Seeing the exquisite pieces that people have produced on this site has made me want to venture into sculpting. I have a basic knowledge of anatomy and construction of armatures, but I'm lost when it comes to shoosing the correct putty for each part of the figure. Any help in choosing putties and tools/tips would be most appreciated. I am most interested in 1/35 WW2 figures, but may like to sculpt some unusual period pieces if successful.

Many thanks in advance

Martin

Martin , welcome to the world of sculpting. As to putties to use I think is a matter of choice.I can only tell you my preferences. I use milliput standard for all the rough work like mannequins etc. Magic sculpt is nearly always used for clothing. Duro + MS is used for textures like furs etc and details. With regards tools to use I'd reccommend a few needles of different gauges and if you want to make it even cheaper you can use toothpicks of varying thicknesses covered with superglue and sanded down a bit. Last but not least an exacto + fresh blades at hand. Hope this gives a head start.Don't hesitate to ask if needed

Stephen Mallia

Martin,

As a complement to what Stephen said, the putties we're using are generally epoxy and come in 2 parts (resin + hardener). When mixed together, the two parts will harden at room temp after 1-2 hours depending on the brands.

Hardness varies from very hard (A+B, Sylmaster), medium hard (standard and white Milliput) to rubbery (Duro, Kneadatite). Magic Sculp is waxy in texture and dries medium hard in about an hour.

My advice for the beginners is to pick ANY of these brands and start sculpting. As you have no previous experience in sculpting, you shouldn't have picked up habits (good or bad) yet. So, you will adapt your sculpting techniques to the putty properties and not the other way round.

The important thing is to take the plunge.

HTH
Quang

PS. GREAT avatar! :lol:

Thanks guys,

I do have some experience of using Milliput on my armour projects, so I am aware of the drying times for that. I need some pointers on how to get the smooth texture for the clothing over the musculature (ms over milliput?).

TIA

Martin

Just for you quang:

Martin,

In my book, there's only one way to get a smooth texture: sandpaper and elbow oil. Now I don't know how it'd work in smaller scales.

Thanks for the pic. I'm downloading it. Great subject for a bust

Q.

Hi Martin, I'd like to second the recommendation of MagicSculp, it really is excellent stuff and I like it for almost all sculpting jobs. Kneadatite is also an option, for larger work it's not really ideal but for general clothing sculpting at this scale it's fine. It is my favourite putty for doing small details and texture, either used alone or blended with MagicSculp, as it adheres very well. Both can give roughly two hours of working time depending on temperature and your skin chemistry. All epoxy putties can be speed-set with the application of heat if you want to move on to the next section in a hurry.

MagicSculp's downside for small-scale work is that it is now generally only available in a greyish colour which is a little translucent, but you can learn to deal with this. If you find it a problem you can blend in some Kneadatite or even a little Fimo (a dark colour is best) to give it some colour, Kneadatite will make it stickier and Fimo will strangely make it a little softer, it will still set quite well without baking.

Personal preferences aside, you can produce superb work in just about any putty if it suits the way in which you work. If you already have some Milliput try sculpting with it, it's used to create many commercial figure masters. Blending it with some Kneadatite improves its handling a lot in my opinion.

The simplest tools are probably more than adequate for what you want to do. I'd suggest two needles (one fine, the other about 1-2mm thick if you can find it), a couple of shaped cocktail sticks coated in superglue, your craft knife and maybe a small round brush for smoothing. I used to do all my sculpting with a selection just like this and many top modellers still do.

About getting a smooth surface, there's a simple rule - the smoother the tool the smoother the putty. Most needles are chrome plated these days and the superglue-coated wooden tools can be polished after sanding by rubbing with 0000 steel wool followed by buffing with fabric (the corner of a t-shirt works fine!) and they will leave a beautiful polished finish in MagicSculp or Kneadatite, particularly if you work the putty until it is nearly set.

You shouldn't need to sand or otherwise smooth wet-sculpted work unless you had to revise an area and in 1/35 scale it would be difficult not to damage surrounding detail. You probably won't need to use it much but some putties smooth well with water or saliva brushed gently over the surface with a soft brush, MagicSculp is particularly good in this regard. Saliva is also good for preventing tools sticking to putty but don't put them into your mouth directly. Talc can also be dusted on the surface to prevent sticking.

Hope it helps,
Einion

Einion

What a thorough answer. Maybe you should write a book on sculpting. Many thanks for the lengthy tips, I will be starting out with a better footing now.

Martin

Seems like Magic Sculpt are available in some other colours too.

Click on me

Do a search on Magic Sculpt.

a real eye opener,

cheers

Derek Holmes preferred the standard Milliput and got the surface 95-99% smooth using a wetted (spit?) brush. I believe he cut a lot of his detail with a scalpel into semi hard putty/ It was interesting to watch.

You're welcome Martin. By the way I forgot to mention since you're an armour modeller if you have any weathering powders you can colour MS by blending some into it as well, this probably works with Milliput too.

That's a good link Janne, good to see some of the other colours, I thought black was the only option. Since they're still made I wonder why they only sell the standard colour directly from the MS site? Douglas & Sturgess are a little cheaper I think, although they only stock standard and black. They also sell MagicSmooth and lots of other goodies that might prove useful

Einion