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I know there are a number of other people here who do a lot of sculpting, either as scratchbuilds or heavy modifications to manufactured parts, but I'd like to know how common this is, as compared to other practices.

I put this in discussions instead of painting and modeling because I don't want to contribute to someone asking for advice getting bumped off the front page, and because it seems more a general hobby matter than a specific modeling one. (Also because it would very quickly vanish there itself, high thread turnover and whatnot. Here it won't be disrupting anything, and it'll stick around on the front page longer.)


As a further part of this, I'd like to collect a list of P&M Blogs dedicated largely or in whole to sculpting. So if you're running one please post a link in this thread and I'll add it to the op. I'll start the list with the two that I know of offhand:

Doomhammer's warpforge of female CSM
Revelen's Sculpting and Painting.

I had a blog of my own, but I've long since abandoned the project it revolved around, and don't have any pictures of anything I've done in the past year (which is all significantly better than what I made back then) up anywhere, yet.

I do lots of kitbashing.

My sculpting skills suck.

 kronk wrote:
I do lots of kitbashing.

My sculpting skills suck.

Same here!

Scratch-built 2 Stone Lobbaz, 4 Spear Chukkaz, 2 Doom Divers and 2 Mangler-Squigs, used 20 Horrors to make 20 Squigs, converted all Necron Warriors to have the same post and stand upright...and a few other things.

/e: Add 4 Goblin Wolf Chariots!

 kronk wrote:
I do lots of kitbashing. My sculpting skills suck.

This is me also. My greenstuff skills pretty much are limited to hiding seams and joins.

I do a fair amount of kitbashing and converting for miniatures. However I do a ton of converting, kitbashing, and toybashing for terrain, to the point that some folks have compared it to scratchbuilding.

I can kitbash, modify and do plasticard work (and do a fair bit on larger 1/35 scale armour stuff too)

but can't sculpt (I've tried a lot, but even with practice the talent's not there)

I do a lot of kitbashing but I'm a poor sculptor. I usually only sculpt to make a general shape that I then cover with pre-made bits. For example, I sculpted an arm for my Warboss, but I just made it suitably arm-shaped before covering it with armour plating and adding a plastic hand and weapon. If I'd tried to sculpt realistic musculature, etc to leave the arm bare...forget it.

I made a GS hood for my Astropath and just stopping that from being a lumpy fingerprinted mess took about an hour...!

I've made a couple of things from scratch, kind of like just painting or kitbashing more.

 kronk wrote:
I do lots of kitbashing.

My sculpting skills suck.

Me too.

I really like combining parts from different kits to make unique models. I've never actually tried greenstuffing so I can't really say I hate it yet

 Satan's Little Helper wrote:
I really like combining parts from different kits to make unique models. I've never actually tried greenstuffing so I can't really say I hate it yet

This. The Imperial Guard line is excellent for kitbashing. One of my guardsmen has parts from... 4 or 5 different boxes.

I'm a bit of an odd mix - I've done a decent bit of scratchbuilding (granted, I have as many projects long neglected as I do completed ones), but the vast majority of my kit-based models are left stock. I rarely add extra bits that come with a kit, let alone kitbash (only 3 arm swaps to give some AoBR Nobs PKs, thus far). I've only really done one serious (i.e. hacked major pieces off model, added my own, and re-sculpted the affected areas) conversion project, to date. Didn't find a poll option that reflected my "general" practice, as I don't sit in the middle - I alternate between the two extremes.

In all my armies other than Tyranids, every unit has at least one model which is either kitbashed or converted. However, major Greenstuff work is generally in the minority, basically restricted to a dozen models, mostly in my ogres army. Plenty of models made almost entirely out of spare parts. Converted a bunch of dwarf warriors into hammerers via weapon swaps.

I try to modify or sculpy bits and pieces to make my HQs, and champions look a bit more unique, but not so much to make them look too different from the rest of the army. Unless I'm going for a specific theme, that is. Then I try to go all out on what I'm doing. My Iron Warriors, for example, I give the Chosen and Champions robo limbs and what not, but my Lord gets a special base, a higher caliber looking gun, and My Sorcerer, however, is going for a time travel sort of theme, and because I read a lot of homestuck, I tried to tie some elements from the in too, a nice red pain job, some red gear symbols for Time, and some turntables to let him time-hop. Again, he certainly stands out, but he doesn't look like he's part of a complete different army.

I have done a lot of work with green stuff, including sculpting in new features, but I have never made the plunge into sculpting for myself....

Except for giant slugs.

If I mix up too much green stuff (almost every time) the extra gets added to the current 'slug in progress'. (The current one is aimed at being about the size of a leopard slug in the real world.)

I... have no idea where this habit came from.

The Auld Grump

I tend to use a variety of pieces and then sculpt add-ons for them, though I've never done any scratchbuilding. Currently working on a sort-of scratch-build, in that I'm doing a huge set of flowing robes for the lower half of a daemon princess (basing the basic idea off a bigger version of the Nightbringer model, robes, torso and wings).

Starting to realise I might have to also sculpt her arms, but that's a scary thought and I'd really rather not...

With my GW i tend to custom everything. In fact i have more fun building then playing sometimes.

I do lots of scratchbuilding and kitbashing, but my sculpting skills are nonexistent.

I find building stuff to easily be the best part of the hobby as well. I find the game boring, and find painting a tedious chore, but I love assembling kits, and I love how they look once I've got them painted up.

I do lots of kit bashing, but only really with plastic models

As for sculpting, well apart from a few bits of stowage for 15mm tanks and the like i do not do a lot, my green stuff skills are generally used on filling gaps on certain models

Thanks for all the replies, it's quite interesting to hear how different people approach the hobby.


I suppose I should go too, come to think of it. For all that I was introduced to the hobby by way of playing 40k on vassal, once I started building a tabletop army the whole process of building it became more important than playing the game. I bought greenstuff to aid in kitbashing, and eventually wound up using it, steel wire, and silicon putty to sculpt. When I ran out of greenstuff I switched to making pieces of out wire and sculpey.

Now everything I do is sculpted (though I'm intending to buy Malifaux pieces and heavily convert them, despite them being metal), and it's just such an absolutely amazing feeling to so shape an object into an image of your creation. It started as a means to save a few bucks (which is ridiculously naive, seeing as even a simple figure takes hours), but is now the most important aspect of the hobby for me.


To anyone who wants to start sculpting, but is put off by initial failures or whatnot: start with polymer clay (denim blue sculpey III seems pretty good so far as cheaper materials are concerned; and yes, the color matters, since different pigments do different things to the consistency), since it's cheap and gives a practically unlimited working time. You're also liable to inadvertently destroy parts of it while working, so each piece gives extra practice free . Aside from that it's just patience and a steady hand, quality comes with experience. Specifically hundreds of hours of experience, getting used to working with the medium, with your tools, with the whole shaping things part, in addition to the more abstract artistic skills relating to design and whatnot... But it's ultimately worth it, if you find the process of shaping something from scratch rewarding and engaging enough in its own right.