"Techniques for adding armor to hoplites" Topic

I have an ongoing project involving 40mm hoplites for some 6th century scenarios. I would like to add some additional armor to the thighs and arms on a couple of hoplite figures but I am not quite sure how to do this. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with this?

Is there a modeling clay or putty that air hardens for this type of work? Perhaps some thin sheet lead or foil?

The traditional thing to use would be two part epoxy putty (aka greenstuff).

Doug

If it were me I'd probably use greenstuff, which is available from many fine retailers online, and probably at a GW store near you if you can't wait.

This epoxy putty mixes up into a consistency like chewing gum; put a blob on you figure and spread it out with a sculpting tool (available at craft stores) into the shape you want. I usually add details with a hobby knife. Be aware that the stuff is sticky -- you want to dampen your fingers and the tool when working with it.

What it doesn't do is sand/file. If you want to add really sharp straight edges, you might consider Milliput (also available online), which is a little harder to work, because it's somewhat grainy, but dries harder than the alloy your figures are made of and will file very nicely.

Hope this helps.

Some sculptors use a mix of greenstuff and milliput for better handling.

Btw, I take it the extra thigh armour would be in the form of an apron or pteruges because generally the main thigh of a hoplite was unarmoured.

I recommend Procreate for novice sculptors. I regularly sculpt in blends of puttys as mentioned above but would still recommend Procreate. Procreate can give you sharper details right off a new mix and can be tooled very well with a bit of water or (after applied tO a surface) a trace of corn oil on your tool. Course, you'll need to wash your figures in dish washing soap before drying and priming.

Your better off to apply Procreate in small batches as it loses it's stickyness allot faster than Green Stuff and Milliput.

M

Thigh armour, foot armour, arm armour was used 700b.c. ish fell out of use gradually after… But looks cool! :o)

Ether drake: The thigh armor I was talking about is like a greave for the upper leg. It is pretty common in the early to mid 6th century.

Rellik: So to add armor on top of a figures limb, you would apply the putty, then trim off the excess? I assume you can model it with tools before it dries? Does Procreate sand or can you carve it after it is hard?

Thanks for the advice about washing with soap before painting. That would not have occured to me.

Yes,Yes and Yes. It sands much better than green stuff, carves well too.

Your going to have to play with it to get used to it. You'll find it much easier to tool as its less sticky to your tool. Hardens faster than GS and holds detail (memory) on one pass very well.

M

M:

Cool. Thanks for the advice.

Kyle,

If you are using 40mm figures, would you consider using kitchen tin foil, shaped to fit. I have seen it done and it looks quite neat.