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good evening lovely dakka people, i am a returner to the world of warhammer and modelling after a twenty year break and am very much enjoying my return to the hobby. one of the many things that has changed in the last two decades is that now there is something called green stuff that seems to be an accepted part of life. i know nothing about this beyond that it appears to be some sort of modelling clay. but i have never seen such a thing - how does it work? do you not have to either cook it or leave it kind of soft? how does it dry? is it easy to work with? on ebay there are tools, do you need them? is kneadatite the same thing?

thanks in advance

You get blue stuff, and yellow stuff in a pack. Take a chunk of each, about equal size. Mixing disproportionately changes the properties (more brittle and better details, or more durable/bendy, dries quicker/slower), but just start equal sizes. Knead them together until it's green smooth and through.

At this point you have many, many hours to work it into the shape you want. It will begin to cure through the chemical process of combining the two materials without any need for cooking or heat or whatever. In about 24 hours it should be hardened completely. It may deform slightly if you're doing anything super fancy, so it's not a bad idea to go back and touch it up a bit after a few hours to make sure it's sitting how you want it to. You can also do this anyway to add finer details when it's a little more firm.

You don't need fancy tools, but some are nice. A lot of makeshift things that you probably already have can create some interesting textures and help shape things, and you can pick up some cheapo plastic tools to get started at any crafts store.

i could have done with some of that back in 1993

thanks, i'll pick some up and experiment with it.

*edit: argh to late

 daddyorchips wrote:
how does it work? do you not have to either cook it or leave it kind of soft? how does it dry?

Green stuff has to parts - yellow and blue(hardner). If you mix those togetherthey begin to harden. Depeding on the mixing ration it cures differently. But for basic use just stick with 1:1 ratio. It doesn't turn rock-hard and as such isn't easily sandable. But it will be hard enough to be painted and used on your models while still be flexible enough to endure some rougher handling of the model. Once mixed you have a limited time to work with it.
I'd say you have something about 30 to 40 minutes of good worktime until it starts to loose it's ability to be sticked to models. It still can be worked with but it gets harder and harder until after 24 h it reaches is near final firmness.

You can do a lot with greenstuff. Just use it to fill gaps on your models, sculpt smaller details or even build entire miniatures out of it.

is it easy to work with?

Due to it's stickyness greenstuff is probably one of the easiest modeling putties to use. But the skill needed depends on what you want to archive. Just filling gaps is quite easy to do. But depending on your modeling skill it takes some time to build your skill up to create entire models out of it.

on ebay there are tools, do you need them?

You need some sort of tool or you'll leave fingerprints in the putty. GW sells some basic tools that are enough for most stuff you do. But if you want to do serious sculpting clay shaper tools are the next step.
Just one very basic tip. Wet the tools you use slightly so that greenstuff sticks on the model and not the tool.

is kneadatite the same thing?

Kneadite is the same thing. The only difference is the cheaper price and no GW's Citadel logo on it.

Too late, but it would be good for him to know about fingerprints being a problem and the fact that the stickier aspects go away faster than the 'many many hours' as I said it could be molded for! So hopefully he'll read it anyway.

Wet or otherwise lubricated fingers solves the fingerprint problems.

Same for tools. ALWAYS have them wet or lubricated (water or vaseline) when sculpting GS.