Me and a very good friend of mine are brainstroming on a new (currently secret) project. I\'ll reveal as much as it involves machines. And that I\'m supposed to sculpt them. But I have never done something like that before, I was wondering if anyone could give me tips on how to do it? I figure green stuff isn\'t the best thing to use for the big, smooth surfaces I\'m aiming for. How is it done? Take the eldar tanks for example, what putty have they used, or is it some other type of material? Also, any links to articles or further info would be greatly appreciated.
How to sculpt machines?
- Thread starter quadrille
- Start date
freakinacage
Well-known member
brownstuff can be used on small areas for detailing. it can be filed and cut nicely when cured.
as for bigger areas, i would use fimo. build up an armature and put a thin layer of greenstuff over it. when that is fresh, cover with fimo and start working with it. doesnt matter if the gs cures as it will stick to the inner fimo. then you can work on it as much as you like
as for bigger areas, i would use fimo. build up an armature and put a thin layer of greenstuff over it. when that is fresh, cover with fimo and start working with it. doesnt matter if the gs cures as it will stick to the inner fimo. then you can work on it as much as you like
freakinacage
Well-known member
never used sculpey before but i imagine it would work the same. the gs just allows it to stick. otherwise its a pain to work with. you can cure it partially if you want to add more to it (if completely cured, fimo doesnt stick to itself very well). or you can put down some more gs and muse that to stick it. i would smooth before curing but you can file after as well
Einion
New member
Yep, it\'s very likely the large flat areas were made using a sheet material like plastic card. You can make your own sheets by rolling out putty too if you had to.
In addition to Kneadatite Brown you could also try one of the other clay-like putties like Apoxie Sculpt, MagicSculp or Milliput for other portions; these all sand, carve and pare down well, allowing you to easily make sharper edges and smooth planes after roughly sculpting to shape.
Einion
Shawn R. L.
New member
I used to design/sculpt for Armorcast and did ALOT of machine type stuff................forget any kind of putty. VERY hard to get a really flat surface. It can be done but using sheet styrene you can get the same or better result in (litterally) 1/10th the time. Sheet styrene, guitar strings, canabilised parts from \'regular\' model kits, clock and small gizmo parts, any tiny things that look cool. If you take apart most any small thing, from a pen to a VCR or whatever there are usually some really tasty parts.
Have some pin and needle files, a good sharp exacto knife and a good pair of glasses. Applying thin glue with a needle can help. When you are working so small glue can be your enemy if you arent careful.
Good luck. Post WIP\'s.
Have some pin and needle files, a good sharp exacto knife and a good pair of glasses. Applying thin glue with a needle can help. When you are working so small glue can be your enemy if you arent careful.
Good luck. Post WIP\'s.
Yup, going from photo\'s I\'ve seen of the masters of those tanks plastic card is used. At least for the straight sections. Techniques can be found in articles on scale modelling. Do note that either low temperature vulcanising rubber mould discs or RTV have to be used since plastics can\'t survive the temperature.
Epoxy putties can be used ok for mechanical models. I\'ve had to do that a couple of times when the models had to be able to survive the normal mouldmaking method. Some examples:
- Steamtank
- Steamroo
(step by step article on this one can be found in the1lisculpting faq-tutorials section)
- Mech by Kelvin
What are you going to make? Something tank sized? With a lot of straight surfaces? If so, I\'d go for plastic sheet after checking with your mouldmaker (if you need one that can handle plastics, let me know and I\'ll get you in touch with one). Otherwise you can also use putty.
Bye, Ming-Hua
Epoxy putties can be used ok for mechanical models. I\'ve had to do that a couple of times when the models had to be able to survive the normal mouldmaking method. Some examples:
- Steamtank
- Steamroo
(step by step article on this one can be found in the1lisculpting faq-tutorials section)
- Mech by Kelvin
What are you going to make? Something tank sized? With a lot of straight surfaces? If so, I\'d go for plastic sheet after checking with your mouldmaker (if you need one that can handle plastics, let me know and I\'ll get you in touch with one). Otherwise you can also use putty.
Bye, Ming-Hua
Shawn R. L.
New member
One way around some of the heat/melting problems when using styrene and other low temp stuff is to do an inbetween casting. Take what you have made, cast it in some resin that can survive the heat then go to the vulcanising process. Of course clean up the \'inbetweener\' befor the final mold making.
Dragon Forge Design
New member
Ive sculpted 100\'s of Mechs for Ral Partha/Iron Wind/Wizkids in my carrier.. you can indeed get sharp edges with epoxy. You need to use the harder stuff like the brown putty or milliput but it can be done. If your mold maker is uning the newer low temp rubbers you can vulcanize styrene plastic with no harm to the origional sculpt.
Other materials Ive used is brass and aluminum sheet, rod and tubing stock. Remember no hollow or void spots..as in tubes need to be filled or they will crush under vulcanization.
Sculpting machines is more of a carveing, sanding scrapeing fileing sort of process.
You can see examples of mechs made from plastic in my portfolio on my website . Link is in my signature.
Other materials Ive used is brass and aluminum sheet, rod and tubing stock. Remember no hollow or void spots..as in tubes need to be filled or they will crush under vulcanization.
Sculpting machines is more of a carveing, sanding scrapeing fileing sort of process.
You can see examples of mechs made from plastic in my portfolio on my website . Link is in my signature.
Many thanks for the advice!
The thing I\'m going to sculpt is relatively detailed and don\'t have that many flat surfaces, so I\'m leaning more towards putty than plasticard (which is, speaking from experience, hard to form in a controlled manner - it tends to melt and deform). Smoothness is however quite crucial so I suppose I\'ll experiment with different putties and see which one is easiest to work with post-cure. Is dremeling a good idea btw? I reckon it could save me quite a bit of time..
I\'ll ask my friend (the talented concept artist in our project) if it\'s ok that I show you guys the concept.
@Dragon Forge Design: What\'s that semi-transparent stuff used on the industrial hauler?
The thing I\'m going to sculpt is relatively detailed and don\'t have that many flat surfaces, so I\'m leaning more towards putty than plasticard (which is, speaking from experience, hard to form in a controlled manner - it tends to melt and deform). Smoothness is however quite crucial so I suppose I\'ll experiment with different putties and see which one is easiest to work with post-cure. Is dremeling a good idea btw? I reckon it could save me quite a bit of time..
I\'ll ask my friend (the talented concept artist in our project) if it\'s ok that I show you guys the concept.
@Dragon Forge Design: What\'s that semi-transparent stuff used on the industrial hauler?
Einion
New member
The finer grades of Milliput carve, scrape and sand well if blended properly.
MagicSculp is much easier to mix, which I think is a huge bonus all on its own, but it\'s also smoother and probably a little harder in real terms (certainly easier to get a shiny-smooth surface with it).
Apoxie Sculpt is a bit gooier than MS when first mixed but similar to work with, it cures hardest of these three but that can be an advantage for doing certain things - depends on taste as much as your experience with carving as well as your tools.
Haven\'t used BS.
Oh yeah, it sure can be! Does depend on what bits you use and what you\'re doing though. For bulk putty removal the cutters are great (got some of these just recently and they\'re just as good as I\'d hoped but be careful, as you might guess they tend to snatch small pieces if you\'re holding using just your fingers). For grinding then you might switch to some stone grinders or diamond burrs; cuttoff disks can also be useful for flattening small areas. For finer abrading/smoothing you can get silicon rubber abrasive bits (disks and other shapes) the finest type of these, if you can find them, are usually white, with no discernible grit to them but they\'ll remove putty without leaving scratch marks which I find very useful for final shaping.
After this you\'ll probably switch to working by hand - in addition to sharp blades in your knives, fine abrasive papers and files I\'d strongly recommend some 0000 grade steel wool - or a Scotchbrite equivalent if there is one - with your trouser leg or a scrap of fabric for final buffing.
Einion
P.S. Widget Supply is a good source for Dremel accessories if you don\'t want to try eBay.
Dragon Forge Design
New member
Actually I think you ment the Karhu ( the names are under the mech not on top) its a non pigmented resin made by Smooth-on. They sent us the wrong stuff but it worked so we used it. In making machines its common to have identical parts from side to side so Id sculpt one leg, mold and cast it and reuse the parts modified where necessary.
Ah I see, thanks for clearing it up.
I\'ll try the dremel method, it does sound like a good idea.
Here\'s the concept for one of the machines:
It\'s made by my good friend Staven. Personally I think it looks great and it will be fun trying to recreate this as a mini. More info on our project at a later time.
I\'ll try the dremel method, it does sound like a good idea.
Here\'s the concept for one of the machines:
It\'s made by my good friend Staven. Personally I think it looks great and it will be fun trying to recreate this as a mini. More info on our project at a later time.
Nice design. Difficult to make out the details, so you\'ll have come up with that yourself I guess. Makes me think of war of the worlds
Can you cast? That could be usefull for the legs.
Tip, you can use cheaper putties for the core and detail the outside with sculpting putty. That will be cheaper.
Can you cast? That could be usefull for the legs.
Tip, you can use cheaper putties for the core and detail the outside with sculpting putty. That will be cheaper.
Unfortunately I don\'t have the equipment nor skill to cast myself but it does sound like a good idea, I might check with some casting service company (though I\'m unlikely to find one where I live).
Good idea yes, it\'s not as big as it looks though... In 28mm I\'d say it\'ll come to about 40mm high and 70mm long. I think a milliput/GS mix will do the trick.
That would be awesome, thanks. I can\'t really say I\'m optimistic though (I live in the middle of nowhere - most people here are probably too busy chasing polar bears off their gardens to worry about casting miniatures lol JK). In the likely event there is no casting service here it would be great if you could link to some tutorials on making my own moulds!
Oh yeah, where do I live? Umeå, Sweden:
http://files.upl.silentwhisper.net/upload8/umea.jpg
Oh yeah, where do I live? Umeå, Sweden:
http://files.upl.silentwhisper.net/upload8/umea.jpg
Right, can\'t think of a casting service over there. Cell entertainment was in Sweden (no idea how they are doing now - could be ou of bussiness) but I\'m not sure where they hadd their casting done. Anybody know?
For production you might want to turn to the UK in that case. Many minicasters there. TFT is one who should be able to handle such a sculpt.
As to casting instructions, I posted a whole load of links here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=5764 which includeds some casting ones.
Bye, Ming-Hua
