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Hey peeples! So I plan on tweaking my Contemptor from the Calth box, namely the legs. I've cut them at the hip joint, and got a plasticard rod ready so I could reposition them. I plan on using green stuff to gap the joins and sculpt new joint covers. My question is: is greenstuff strong enough to join the parts on its own after it sets? I was going to put a ball of gs in the hip hole and run the rod through, and then mold in extra gs to fill the gap. Will I need to glue the plastic, or will the gs be enough? I'm afraid of it just being to brittle and shattering if the model tipped over, etc.

Greenstuff doesn't shatter unless you do something like dip it in liquid nitrogen and hit it with a hammer.

You can use it to stick parts together but, it won't break, rather the greenstuff and whatever it's attached to will come unstuck, however if you've got a rod going though it.it should hold.

I’ve never used green stuff for a project that large so take this with a grain of salt, but I personally would glue it.

PS - please share pics of your work if you can, I have 5 Calth contemptors I need to build and would rather not have them all posed the same

glue it, then GS to gap fill.

Green stuff stays rubbery and flexible. It will bond the 2 parts but enough stress will break the bond. If it's glued in place it wont be able to move and then the GS can help support that bond by eliminating the gaps and be re textured to fit the model.

If you are worried about it then id pin it too.

just in case.

but it should be fine for the most part.

Green stuff is not really an adhesive it is best to have a structure to put it on. I would say pit the two piece that distance you need then sculpt.

If you just try and put green stuff between two pieces chances are it will fall off.

Ahh thanks for the replies. Given that the rod is plasticard, I'll use some plastic cement to bond the leg part to the rod in addition to the GS...maybe even pin it just to be safe.

@Stavkat: I will be getting more work over the weekend so I'll post wip pics if they will help!

 Kaiserbudheim wrote:
Ahh thanks for the replies. Given that the rod is plasticard, I'll use some plastic cement to bond the leg part to the rod in addition to the GS...maybe even pin it just to be safe.

@Stavkat: I will be getting more work over the weekend so I'll post wip pics if they will help!

Sweet thank you. I went a little overboard buying up those Calth Dreadnoughts lol.

@Stavkat: got some work done over the weekend, please forgive the crappy phone cam pics.

So the great thing is the rod served as a pretty nice stable attachment point for the legs:


There's a lot of room to cant the hips at an angle in addition to adding some rotation, made a world of difference to me for the pose. Green stuff was used at both ends (the hip joint, and at the contact pint with the rod):


Another angle:


Once it all cured, the join seems pretty secure. Just have to now sand down the excess green stuff and finish off the model.

One tip for greenstuff that can help save some sanding (I know a touch late now but for the future).

Colourshapers - also called Clayshapers.

Basically a silicon headed tool that lets you rub over the greenstuff. It's like rubbing it with your finger, only it won't leave any spirals of finger prints on it. You can use them to get a very smooth surface over greenstuff and to also smooth over a join area from greenstuff to a new surface. Helps cut down on a lot of sanding and gives you a smoother finish in general.

They come in 3 hardness, white for softest; grey for middle; black for hardest (although I'd say the difference is subtle).

@Overread: Oh that is fantastic! Thank you for the info, that will certainly come in handy!

This is my first foray into Green Stuff (hmm...maybe I should have done it on something smaller and less pricey than a Contemptor model... O_o), hoping to do more soon. Yeah, after it all set I realized how much of a pain it was to get into the joins and sand in such a confined space.

Few more tips as your new

1) Water - keep your tools/fingers wet whilst working with greenstuff. They don't have to be soaking, just moist so that there's a barrier. That way the tools/fingers will not stick to the greenstuff. It makes it a lot easier to work with.
Even with things like colourshapers benefit a lot with some water on the tool.

2) Oil (vegetable). Instead of water you can use a little oil instead. The bonus of oil is that it tends to remain effective for longer than water (less dipping of tools/fingers). However oil will remain on the greenstuff as well, so you have to wash the model once its fully cured. (warm, lightly soapy water and an old tooth brush - same method as cleaning resins). Otherwise the remaining oil might affect glue/paint/primer.
Note if you're working on something larger and thus putting layers or bits of greenstuff atop others then better to work with water than having oil layers building up within your greenstuff layers.

3) Less is more. Typically this is true for greenstuff, however much you think you need, take less, way less. It's a lot easier to build it up than it is to strip it down.

4) Curing. It takes time to properly harden, many hours (I think something like 12-24 ish). So sometimes what can appear simple might take a lot longer; again this is more an issue if you're working in layers and building something up.

 Overread wrote:
One tip for greenstuff that can help save some sanding (I know a touch late now but for the future).

Colourshapers - also called Clayshapers.

Basically a silicon headed tool that lets you rub over the greenstuff. It's like rubbing it with your finger, only it won't leave any spirals of finger prints on it. You can use them to get a very smooth surface over greenstuff and to also smooth over a join area from greenstuff to a new surface. Helps cut down on a lot of sanding and gives you a smoother finish in general.

They come in 3 hardness, white for softest; grey for middle; black for hardest (although I'd say the difference is subtle).

This. These are so good. They are like paintbrushes for greenstuff. Definitely will make your life way easier. I have the blue tip ones on amazon, i think they are middle softness.

Honestly considering how useful they are I'm surprised GW doesn't sell a set or two; they are common enough that rebranding a no-name line wouldn't be too hard for GW.

The metal tool does a lot, but a colourshaper is so so useful for smoothing things over.

As an alternative to oil, you could just wipe your tools across your forehead. This should provide you with a small, but sufficient and easy to control amount of greasing that requires hardly any cleanup afterwards.

Instead of Green Stuff, I'd personally use something like Milliput (or one of the other 2-part putties - Brown Stuff, if it's still available?) for this application. Or perhaps use Green Stuff to bulk up the shape then apply Milliput as a final surface. I find Milliput dries much harder than Green Stuff, it's water-soluble until cured so you can easily damp it down and smooth it off, and once cured it's easily sanded. For use on a mechanical part like a dreadnought, I think it is more useful; even with tools I find it hard to get a smooth, flat surface with Green Stuff, and sanding it or cutting it once cured can distort it.

I'm told you can also mix Green Stuff and Milliput (or the other materials) to get combinations of their properties.

I generally use a 50/50 mix of Greenstuff and Milliput.

Pure greenstuff will not get properly hard when cured, but will retain some flex (although a ball shape will probably be hard enough).

If there's a chance you want to sand whatever surface you're making, some milliput or similar will allow for this, but pure GS will not.