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So, i'm doing some mod work, and I bought some greenstuff to clean up my models and make them look nice. A few questions.

1. I try to shape the greenstuff, but it seems so sticky I can't get a solid shape in. Should I just wait for it to cure to carve it?

2. How do I get it off my fingers?

3. In terms of mixing blue to yellow, what ratios do you prefer, and what sort of sculpting work do you apply that ratio to?


I'm mostly just reposing space marines, and using the green stuff to fill in between the joints that I cut.

Hi,
1 & 2. Put some water on the sculpting tool, this is the best way to make it not stick.

Alternatively but with drawbacks the grease on your nose would also work but too much grease will mean the stuff wouldn't stick enough together.

Also when mixing the putty I mix them until they are no longer sticking to my fingers.

My problem is the opposite, my hands are not clean enough to make the stuff sticky.

3. I use roughly 2 yellow to 1 blue for almost everything since I have problem with greasy fingers I need them extra sticky. You might want to use 1:1.

I use 1:1 when I want a good edge like armor or non organic parts.

2 blue to 1 yellow I don't use much any more but I used to use it for weapons since it cure harder and I can get a sharper edge. I use this in conjunction with 2y1b to make it stick better.

I always use 1:1 mix.
To not stick, lube works well for tools and fingers, water works but not as well. When I want fine details I actually use durex sex lube.

The best tools I find are silicon 'colour shapers'. Metal sculpting tools are almost as good. Indispensable is a dressmakers pin stuck in an old paint brush

I know a lot of sculptors recommend cooking oils but I have a thing about oil on my fingers, lol

As the others have said, water or some kind of lube helps to keep greenstuff from sticking to things like your tools or your fingers. (Personally, I use saliva, but to each their own! ) It also helps, once you've thoroughly mixed the greenstuff, to let it sit for five to ten minutes first before doing anything with it. Most of my sculpting work I do with just an old crochet needle and a pin for fine detail, then carving and sanding afterwards to tidy up.

Greenstuff can be carved/sanded once it's properly cured, though it tends to be a little rubbery. Personally, I use a 50:50 mix of greenstuff and milliput (both at 50:50 themselves), it dries a lot harder and is easier to carve or sand afterwards, and you can get a really tidy, smooth finish.

When I was still using straight greenstuff though, I'd use more blue to get it to be a little harder and less flexible/rubbery once it cured.

So the choice seems to be spit, nose grease, or sex lube.

This is why I tend not to use green stuff.

1. I try to shape the greenstuff, but it seems so sticky I can't get a solid shape in. Should I just wait for it to cure to carve it?

-> You'll have to play with the drying times, which depend on the warm/wind of the area. Do the basic forms firstly and then wait about 4/6 hours to start polishing it. Greenstuff can be modified for almost a day after putting it, so, if you need pretty neat details, try doing them about 12 hours later. About the stickyness, check the next answer. You can always use extra tools too to make the sculping easier.

2. How do I get it off my fingers?

->Put a bit of talcum power on the water you're using to make the mix and wet the substance and it wont stick to your fingers!

3. In terms of mixing blue to yellow, what ratios do you prefer, and what sort of sculpting work do you apply that ratio to?

-> More Blue: Dries earlier, not recommended at all.
-50%50: Perfect match. Easiest method to control the drying times too, because its an easy mix to remember.
-> More Yellow: It will take a lot to dry. I mean A LOT. Not recommened neither, imo.

I always add a small amount of Vaseline to Green Stuff when mixing, just running a finger over the Vaseline can pick up enough to make sure it doesn't stick to you and that, once mixed, won't stick to your sculpting tools. Afterwards a bit of spit works like a charm!

Generally I usually add more yellow to the mix as it makes the Green Stuff softer and generally that's what I want for sculpting details, curves, tubes et cetera. Normally I find 3 to 6 hours provides enough cure time to then continue working if, for some reason, I'm in a rush but since I'm usually not I like to leave Green Stuff to cure overnight.

Obviously this means I tend to have an excess of the blue hardener and to use that up I'll just add a small amount of yellow and use the resulting Green Stuff for filling in big holes, bulking out an armature or for very basic shapes.


Since you are using Green Stuff to fill small gaps I would recommend using a slightly more yellow to blue ratio, 5/4 say, as a rough guide. Mix a little Vaseline into the Green Stuff but not too much as you might find that, when you're pressing Green Stuff into a small gap it has a tendency to slide off the model. Depending on the depth of these gaps, and how fussy you want to be, you can fill the gaps only partly, then let the Green Stuff cure; you can leave the Green Stuff a little jagged and the texture will help to key in the next layer of Green Stuff. Then you can finish filling the gaps level and smooth them off or sculpt in some detail, ribbing for elbow/arm pit joints et cetera and you should find that since the Green Stuff is only a thin outer layer you won't press too deeply when making these details, helping too stop them looking to amateurish.

Since you're just remediating cut joints, I suggest abandoning green stuff all together and using squadron putty. It's much easier to deal with for gap-filling, because it's 1-part, and can be scraped while it's wet, or sanded when it's dry.

Where it falls short is that it is not very sculptable. It also dries very quickly (20 minutes to be dry to the touch, longer to cure), which can be a blessing or a bane, depending on what you want to do.