I'm not sure why I had never used green stuff before or why it had taken me so long to try it but I did so for the first time yesterday.
I should have read up on it a little more before diving in because I made just about every mistake that you can. I made way too much, it stuck to my sculpting tools and pretty much everywhere else except the figure, and it was full of my fingerprints. Oh and I also probably worked with it way past its prime in an attempt to use all that I had made.
The two resources that i found, after it was too late was
Bananking and
Dakka Dakka. I used some plastic sculpting tools and my fingers.
So here are the Mantic figures assembled. Some are a little fiddly and the upper bodies don't always fit the torsos so well.
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| I was not careful in putting them on the base, they rank up this way. |
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| I'm trying to show you how the light shines through the cracks. |
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| Crack along the side and back. |
The skeletons mostly fit together with only a couple of gaps.
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| Way easier to rank up. |
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| The worst gap. |
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| The orcs all had trouble with their arms. |
So when I checked my green stuff in the morning light, it seemed less smooth and less well done than I remembered. Oh well, it'll just take more practice.
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| Tried to get the ribs, but not so successful. |
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| I thought the chain mail here was okay. |
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| And more mail on the side. |
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| Ribs and spine, more successful. |
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| Another angle on the ribs. |
When I realized that I had so much excess I also dug out an oldhammer figure. I think was my first ever attempt at a conversion. With out green stuff it didn't work. With green stuff it looks like something I can work with.
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| The sausage is supposed to be a braid. |
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| Does it look more like a braid here? |
Okay, my hair sculpting leaves a lot to be desired. But now the whole reason I finally bit the bullet and got some green stuff. I needed to make Corporal Schnurrbart from Cross of Iron.
I'm not sure if it's more Thomson or Thompson? At least I tried.
You never forget your first time they say. did you feel satisfied after wards ?
ReplyDeleteYou should certainly be happy about the results, I've tried and have never been happy about the outcome.
Hi Zabadak, I was happier until I saw it with fresh eyes and good lighting. I feel like the ribs and chainmail on the two skeletons I showed was pretty good but the rest was pretty meh. I guess it'll be like photography for me. A lot of work to get one or two I actually like.
DeleteNot bad, its better than my first attempt. Of course I did not have any tools at all...
ReplyDeleteHi Ernie, having some tools of some kind really helps. They work even better when you learn to wet them so they don't stick to the putty.
Deletenot bad at all. way better than before with the gaps.
ReplyDeleteHi Cedric, true the gaps were just not going to fly.
DeleteOn the plus side, your output looks darn good for a first try AND you probably learnt a lot this way :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Millsy, yeah I did learn quite a bit. As we say in the Martial arts biz. You get better by doing it poorly at first. But you keep going and eventually get better.
DeleteYour Greenstuff work looks excellent for the first try. Carry on with that and just try other things.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Stefan
Thanks Monty, it also made me realize that I need to light the work space better.
DeleteWith greenstuff, you have to remember that you can always cut it if you are not satisfied. And you should, this is how you get better.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in case you mix too much, you can always put it in a freezer. Take it out when needed and start rolling it again and it should be useful - not as much though, so try to mix as smaller amounts. It also helps to have a "putty monster" read, twist some wires and add your excess putty to it every time I find yourself having too much mixed and can't use it for anything better. In a year, it will surely grow in something fantastic :P.
What do you water your tools with? I found out my spit works best for me - with if you are using vaseline you have to clean the miniature every time you want to work on them :P
Hi Mathyoo, thanks for the tips. I ended up using water to wet the tools, it had its good and bad points. I'll just try to make a smaller amount and have more of a plan for the excess the next time.
DeleteI'm always in awe of people that can tame the putty! It always seems so simple.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael, you should give it a go sometime. I'm sure you would figure it out pretty quickly.
DeleteI've almost always use Milliput for filling gaps. I find it much easier to work with than Green Stuff, at least for that purpose.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, as Mathyoo says, you can always carve or sand it if it isn't quite right first time.
Hi Hugh, I should give milliput a try too. The only things I've tried prior to this are flex paste (wholly unacceptable) and Testors modelling putty (difficult to get out of the tube). I've also used air drying clay, but only for basing as it has shrinking and cracking issues.
DeleteGood first effort and you'll will definitely get more confidence and better with practice.
ReplyDeleteA few tips, use Blu-Tac to roughly form the shape you need. You can then split in two and this will give you a good idea of quantity needed of each colour. Saves you from wasting a lot of greenstuff.
Use a round barrel of a pen or scalpel handle to smooth off the surface, this will help reduce fingerprints.
As Mathyou said you can use spit to held sculpt the greenstufff (I use the same technique but it doesn't taste very nice) or keep a cup of water nearby to help with the stickiness of the greenstuff.
Regards,
Matt
Hi Matt, thanks those are very useful tips. I need to look into some more tools.
DeleteNot bad at all Sean !
ReplyDeleteLike Mathyoo Said above, I think saliva is you rbest friend with Green stuf, then you can try some clay shapers (I prefer hard ones to soft ones because GS is kinda stiff) to smooth your areas. Cutting some personnal tools n plastic rods (you get those on every sprue) is also a cheap and very efficient way to know what you prefer. Some dentist tools are always a must to have too of course.
The one very good advise I've always been told is to always work little by little, it is so easy to ruin 1 hour worth of work in one sloapy thumb and it makes you waste far less stuff. I usually sculpt mushrooms with my spare putty to decorate bases so that it's not all wasted.
having a modle that consumes a lot of it is also a really nice idea.
Thanks JB, I was definitely over ambitious with this first project. I should have thought of mushrooms, doh! By the time I realized I was running out of time on the remaining putty there was not much left I could do with it. I rolled it flat and worked it onto the bases.
DeleteGood work but I hate using green stuff and get annoyed that we have to use it to cover up the makers mistakes!
ReplyDeleteHi Fran, thanks. Yeah it is annoying to have to fix brand new figures. What was the most irritating about the multipart plastics was that there didn't seem to be any way to get the parts to fit together seemlessly. (sp?) No matter how I tried I couldn't get a tight or flush fit on many of the pieces. I also made that error in positioning on the base so some of the figures can't line up in bases to base contact. Annoying.
DeleteA little touch a green and the world is more beautiful !!
ReplyDeleteExcellent start... maybe I will try that one day ...
Hi Sam, thanks. Hopefully you may never buy figures that need gaps filled. But if you do it's a skill that is nice to have. I will practice more to be sure.
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