newbie sculpting tips

[tallghost]

Wow, I should have asked this BEFORE I started, but I'm a ghost of very little brain.

My freinds and myself are going to try our hands at playing Deadlands, so I thought I would make a mini to fit my guy (several in our group are already being represented by various Ortegas -- FF, my wife LOVES Perdita. I'm afarid she may leave me for a mini!) S

The guy I'm playing is a holy man of sorts who isn't much of a gun fighter. He is however, a sin bashing hard ass who pulled the cross off the wall of his ruined church and regyularly uses it to beat backsliders and abominations into submission.
So I dug out a Black Scorpion mini that I was never hapy with, scrubbed off the incomplete, crappy paintjob, and set to work.

The conversion is easy. I cut all of the nubbly bits off of the shotgun this fellow was holding, smoothed out the bumps with a file and some green stuff, and then added a crossbeam made of green stuff. I didn't build an armature underneath or anything, bcause I didn't think I needed it. was this a mistake?
Also, since I figured this cros peice would just be a flat chunk of wood, I didn't really SCULPT it, so much as mush it on there, figuring I would just file it down to shape once it dried. Was this a bad idea, or will it work out ok?
I currently have him sitting under desk lamp, because I remember hearing somewhere that this would help to "bake" the green stuff so it sets up more quickly.

[Lordfishbane]

The lack of armature may be a bit of a problem while attempting to sand it down. I would use an x-acto knife to cut and carve it into shape.

[goblyn13]

I agree with Lordfishbane, use the x-acto to carve it into the block form, the use the file sparingly just to smooth out some of the bumpier cuts, although you may want to consider keepingi t kinda bumpy to give it that haphazard wood carving feel to it.. The Lamp will help to speed setting, but the big problem with green stuff is its still pliable afterwards.

[Coneman]

I would make the cross on a piece of plasticard and attached it after it was set. It would make the shaping and final trimming easier.

[cdukino]

Greenstuff doesn't file easily. It always remain a bit rubbery as it's not a hard drying putty. Putting it under a lamp speeds up curing time. But be sure not to put it in a to hot place close to the lamp or it might form small bubbels in the greenstuff, making filing even harder. Curing is a chemical proces between the yellow and blue parts, not a drying one. But it is the heat that speeds up this proces. To much and it gets burned (darker... doesn't mean it's unuable darkened.) or get the sponge like bubbly structure (not bad for one offs, bad to reshape (cut/file) and bad for casting)

The lack of armature might be a problem to. It's bendable and it might tear... depending on the size of the cross.

I would have used brownstuff or procreate as they cure harder and are more filable afterwards. Or i would have made the cross seperate with plasticcard or a sheet of putty rolled out and cured, then cut. Then glued on the figure. Thet way the figure also is out of risk of being accidentally cut or filed.

[gi6ers]

I think I'll stick to painting!

[Lono]

Just stick a few bits of plasticard together, whack a thin layer of GS over the top, and once it is beginning to cure start to carve texture into it. For wood grain you can just use an Exacto knife. Start by putting in the knots in the wood, then carefully mark out the grain around it.

As long as you approach things as logically as you can with sculpting it generally works out fine.

[Wren]

If you decide to try one of the things people have suggested here, you should be able to shave/cut off the GS you already added with an exacto fairly easily. Sculpting advice recently emphasized to me - don't be afraid to cut it off and go again if you don't like it. :->