Materials Primer

Polymeric Kneadatite Blue Yellow

Work Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Fully Cured: 24 hours

New sculptors especially seem to have a love/hate relationship with Green Stuff. Green stuff remains the weapon of choice for good reason however. It takes detail better than anything else. Period.

The difficulties with green stuff stem from the same properties that make it so useful.

Green stuff is very, very sticky. The consistency is similar to chewing gum. This is beneficial because even very small details without much surface area will stick. Need to put eyelids on a 15mm figure? Not a problem.

That stickiness is useful not only in the finishing stages, but also in the beginning. Green Stuff bonds very well to armatures. I use it in my sculpting the way I use primer in my painting. My first layer on bare wire for miniatures is always Green Stuff, regardless of whether I’m using Fimo, ProCreate, or any other material for the rest of the figure. It just sticks better.

The disadvantage of that stickiness is the need for constant lubrication. Water works OK for the initial stages. Make sure there isn’t too much water on your tools or the water may pool on the figure, obscuring it temporarily. To get the smoothest finish possible, you’ll need to use something stronger. Vaseline is common. Only a tiny amount is necessary. A thin film on the tool surface is all that is needed. To remove Vaseline, a paintbrush full of rubbing alcohol usually does the trick.

Green Stuff’s “memory” also takes a little bit of getting used to. The putty has a slight bounce to it. When it’s pushed or pulled around, it comes back a little. This can be very beneficial for creating organic shapes, as it can help to create a smoother, more natural appearance. It can be a bit frustrating when trying to create sharp edges, as those edges sometimes need to be worked and reworked to prevent them from softening.

During the roughly two hours that Green Stuff remains workable, the putty undergoes a constant, dramatic change in properties. It begins very soft and sticky, often too soft to work immediately. As it cures, it becomes progressively harder, less sticky and, more rubbery, and the memory increases. These different stages are best suited to sculpting different things. For example, most people have more success sculpting faces after the putty has set for about half an hour. Otherwise it is too soft. Rivets need to be applied when the putty is first mixed and is at its stickiest, but shouldn’t be cut out until the putty has firmed up for a while, so they retain their shape better.

Green stuff never becomes completely hard. Even fully cured it remains slightly rubbery. The main advantage to this does not reflect its workability, but rather its castability. The slight give to the material allows it to give slightly under the pressure required during vulcanization. This pressure can sometimes cause figures sculpted in harder materials to crack. The disadvantage is this rubberiness makes it difficult to do “dry work”, ie. sanding or carving.

Brown Stuff

Work Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Fully Cured: 24 hours

Brown stuff is similar to green stuff in most respects. Be sure to mix thoroughly as it seems that the putty can sometimes look like it is completely mixed before it actually is.

When wet, the prime difference between Green and Brown is the lack of memory. There is a slight bit in the Brown, but it is significantly less than that of Green Stuff.

The real difference is in their cured states. Where as Green Stuff remains rubbery, Brown Stuff dries hard and can be sanded and filed down as necessary in order to create sharp edges.

Because of the lack of memory and the harder cured state, Brown Stuff is best suited to creating inorganic shapes that require hard, sharp edges. For miniatures, this usually means things like weapon blades and armor plates.

Aves Studio Apoxie Sculpt/Magicsculp

Work Time: 2-3 hours
Fully Cured: 24 hours

I’ve used both of these materials quite a bit. In my experience they are virtually interchangeable. You could probably throw in Milliput along with these two as well. Like Kneadatite, these are all two part materials that begin curing when mixed. One difference, which is immediately apparent, is the way in which they react to water. Green Stuff doesn’t mix with water. These do. If you try to use water as a lubricant on your tools in the early stages, you will end up with a gloppy mess. Talcum powder works best initially. As these materials cure and begin to stiffen up, water can be used for smoothing or for normal lubrication, as can Vaseline.

When first mixed, the materials are very soft, which allows them to be quickly manipulated into the correct shape, but the softness can be a drawback when trying to add detail, and you’ll need to wait until the putties are firmer to do that.

These materials dry rock hard, much harder than brown stuff. This makes them ideal for blades and armor edges. The disadvantage to this comes into play when parts need to be removed or repositioned. These materials are much harder to cut through compared to Green stuff and it is often difficult to remove parts without damaging them.

I wouldn't recommend trying to create miniatures using these materials on their own. It would be very difficult. I do frequently use these materials mixed with Green Stuff, Brown Stuff, or ProCreate. On their own, I think these materials are better suited to larger figures.

Kraftmark ProCreate

Work Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Fully Cured: 24 hours

ProCreate is a newer material that has become very popular in a short amount of time. Its tell-tale gray color is very similar in appearance to Games Workshop’s gray plastic figures. I think it reminds me of the ill-fated Kneadatite White Stuff. I say I think, because I only used a couple strips of the stuff and that was about five years ago.

This putty is the easiest to use for beginners. Compared to Green Stuff, it is initially firmer and it is less sticky. The color of the putty is advertised as a benefit, making it easier to see detail in gray instead of green, but I didn’t find this to be the case. In fact I found it a little more difficult to see with the lighter mixes.

The properties are more stable throughout the curing process than the other materials previously mentioned. The mix of the components is also something that has been marketed as being more advanced than green stuff. According to the manufacturer, adding more white creates a harder putty better suited for hard edges (like Brown Stuff) while adding more black creates the softer putty better suited for more organic shapes (like Green Stuff). I didn’t really find this to be the case. Even with a 75% white mix, it doesn’t file as well as I’d like. In essence, it’s marketed as a one-size-fits-all material. To be honest, I haven’t really found that to be the case. It is more stable. This makes it easier to learn for new sculptors, but I also think this can be a somewhat limiting factor. It’s by no means a bad material. In fact, it’s quite good. For me it’s been more of a supplement than a replacement (which it seems to be marketed as).

Polymer Clays (Fimo, Premo, Sculpey)

Work Time: Unlimited
Fully Cured: After baking

I’ve only done about a dozen sculpts in polymer clay, so I can’t comment on the nuances between the different types. Well I could, but I’d just be making stuff up. I’ll update this as I figure out what I’m doing.

Polymer Clays (PCs) don’t harden until after they are baked. You have unlimited working time. You can start a figure, let it sit for a couple weeks, and come back and finish it. This is an advantage because you aren’t up against the clock and you are not dealing with changing properties. This can be a disadvantage because if the entire figure is still uncured PC, there’s always a chance that you can still completely ruin it. One way around this is to do multiple bakes, much like painters will seal a figure after finishing specific areas of it.

Because the PC doesn’t harden, it is imperative that there is a solid sub-structure underneath. I start PC miniatures the same way I start figures with green stuff. The wire armature is created, posed, and bulked out. The bulking is done initially with green stuff, because it sticks to wire better, then with Apoxie Sculpt, because it’s firmer. The PC is saved for the surfaces that will show in the final sculpt.

Colour Shapers and Clay Shapers are the best tools for working PC’s as the metal can sometimes be too much for softer mixes.

PC can be hardened by “leaching.” Let it sit overnight on a porous material like paper. Some of the oil will absorb, resulting in a firmer clay. I prefer firmer clay for areas like faces that require sharper details.

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