"28mm sculpting work in progress..." Topic

I am an artist and modeller who in the past has sculpted the occasional piece in 1/6th scale and larger. I have reasonable anatomy skills and have experience with zBrush, digital tools and casting processes.

Initially I started with videos and web sites then found the great tutorials by Miniature Mentor- for someone new to this scale and techniques I can't recommend them enough.

Next was to trial all the material options. First up was green stuff/Kneadatite. I hated it, nothing like Sculpey and nothing like Apoxie Sculpt which I liked to use with kits. I couldn't understand how to detail with the tackiness and the short setting times. Next was Procreate- I had read great things about it and I do like it much better than Green stuff for its workability. Then after purchasing a couple of the tutorials featuring the Rackham artists I tried Fimo. I had recently purchased some Rackham pieces on Ebay and was blown away by their sculpts and gesture- a shame they are no longer around.
Fimo is brilliant- its cheap, holds the detail, can be smoothed with solvent and is just much much easier to work with than the putties. I am yet to bake a piece but so far- so good.

I'm learning a lot and I'll update with progress.
cheers,

Looks very good, it´s obvious that you´ve some experience in this field :)

Interesting observations about fimo, I´ve yet to try that but I´m put off by the fact that it´s oven-hardening. I´m using Apoxie sculpt for my 20mm sculpting, works fine for me even on the small scale.

Hoping to see some more stuff from you!

Looks like you're off to a great start.

I hear what you're saying about Green Stuff; you always feel like you're racing against the clock with it. (ProCreate too, really.) Still I love their durability compared to polymer clays, and the fact that you never have to worry about stuff drooping or cracking in the oven.

I tend to use Super Sculpey for larger pieces (terrain mostly) and the epoxy putties for my actual minis. Have never tried Fimo though, you've got me curious to pick some up.

Keep up the good work!

I prefer FIMO as well, but I do still use green stuff and brown stuff a lot.

Brown stuff isn't as "rubbery" as green stuff and it cures much harder so you can sand it and file it well. You can also lathe it on a Dremel.

When I use FIMO I don't bake it, I use a heat gun. The kind you get at hardware stores to strip paint. Hold it about 10" away from the model and heat it up a little at a time. Be careful not to let it get too hot or bubbles can form. Heat it up, let it cool for a minute then heat it up again.

That way you can cure parts of the model as you sculpt without fear of damaging parts you just sculpted, then after the whole model is finished you can bake it.

Don't use your kitchen oven to bake polymer clays. Use a toaster oven. The gasses can build up in your oven and contaminate food you might later cook (how many of you clean you ovens out regularly?).

When using heat to cure polymer clays, don't let it burn. Burning PVC or phthalates can create hydrochloride gas which can kill you if your not careful.

Polymer clays also have a chemical in them called a phthalate that has been known to cause a number of health issues.

So wash your hands when using polymer clays, don't eat anything with your hands while sculpting with it (like chips or cookies).

Thanks guys.

Black Guardian- pretty limited and only on larger pieces about a decade ago. I am rediscovering all this including the hobby after finding a bunch of boxes in our last move.

MechanicalHorizon- good advice, I was thinking about a heat gun approach, I have one I use to smooth Chavant with for large pieces. I'm looking at a $50 USD convection table top oven to bake these. I had used Sculpey around 15 years ago and used to bake at a friends studio that was set up for sculpting/mold making. It's wise to be very aware of the toxicity of all these materials and something I don't take lightly.

I am using green stuff over the armature and attaching Fimo asap to achieve a nice bond. For the fur cloak and spear and dagger i'll use Procreate and some ApoxieSculpt. I find it the best to tool and sand. (I generally wet sand everything- any particulate matter is no good for you) Tooling blades and details has been so far problematic and I have been toying with the idea of 3D printing these although at this stage haven't been able to get any good results on a friends printer.

This is all quite new to me but i'm finding these skills from the entertainment industries are plugging straight into the hobby.

That barrel and spear would come out pretty good I'd imagine and the problems with the meshes should be easy to clean up, if there are any.

My issue is: If I print something in 3D, say from Shapeways. What material do I make the original so I can then say send the original overseas to be mass produced? As far as I know the mould process uses a lot of heat to make the plates.

Also, if you are doing these in fimo/super sculpey, will that hold up to the mould process? I've made moulds at home but those were just cold moulds.

btw, the detail in those cloth on the character on the right is awesome. I'm loving that sculpt. The things I worry about are reproduction of such a large pokey weapon, like that spear.

Grogbro, Shapeways doesn't really offer a service for the level of detail required. I understand FUD (Frosted Ultra Detail) plastic is the closest and some have managed to get a decent amount of detail but there are also new restrictions with width.
The above pieces didn't print well on the Ultimaker- the heated platform causes problems with the small scale and the detail isn't quite there. I am currently looking at the B9 Creator and have seen promising results on their forum and that technology is better suited to miniatures.

Not sure if the Fimo will be a problem, I have yet to bake a piece. There is a silicone range for low melt metals so in that case it wouldn't be a drama. Though I'd rather send off the pieces to a shop than cast my own.

Otherwise resin is always an option but I'd prefer white metal. I've got a bit of experience with resin casting and recently scratchbuilt and cast these tank traps…

Thanks for the kind words, i'm working on that piece and will have an update soon.

Updates on the dwarf fimo sculpt…

http://revisitingthewarp.blogspot.com.au