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Made in my
Veteran Knight Baron in a Crusader






At my desk

I'm trying to make some greenstuff laces for some Harlequins I'm converting, and they just aren't solidifying!

My workspace isn't very humid and I keep it air conditioned at about 24C, so could anyone give me some advice about making it dry quicker?

The Greenstuff is a year or two old, so I think it may be its age, but any help would be excellent.

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Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Nottinghamshire

If you need to work with them and are certain the putty you have will actually cure long term, put them in the fridge for half an hour. GS goes very stiff in cold temperatures.


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Made in gb
Sneaky Striking Scorpion





Oxfordshire, UK

It doesn't dry. It cures by a chemical reaction. Did you mix it in the wrong ratio?

If you warm it up it goes temporarily softer, but the reaction goes faster. There is a risk of sculptures drooping. I have put GS in the oven for 15 min at 50 degrees C. let it cool 6 min or so, and it is almost completely cured.
   
Made in gb
Towering Hierophant Bio-Titan





Bristol, England

Age shouldn't be a problem, although if you have the strip type where the yellow and blue are touching during storage it can be good to cut out and discard the join.

The temperature is fine. It can be sped up with heat and slowed with cold. It's even possible to slow it down for hours in the freezer if you've mixed too much or found yourself distracted.

It can also be slowed somewhat by adding and kneading in more water.

The real key to getting it to dry is the mix of blue to yellow.
Add more blue for a faster drying time, although you may find the mixture more brittle.
Add more yellow for a slower drying time, this will be less brittle.

Another important factor is mixing the two parts correctly. You should really be kneading the two parts together for a good few minutes and ensure that the colour is consistent throughout with no marbling.

Hope this helps.

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Made in au
Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf





 Buttery Commissar wrote:
If you need to work with them and are certain the putty you have will actually cure long term, put them in the fridge for half an hour. GS goes very stiff in cold temperatures.
I think that's the opposite of what the OP wants, the OP wants them to cure, not to prolong curing.

If they're properly mixed greenstuff curing rate is dependant mostly on temperature, the warmer it is the faster it will cure and the colder it is the slower it will cure (confusingly, before it's cured, when it's warm if feels softer, but don't let that fool you, it's actually curing faster!).

If it's not properly mixed it can take a very long time to cure or might not cure at all (depending on how bad the ratios are or how badly it's not mixed). You can try putting it under some warmth to force it to cure but that doesn't always work, stick it under a heat lamp or something like that, but be careful not to damage the model itself (I stupidly put the instrument panel of an aircraft too close to a heat lamp and warped it because of the heat :().

I know in general epoxy putties like greenstuff can go bad with age, but I've personally never had it happen to me with greenstuff specifically. I've got some rolls that would be, geeze, at least 5 years maybe 10 years old and they still work fine.
   
Made in gb
Using Object Source Lighting







Have you applied the greenstuff on a just glued plastic area? The melted plastic mixed with GS can create random results.

Apart from that you should always mix the two colours evenly so that you achieve a even green colour, if you see bits of just blue or yellow they will never dry.

   
Made in au
Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf





 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
The real key to getting it to dry is the mix of blue to yellow.
Add more blue for a faster drying time, although you may find the mixture more brittle.
Add more yellow for a slower drying time, this will be less brittle.
I find adding more yellow makes it easier to work with for sculpting. Apparently GW agrees as you can see that in their ribbons they give you more yellow than blue.

If you use too much of either you can end up having troubles with it not curing, though I regularly use 2:1 yellow:blue and haven't had any problems as of yet.
   
Made in gb
Using Object Source Lighting







AllSeeingSkink wrote:
 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
The real key to getting it to dry is the mix of blue to yellow.
Add more blue for a faster drying time, although you may find the mixture more brittle.
Add more yellow for a slower drying time, this will be less brittle.
I find adding more yellow makes it easier to work with for sculpting. Apparently GW agrees as you can see that in their ribbons they give you more yellow than blue.

If you use too much of either you can end up having troubles with it not curing, though I regularly use 2:1 yellow:blue and haven't had any problems as of yet.



You should not buy GW ribbons in the first place. The best ones should have equal quantities of both colours... Why? Because depending on what you want to sculpt you mix accordingly.
In short if you want something extremely flexible and sticky you add more yellow to the mix... if you want something more geometric less flexible and sticky you add more blue...

   
Made in au
Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf





 NAVARRO wrote:
AllSeeingSkink wrote:
 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
The real key to getting it to dry is the mix of blue to yellow.
Add more blue for a faster drying time, although you may find the mixture more brittle.
Add more yellow for a slower drying time, this will be less brittle.
I find adding more yellow makes it easier to work with for sculpting. Apparently GW agrees as you can see that in their ribbons they give you more yellow than blue.

If you use too much of either you can end up having troubles with it not curing, though I regularly use 2:1 yellow:blue and haven't had any problems as of yet.



You should not buy GW ribbons in the first place. The best ones should have equal quantities of both colours... Why? Because depending on what you want to sculpt you mix accordingly.
In short if you want something extremely flexible and sticky you add more yellow to the mix... if you want something more geometric less flexible and sticky you add more blue...
I do buy tubes of it, I was just pointing out that GW sells it with more yellow than blue (and have for many years), likely because they've found the same thing as me, that it's a bit easier to work when you use more yellow. GW aren't the only one who sell ribbons which contain more yellow than blue, I simply mention them because they are likely the ones people will be most familiar with.

Even though I buy tubes of it, I always finish the yellow before I finish the blue.

I could imagine using closer to a 50/50 mix would be better for bulking up an armature though.
   
Made in gb
Using Object Source Lighting







By the time you remove the middle part of the ribbons if you start up with considerably less blue you will end up with minimal quantities of it hence why you should avoid those ones for flexibility sake. But then again depends on your style of sculpting. Lets just say theres no rights or wrongs here mate, just giving tips if you aim to get the best out of the GS.

   
Made in gb
Posts with Authority






Norn Iron

AllSeeingSkink wrote:GW sells it with more yellow than blue (and have for many years), likely because they've found the same thing as me, that it's a bit easier to work when you use more yellow. GW aren't the only one who sell ribbons which contain more yellow than blue


I'd hazard that in general, GW doesn't really care if the GS it provides to it's punters has more yellow or not. I assume they just repackage what Polymeric Systems sends to them and all the other retailers, and that what Polymeric Systems sends them has more yellow because they recommend more yellow for basic use.

Side-by-side tape: Cut or twist off a length of tape and mix by kneading with damp fingers to a uniform color. Any length contains the correct ratio of base to curing agent...

Bars: Cut or twist off 1 part blue curing agent to 1.5 parts yellow base.


So yeah, I agree 'green is the new blue' - a 50/50 mix is actually a mix with more blue for stiffer, harder putty and bulking out etc. Even that - despite it's other advantages - the bars-inna-tube form could be said to contain the wrong proportions of blue and yellow. My tubes also run out of yellow first, even though I often add more blue (more than 50%) for bulking out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh yeah, there was an original topic too, wasn't there?

 TheManWithNoPlan wrote:
I'm trying to make some greenstuff laces for some Harlequins I'm converting, and they just aren't solidifying!

My workspace isn't very humid and I keep it air conditioned at about 24C, so could anyone give me some advice about making it dry quicker?

The Greenstuff is a year or two old, so I think it may be its age, but any help would be excellent.


As mentioned, thorough mixing might help, but yeah, greenstuff can go off and that can create problems with curing. I wouldn't have thought a year would harm it too much, but when you say you air-condition to 24C ( ) I think I'd reconsider my estimates. If no other tips work with your current batch of green stuff and you buy another, store it in the fridge or even the freezer when you don't use it for long periods. (Or if 24C is a cool temperature for you, even when you don't use it for short periods...)

I agree with then cutting out the middle of the strip or buying the bars (the two parts touching can speed up unwanted curing or deterioration), but the retailer can make a bit of a difference too. The amount of time those blisters have been sitting around on a rack in a GW shop, or in their warehouse, can be added onto the year or so you've had it. Other retailers may or may not have fresher stock, and a couple even keep it chilled. I know Heresy Miniatures in the UK does, and IIRC Troll Forged in the US.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Akshualee, going by that wee flag by your avatar, I wonder if other types of putty might be more convenient or cheaper for you? Tamiya quick type and smooth surface putties are pretty good, and I've been meaning to try out this StyleX version too.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/10/03 15:11:22


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