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Howdy!

A friend of mine, known online as Johan von Elak, is going to build his own leech Greater Daemon. Although most of the bulk will be filled out with plastic of various sorts (cap bottles and the like, with lots of air pockets and strong material), he still expect the sculpting putty layer to be thick in the centimetres at places.

While he plans to buy a lot of green stuff from GSW, it would be nice if the actual filler material was of a cheaper kind, with a green stuff layer on top for surface details and smoothness.

So, ladies and gentlemen, do you have a good tip for a very cheap sculpting putty that does not require oven baking, for use en masse as filler material?

Cheers

Tinfoil.

I usually find that standard yellow-grey milliput works out quite a bit cheaper than greenstuff and I use quite a lot of it. It's also useful to have if you're sculpting stuff from scratch, because it's got different properties to greenstuff - for example with greenstuff you really need to get it right before it cures because it doesn't cut and file very well, but with milliput you can let it cure and then sand, cut and file it - which is very useful for doing things like blades.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Tinfoil.

This.

It weighs practically nothing and adds a lot of bulk.

Plumber's putty or Epoxy putty works great, you can get it for $5 to $8 a tube. It mixes up just like GS, but hardens like rock in only a few minutes. Smells bad, but works great. Here's an amazon link to the stuff I use, but it's cheaper if you go to a home improvement store and buy it like Lowe's or Hom Depot

https://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-97606-4-Ounce-Ep-400-Epoxy/dp/B0006945SS/ref=asc_df_B0006945SS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193131159750&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3297617179971987501&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031488&hvtargid=pla-309721192780&psc=1


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I also use Magic Sculpt, not as cheap but you get finer detail out of it

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Sculpt-Epoxy-Clay-White/dp/B003AL7FCC/ref=asc_df_B003AL7FCC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309798558616&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3337539761786936229&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031488&hvtargid=pla-570646318551&psc=1

1. Don't buy your GS from GW. They don't MAKE it, they just repackage it, relabel it and sell it at a markup.

Look instead for blue/yellow kneadatite putty and you will find many sources selling it cheaper than gw.

Just to echo what's already been said;
- don't buy green stuff from GW. They repackage and resell it.
- tinfoil is a good basis to sculpt upon without making the mini heavy, or breaking the bank
- you could also look at apoxie sculpt. I've used it for modelling flagstones on bases. It mixes easily, cures well, and can be smoothed easily with water

Thanks for all good advice! I'll add a tip from Chaos Dwarfs Online in case anyone else also find it useful:

Fuggit Khan wrote:
Plaster is good, mixed with shredded newspaper. Incredibly tough, can be carved or filed to shape.
Lightweight and cheap

Coat it with super glue afterwards to bind everything together, and then cover with a green stuff layer. For real bulk filling.

 chromedog wrote:
1. Don't buy your GS from GW. They don't MAKE it, they just repackage it, relabel it and sell it at a markup.

Look instead for blue/yellow kneadatite putty and you will find many sources selling it cheaper than gw.

OP already said they're getting it from Greenstuffworld in their first post.

Filler only? Crayon through a hot glue gun.
Cheaper than a hot glue stick, which is about as orkonomic as you can go.

Foil on top of wire, and then maybe polymer clay, in Europe, look for Fimo. As long as you are putting epoxy over it, it is cheaper bulk that can be detailed at the same level as green stuff. The only reason gamers avoid polymer clay (without epoxy armor on top) is durability issues if you drop the miniature.

 Bellerophon wrote:
I usually find that standard yellow-grey milliput works out quite a bit cheaper than greenstuff and I use quite a lot of it. It's also useful to have if you're sculpting stuff from scratch, because it's got different properties to greenstuff - for example with greenstuff you really need to get it right before it cures because it doesn't cut and file very well, but with milliput you can let it cure and then sand, cut and file it - which is very useful for doing things like blades.

Milliput is great and much less than greenstuff. I have the fine white (most expensive), but find the grey (more yellow than anything) to work just fine. Another really inexpensive option I have sculpted A LOT of things over the years is Das Pronto - it is an air dry material that acts just like clay, but dries incredibly strong and a layer of greenstuff on top would work well.