"Anyone Making 15mm SF Terrain With POLYMER CLAYS?" Topic

Be they Sculpey, Super Sculpey, Fimo, Kato, etc.?

If so, I would love for you to show us your work and, more importantly, show us how you made them!!! I'm really curious to see what 15mm terrain pieces are possible to make with polymer clays.

I figure that, if someone can make modern 15mm WWII terrain pieces like this with Sculpey, for sure someone has tried to make other 15mm stuff for SF use:

TMP link

So, what 15mm SF terrain pieces have you made, or seen others make, using polymer clays?

People with the newer generation finer clays must be coming up with all sorts of awesome things.

Thanks so much,

Dan

I've made dungeon tiles and the like, but haven't yet done anything sci-fi.

That TMP article link is awesome. Thanks for posting it.

I made some real easy dragon's teeth and plan to make some brick walls when I start on the ruined city board. I must admit to never thinking about using for a full building. Might have to give that a try. Tons of HO scale plans out on the web that could be used as templates. Even a paper model could be used.

DeviantSaint,

I like the idea of making an ancient alien ruined city, something I can also use as an Atlantean outpost in decay. I wonder if these moulds can withstand the heat needed to cure Sculpey:

candlegoodies.com/1010.htm

They are just large enough to use as individual graves (like those built in ancient Nubia) or to crown the tops of larger structures.

I would be afraid to use these 3-corner metal ones, for fear the metal might overcook the Sculpey or shrink and keep me from removing the model:

candlegoodies.com/1012.htm

And Nathaniel, I also would like to try and make some type of corridor tile system that I can use for the Giger-style Aliens from the films Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986):

TMP link

So, Nathaniel, about those tiles, can you give us some pointers on how to make them, particularly how to decide on configurations and making them fit flush with each other?

Thanks,

Dan

Guys,

Check out these Sculpey trenches:

link

Something cool done in part with Fimo (French):

link

Sculpey tentacled "trees":

link

And these Sculpey craters:

link

Sculpey jungle ruins:

link

Dan

Some Fimo furniture and trash:

link
link

A Fimo foxhole:

link

Dan
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There are some cool aluminum candle molds around that would probably make for good Sculpey molds. You could press Sculpey all around the inside (to about 1/4" thick, I would think) and make a hex-shaped, crescent-moon-shaped, or trapezoid-shaped building, for instance.

Here's a photo of various candle molds:

The tiles were made simply by rolling out Fimo Soft (now I use cheap store brand polymer clay--Michael's "CraftSmart" – it's harder to work with but cheaper) with too dowels on either side to regulate the height.

Then I took a green scrubbing pad and pressed it lightly into the surface to give it a stone texture. Then I took a bbq skewer and preased it in at measured intervals to get my tile spacings to make squares (these were for D&D).

I simply trimmed them along the centre of these impression to make the shapes I wanted. As long as I cut straight and stayed in the centre of the impressions, they lined up with one another. So cutting them after they were cured is what solved it for me.

When I baked them, I covered them with a quarter inch of baking soda. No smell comes out of the oven at all this way and I found they shrunk a bit less as well. I shook off the baking soda into a container marked to make sure no one accidentally then used it for food related purposes. I was able to reuse the baking soda multiple times. I think in some countries baking soda is called "baking bicarb" for those who are wondering what I'm talking about.

link

I think the metal moulds would be fine. The clay shrinks and should just pull away from the mould. If it doesn't, dust it with baking soda before you put the clay in-- though that will give it a bit of a powerdery stone texture.

If you're worried about burning, you can simply lower the temperature and increase the time. Many people actually use a double boiler (or just a pot) and boil their polymer clay.

YouTube link

He is doing very thin details so his boiling is very rapid. If you went for the normal quarter inch or half inch thick polymer clay formations, it would take much, much longer. Like 15 minutes. Also, different clays require different times. Fimo Soft requires almost twice the time as the crappy stuff I use now.

Yes I use polymer clay all the time.

I have baked flat sheets of it and then cut and broken them for pavement and structural elements.

Some where in the collection there is a box with a "Bug" village where the buildings are small dixie cups covered with clay.

I made a bunch of 3/4 tiles out of it for use on a terrain board. (keeping them square was the issue there.)

Recently I have been making hex tiles out of it.

It's amazing how our brains don't just click sometimes and he need other people to tell use what immediately seems obvious after you hear it.

I was just wondering today how I was going to make broken concrete for a post apocalyptic terrain table. And then I come here and find your post infojunky.

Thanks!

Check out this tutorial for making alien-looking trees using Sculpey:

YouTube link

Dan