Using Greenstuff

[Goosefeather]

Hi all,

never used this before but require to use it to do some filling of some rather horrendous games and join lines. Done a search on the forum but there is a whole load of text to go through, so can anyone by chance point me to some good GS tutorials, mainly for filling gaps?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TrystanGST]

Try any of the tutorials here

Other than that, keep your tools wet. GS gets very sticky, and quite frustrating, if your tools (and fingers) are dry.

Also, straight greenstuff does not sand. So keep that in mind if you were hoping to smooth things out after it cured.

 

[Goosefeather]

Doh! The same link previously posted - stickies are sticky for a reason i guess! Thanks Trystan.

 

[Wyrmypops]

If it's just for gap filling, GW do a "liquid green stuff". Saves faffing around mixing the two parts.

 

[Goosefeather]

im sure i saw a tutorial somewhere where you roll a ball of GS and flatten it into a disk and then at a drop of water to the surface and can use it to paint it into gaps - much like liquid GS i guess. But for the life of me, i cant find it again

 

[TrystanGST]

im sure i saw a tutorial somewhere where you roll a ball of GS and flatten it into a disk and then at a drop of water to the surface and can use it to paint it into gaps - much like liquid GS i guess. But for the life of me, i cant find it again

I've heard of doing it with Milliput, but I don't think that works with GS.

*edit* and the liquid GS that GW sells is just a pricier version of the green putty modelers have been using for years, like this

 

[Goosefeather]

ahh - that might be why i cant find it. Cheers fella!

 

[Goosefeather]

And therefore just found it on Massive Voodoo: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/tutorial-filling-gaps-with-milliput.html :worship!:

 

[Einion]

Actually my no. 1 piece of advice here would be not to use GS for gap filling. Any of the more clay-like putties are far better suited to the task. Kneadatite is fab stuff, just not so much for this despite how much it is used for the job.

Einion

 

[Einion]

im sure i saw a tutorial somewhere where you roll a ball of GS and flatten it into a disk and then at a drop of water to the surface and can use it to paint it into gaps - much like liquid GS i guess. But for the life of me, i cant find it again

No you can't do that with GS, it's not water-soluble. Using water that would be for something like Milliput or MagicSculp, where water dissolves them very well, or for GS you'd be using an organic solvent.

Einion

 

[Andrewcal]

I prefer Aves Apoxie Sculpt Sculpt or Apoxie Clay they are both wonderful they have a 1-3 hour working time,
can be smoothed with water or solvents, can be painted, sanded, drilled once cured it is rock hard, also is
nontoxic, nonflamable, nonhazardous, and smells like corn chips

 

[RuneBrush]

Another vote for MagicSculp for gap filling. I much prefer it over GS as it's less flexible, plus because it comes in two pots it's much easier to pinch off the amount you actually need.

One random tip for GS is that you can freeze it so that you can keep it fresh. I tend to buy GS in its tube form and cut it into 1/2 inch pieces and then freeze it. I'll keep a piece of yellow and blue in greaseproof paper and when it goes too leathery or I use it up, I just get some more out the freezer and thaw it overnight

 

[TrystanGST]

Another vote for MagicSculp for gap filling. I much prefer it over GS as it's less flexible, plus because it comes in two pots it's much easier to pinch off the amount you actually need.

One random tip for GS is that you can freeze it so that you can keep it fresh. I tend to buy GS in its tube form and cut it into 1/2 inch pieces and then freeze it. I'll keep a piece of yellow and blue in greaseproof paper and when it goes too leathery or I use it up, I just get some more out the freezer and thaw it overnight

Will it hold indefinitely like this? I've put it in the freezer before (post mixing), but I get maybe 12 hours out of it before it becomes unusable after thawing.

 

[Bloodhowl]

Will it hold indefinitely like this? I've put it in the freezer before (post mixing), but I get maybe 12 hours out of it before it becomes unusable after thawing.

As long as you don't mix it it should keep a good long while. I have some I have had in the freezer for over 5 years (and some I have not kept in the freezer) and it works fine after you mix it together. Once you mix it and start the curing process, freezing won't stop it from hardening, it just slows it down a bit.

 

[TrystanGST]

Gotcha. I've had a bunch of the gunk sitting on the table (unmixed) for a couple years now with no issues. I can still use it just like if I had purchased it yesterday. The Milliput tends to develop a skin, but the GS is just fine.

 

[Einion]

Will it hold indefinitely like this? I've put it in the freezer before (post mixing), but I get maybe 12 hours out of it before it becomes unusable after thawing.

Freezing will extend the shelf-life of other epoxies and as they all have similar chemistries it should help with all or most others too. For Kneadatite though, now that it's sold in separate rolls it keeps much longer than it used to already.

It's the hardener that goes in the fridge by the way, not needed with the resin component (usually the softer part).

...

In terms of extending storage time for mixed putty I've found Apoxie Sculpt is king, one of the reasons I've become so fond of it in the last year or so. I can still use a small blob after more than 36 hours in the freezer if I put it in early enough after mixing.

12 hours or so is about the limit I've found with MagicSculp which surprised me, I thought that they were similar enough that they'd react much more similarly to freezing.

Einion

 

[Zab]

Get some size 0 silicon colour shapers. It will make your life so much easier if you are going to work with GS. Blick has decent prices on them. Get the firm ones. GS doesn't stick to silicon. :curl-lip:

 

[Einion]

Get some size 0 silicon colour shapers. ... Get the firm ones.

Agreed, I think the the grey ones are the best all-rounders.

Just a note for those new to sculpting, silicone-tipped tools - ClayShapers or Colour Shapers - are great but for the finest work you need hard tools, so you do have to get used to dealing with the stickiness of Kneadatite on hard materials.

There are some previous threads with talk of the preferred profiles of Colour Shaper to get but bottom line is that the Taper Point is the most versatile if you're going to get just one; I think the Flat Chisel (a wedge shaped) is the next most useful. To go a stage further, you may also like to hunt through the archives for the couple of threads on using teflon rod for tool tips.

Einion

 

[Zab]

Yep, I find them invaluable for blending in the GS with the joint of mini initially, but you could use everything from spare nails to bend clothes pins to BBQ skewers for any other details with GS - my GS tool box looks like a box of junk but its full of useful weird shaped thingees Coating those tools with chapstick can help reduce the stickyness a fair bit but nothing is perfect. To remove really fine imperfections on the cured surface (like finger prints) i go back and forth between fine grit sand paper and a few thin glazes of nail polish remover.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Also, straight greenstuff does not sand.

Erm just seen this.
I've not encountered an inability to sand greenstuff, either traditional GS or liquid.