Sculpting Clays an Primer Preferences

[Irish Rebel]

I want to start sculpting busts and larger scale minis ( 50 - 75mm) and was curious, if there are any other sculpters out there, what scultping putty would be good as a base?

I use the kneadite epoxy, plastic and various bits and such for details, but as a base to work on, for something large scale, what would be a good air-drying putty to use? I'm looking for something affordable, but good ion quality. Not the oven-dry $$$$$$$$ haha.

Also: what is a good brand primer to use? I used GW's back when they were eight bucks a can (yes I know, hard to think back that far) but when they doubled in price, I started using the 4$ painters touch 2x primer. I'm not extremely happy with it, the price is right, but the oil from my hands mixes with the primer while holding the mini and it causes it to get gunky and rub on in places. Also doesn't hold the paint to the model very well.

Any suggestions? Looking for something of good quality and fair pricing.

Cheers!

[Jens]

Milliput is at least cheaper than kneadite and fairly nice to work with. Personally I add 1/3 of Fimo since it slows the curing a bit and makes it a bit more elastic + you can bake it if needed later (even with 1/3 Fimo it will cure nicely without any baking).

I stayed with the GW primer - if you consider that you usually prime easily several 100$ worth of miniatures I wouldn't do any compromises in quality, you'll likely save much less than 5% overall value if you consider the price of miniatures, putty, paints and all the other tools needed. I bet there are potentially many products that do the trick for less money, but a can of primer that is of lesser quality is completly wasted.

Edited July 31, 2011 by Jens

[Stargazer]

Primer wise I use Army Painter it seems to work brilliantly, both their black and grey are nice primers. And I'd agree with Jens on milliput it's also more resilient to sanding and filing if needed and will hold a sharper edge than epoxy.

[derv]

Vallejo aerosol primer is very good. Around the same price as GW sprays, but goes on much smoother and is extremely durable, e.g. won't rub off at all even with lots of handling.

GW sprays have been very hit and miss for me. Their white often came out powdery and their black sometimes went on more of a dark blue. I've not had much luck with Army Painter either, found it dried quite shiney and the paint didn't ahere very well.

The only other spray primer I've found that I'm happy with is matt primer from Halfords, the black in particular - not sure if this is available outside the UK though.

[Irish Rebel]

I will definitely have to look into multiput, I plan to sculpt a Plague Marine bust, as they were my obsession when I was into 40k some time ago. I've got the entire thing mapped out in my head to the finest detail, and if I spend weeks sculpting and painting it, I want the quality of the mediums to be up to par with the time and work put into it.

Have you guys had any luck with p3 primers? They have them at my local indie store at 10$ a can, which isn't too bad.

There are definitely items I will splurge on, such as the GW detail brushes, which last me a good year or so rather than a month or two (like the ones at Michaels). Sculpting tools I buy off amazon for fairly cheap of and good quality - metal with hard rubber tips that don't stick to the epoxies. I definitely see the point in spending the extra cash for quality primer, especially with the time put into painting the minis.

What about matte clear coats? GW purity seal or another brand? Lately I have been doing a gloss then matte clear coat, but at times it fogs the paint and blends the shadows a bit too much.

Thanks for the feedback!

Cheers

[Jens]

To my knowledge there are three types of clear coats:

* some simply protected the colour from enviromental influences - you almost don't see the difference once they are applied - you find these in art stores. But they won't help you to protect your minis from game usage (paint will chip almost as easily as if you hadn't apllied it). The brand Schmincke has several pretty good ones and I usually apply a thin layer on any non-gaming models

* the more glossy kind such as the purity seal by GW are the best when it comes to protection concerning gaming. They dry hard and you can apply a slightly stronger layer since they are perfectly clear, but the downside it their semi-gloss or glossy finish.

* the ones with a really flat finish tend not to protect the paint too well and if you apply multiple layers they will eventually change colours a bit etc. pp - they are best used as a really thin layer after a glossy clear coat. I was told testors dull coat is the best, but unfortunally not available over here in germany. There are several pretty good ones you can apply with a brush or airbrush however. I mix a bit of Tamiya flat base with a vallejo varnish - that kills all reflections but you have to be very careful with the flat base medium by Tamiya (your miniature will look almost as if frosted if you add too much).

I use Topcoat flat by Mr.Hobby (japanese brand) - unfortunally really pricy (88ml sprying can cost around 20$), but the best one I found so far and if I'm careful with my miniatures when playing the protection is good enough.

Edited August 1, 2011 by Jens

[Yazza]

i've been using magic sculp for detail wark, especiallo on scharp edges

and i did not know you could mix fimo trough milliput, i knew it works with greenstuff wich give something fun to work with but is a b****c to mix together

[Yazza]

I was told testors dull coat is the best, but unfortunally not available over here in germany. There are several pretty good ones you can apply with a brush or airbrush however.

I use Topcoat flat by Mr.Hobby (japanese brand) - unfortunally really pricy (88ml sprying can cost around 20$), .

seriously jensen? thats a lot, we in antwerp belgium sell topcoats for 8.80€ and we have dullcoat, the brush on version, best flat varnish ever

[Jens]

The local store charges 14 € for topcoats and I assumed that would be roughly the standard price - ah well, I don't need a lot of it anyhow. But I'll try getting my hand on the brush on version.