========EDIT============

 

GW Daemon princes are 77mm feet to highest point (45mm feet to head)

And they are 65mm at their widest point.

 

========EDIT 2===========

Sorry, I just have to say:

I disagree with CarbonCopy, I learned that milliput sticks to plastic brilliantly if you leave the mixed putty for half an hour before sculpting, however this does make it tacky; if a plastic piece get covered hold it under running water and scrub it to remove the milliput.

I have used all of the products you mentioned plus.

 

Green stuff is by far at it's best when mixed with something else. I mix it 50/50 with Aves Fixit Sculpt. This gives me a hard sculpt once cured, take hard edges from the get-go, but retains the easy workability of GS.

 

As has already been stated, Fimo and its ilk are fine for bulk shapes, but the oven curing thing kills it for me.

 

Milliput is extremely temperamental unless you have worked with real clay before. It is hard once cured, and takes fine details well. It has become my mainstay seam-filler since I got the Fixit Sculpt.

 

The biggest plus for the Fixit is the sheer amount you get in the middle size (1lb). For $20US, I've got more than enough Fixit for an entire battle company of details. If I cut it w/ GS, I could do even more...

 

Hope this helps!

 

-J

This is pretty much redundant at this point, but I can never resist an opportunity to elbow in and shout "Me! Me!"

 

Notes on Epoxy Putty.

 

I agree with Lord Noble, except replace 'fixit' with 'apoxie'. (Haven't used the former. Yet.) And I'm starting to take an interest in polymer clays as an occassional alternative. I stick my sculpts under a heat source anyway, so the baking is less of an issue for me. ;)

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.