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Is there a trick to using this stuff or does it just come with practice because I try to use it and fail horribly. Anyone have good tips?

Keep working at it with practice models, if you dont like it scrap it off and work at it again, practice makes perfect (some longer than others)

Keep a little pot of water handy, and dip your tools in that. Tap it so there's not a lot of water on it, and the dampness will keep the Green Stuff from sticking to your tools.

Other than that, keep poking it till it looks good, and practice makes perfect.

I have started getting basic shape on with GS, letting it harden, and then carving the tiny stuff with my scalpel.

MAKE SURE you keep your tools, and even more, your hands, wet when working with it, or the green stuff will stick to it and end up looking like crap. Otherwise, practice practice practice!

Great tutorial on the forums here for greestuff tips.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/242387.page

Thank you I find the tips on the water and the tutorial will definitely help I think the problem was that it was sticking everywhere so the water will help.

ProCreate- aka Grey Stuff, is easier to learn to work with than green stuff. Its a newer product thats actually made for sculpting- but it hasnt gotten as popular because its not 'traditional'. Its kinda weird people will use something thats less than ideal just because its what theyre used to

Green stuff does take better pics then grey stuff though- better color contrast.

I will look into the grey stuff and see if I can find any. Do you guys model with gloves on or just straight up with your bare hands because I don't know if one is better or not.

A lot of people suggest wetting your fingers or scalpels, this is a good idea, but the trouble is, that any surface you *want* greenstuff to adhere too must stay completely dry. A difficult situation indeed.

My advice is to use a lubricant like Carmex, or chapstick on your sculpting tools. It stops the green stuff from sticking where it aint wanted, and it stays on the blade.

Ive been working with a lot of greenstuff today and will be posting the results on my Ork kitbashing thread soon.

Good luck, and lemme know if you have any specific questions regarding Green stuff.

P.s, another thing you could try is Araldite. It cannot hold as much detail as GS, but it sets much much harder, and much much faster.

I find the setting time for GS to be just fine where it is really. Admittedly sometimes i'd like to set a bit SLOWER actually.

Other than "keep the tools wet", and "practice, practice, practice" I've found that what really helps is to see the process as having 4 "phases":
1st : 1-5 minutes after freshly mixed. super sticky. Apply the GS where you plan on working in quantities that are roughly what you think you'll need. Mostly with fingers.
2nd: 5-15 minutes after mixing. still sticky but needs to be pressed and smoothed on. Tool time. Go over those first areas with tools and start sketching in the detail. Careful not to accidentally press into fresh work as your fingerprints will kill your work. Don't worry if it happens the GS is still soft enough than you can just shape it again. If you need super fine detail strips, such as for bulking the tendon areas on tyranid knees/elbows shape them sometime near the 12-15 minute mark. I've found that's the time the putty has just the perfect mix of hardness, stretchiness and stickyness for such small parts.
3rd: 15-30 minutes. firmer and not as sticky. If your tools are mirror smooth you can probably stop keeping them wet at this point. GS now seems to have a bit of a "surface memory" so you'll have to start pressing progressively harder as this phase goes on. This is also when you can press in the fine detail for scratches and armour ridges.
4th: 30-60 minutes. almost not sticky at all anymore. A piece of GS that's reached this phase probably won't stick to anything except more GS and even then, you'll have to press hard to shape it. If you have a lot of crisp super fine detail to add to and area, like veins on a dragon's neck or undercutting the edges of purity seals on a Dreadnought, now's the time to do it.

Once you keep this in mind the next step is getting a good set of sculpting tools which any good LGS or art supply store should have.
Here's a quick pic to give you an idea of what to look for.



The black handled ones standing up in the cube of florist foam are soft rubber (or silicone, not too sure) paint shapers but they work really well. Not only does GS not to stick but because they deform slightly under pressure you can sculpt really soft contours and smooth out a lot of problem spots.
The big handled steel ones are dental prosthetic sculpting tools.
The slim handled ones are clay sculpting tools
For small round dimples I also tend to use the butt end of the red-handled needle files.

And that's it. Hope this helps,

Dark_Gear

Dark_Gear wrote:I find the setting time for GS to be just fine where it is really. Admittedly sometimes i'd like to set a bit SLOWER actually.

Other than "keep the tools wet", and "practice, practice, practice" I've found that what really helps is to see the process as having 4 "phases":
1st : 1-5 minutes after freshly mixed. super sticky. Apply the GS where you plan on working in quantities that are roughly what you think you'll need. Mostly with fingers.
2nd: 5-15 minutes after mixing. still sticky but needs to be pressed and smoothed on. Tool time. Go over those first areas with tools and start sketching in the detail. Careful not to accidentally press into fresh work as your fingerprints will kill your work. Don't worry if it happens the GS is still soft enough than you can just shape it again. If you need super fine detail strips, such as for bulking the tendon areas on tyranid knees/elbows shape them sometime near the 12-15 minute mark. I've found that's the time the putty has just the perfect mix of hardness, stretchiness and stickyness for such small parts.
3rd: 15-30 minutes. firmer and not as sticky. If your tools are mirror smooth you can probably stop keeping them wet at this point. GS now seems to have a bit of a "surface memory" so you'll have to start pressing progressively harder as this phase goes on. This is also when you can press in the fine detail for scratches and armour ridges.
4th: 30-60 minutes. almost not sticky at all anymore. A piece of GS that's reached this phase probably won't stick to anything except more GS and even then, you'll have to press hard to shape it. If you have a lot of crisp super fine detail to add to and area, like veins on a dragon's neck or undercutting the edges of purity seals on a Dreadnought, now's the time to do it.

Once you keep this in mind the next step is getting a good set of sculpting tools which any good LGS or art supply store should have.
Here's a quick pic to give you an idea of what to look for.



The black handled ones standing up in the cube of florist foam are soft rubber (or silicone, not too sure) paint shapers but they work really well. Not only does GS not to stick but because they deform slightly under pressure you can sculpt really soft contours and smooth out a lot of problem spots.
The big handled steel ones are dental prosthetic sculpting tools.
The slim handled ones are clay sculpting tools
For small round dimples I also tend to use the butt end of the red-handled needle files.

And that's it. Hope this helps,

Dark_Gear

Fantastic breakdown Dark Gear,

Applying the Gs within the first few minutes to where your sculpting it is key.
Nothing is worse than trying to get it too stick after its begun to harden.

I've found that using a tiny drop of massage (baby) oil in the sculpting tools completely avoids and sticking problems.
Most of these oils will evaporate off as the model dries, but its still a good idea to lightly wash the model before painting, or adding another layer of GS.

Yah I don't have many tools, I'll have to get some more. Thanks for the tips on this I'm sure they will help. I think I'll just practice on small models and get better before I try it on any major models.

I am just starting to work with greenstuff as well and you honestly do not need that many tools. Some of the best greenstuff sculptors use 3 tools maximum. Usually some type of pick, a razor or scalpel, and some type of smoothing tool. That's all you really need to do any work with greenstuff.

I do most of my stuff with three tools, but I like having access to more when they different shaped bits are convenient. One thing I need to get still though is one of the dental scrapers for a good sharp pointed needle.

You can use the back part of the tip of an exacto knife for the time being. That's what I used to start out until I got a pointy clay thing.

http://painting.about.com/od/artsupplies/ig/Intro-to-Art-Paint-Brushes/Brush-ColShapers.htm
^ About paint Shapers
http://www.indigo.com/tools/dental-picks-probes.html

http://www.amazon.com/8-Dental-Tools-Carvers-Picks/dp/B000BL28GC

^ third one up from the bottom looks familiar

If you guys are after "grey stuff" i do know that gale force 9 are a good supplier of it.

But yea.. i've done a few model conversions with added green stuff. I've ajusted some of the arms of my crisis suits so that they are straight (simple stuff, good for beginners, looks good too). I've also created a twin-linked missile pod by greenstuff'ing 2 pods together and keeping the gaps nice and flat, turned out rather nicely.

Those websites look awesome thank you.

Its all good

SonofRuss: Good job on finding the websites

True, you most certainly don't need all the tool I use every single on them has been used at one point or another. Everyone is different and that's just what I use.
If you're short of cash, live far from a good art supply store and/or have a bunch of left over sprue frames left over, just carve your GS shapers.
That way you can create a whole set of custom punches for special jobs that require you to recreate a single shape in series, like bullet holes or tyranid arm vents for example.

Two more bits of information:
1-I don't know what tutorial sites you've been to so far but just in case you haven't read this yet, when using the GS strips, ALWAYS remove the middle of the strip before mixing. Seeing as how the two colours react with each other If you leave the middle area in there you will get hardened chunks.
2- Don't buy your GS from GW but order it online. I normally get it from ebay. Would you rather pay 10$ for 6 inches of repackaged GS or 10$ for 36inches of fresh GS. Case in point (as long as the link lasts):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kneadatite-Blue-Yellow-Epoxy-Tape_W0QQitemZ120452909196QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0b8d888c

Even if you can't see yourself using that much in the foreseeable future, split that order with a couple of buddies. Seriously, why give GW 60$ when you can get 6x when you can get the same quantity for 10$?
Once you have all that "extra" GS to play with you'll find yourself finding a lot more uses for it, such as building bases and what not.

As for the whole Green vs. Grey Stuff debate. I think people prefer the green because it's easier to tell when it's properly mixed and it's got a fair bit of flex to it even when it's cured. Also, nobody has mentioned Brown Stuff. It's another 2 part putty that has just about the same qualities of GS except it holds fine detail better, meaning if you want crisp sword edges or sharp angles, you're better off with this stuff. It is a bit more brittle though so you wouldn't want to create a whole model out of it. However, if you're new to the wonderful world of sculpting putties, stick to GS until you get comfortable.

Cheers,

Dark_Gear

http://polymericsystems.com/epoxies-adhesives/epoxy-putty-tapes/index.html
Or you could get it from the manufacturer

http://polymericsystems.com/epoxies-adhesives/epoxy-putty-sticks/index.html

http://polymericsystems.com/epoxies-adhesives/epoxy-putty-bars/index.html

Those websites are also awesome!!

I've found that using a tiny bit of vaseline when mixing the Greenstuff really keeps it from sticking to your fingers or tools. I usually just mix the GS a little bit with vaseline on my fingers, then wipe it off so I can actually grip it.

And for sculpting small details, I've been using an old sewing needle, rather than my actually sculpting tool. Other than that, just keep at it, and you'll get better.

Also, does anyone know if there's an alternative to GS that cures faster? I'd rather not have to wait a day for it to cure. I'm exaggerating, but that's how long it seems to take.

Add more blue, it'll harden faster.

how do you get fingerprints out? is it just a case of smoothing it down with water and a tool?

If you work on more than one project at a time you won't have to worry so much about cure times for one single piece

For fingerprints, just smooth them out. If it's an easy to access area, you can even just do it with your finger as long as you wet it first.

That seems helpful because I get a lot of fingerprints in mine. I have a question about filing. Do you guys mostly file the pieces before constructing the model. Or construct and then file because filing before constructing is really time consuming.

Always file before. yes it's time consuming (especially with Nids because of all the spines on every part) but it's well worth it as you'll be able to see where possible gaps.
Possibly even correct them before you even glue the kit together.
Some people advocate scraping the mold lien with a hobby knife, I rather file it down. It's more controlled and with the right sized file you can even file some details back into the model if the molds were off by a wide margin.

One last thing, when glueing plastic kits, don't use crazy glue. It's gloopy and imprecise. Get some good extra thin plastic cement instead, like Tamiya's. The joys of this glue over Krazy Glue is that because it melts the plastics, fusing them together, you can actually use the glue to smooth out joints, thereby eliminating a lot of seams that would normally need GS.

Hope this helps,

Keep the questions coming,

Dark_Gear

The faster drying epoxy is called brown stuff
http://polymericsystems.com/epoxies-adhesives/epoxy-putty-tapes/kneadatite-brown-neutral.htm
It is also harder and better for mechanical stuff