Hobby Questions

[Hobo86]

I thought it might be helpfull to exchange hobby tips or questions;

So hereby a few more niche hobby questions to start off;
-Is there any information out there to safely bend thicker GW plastics? a low heat oven / the use of a hot water bath / longer heating?
(resin and thin plastics bend easily with boiling water)
-Are there any thickening agents out there to thicken inks?
(or can I only leave the pot open to get the ink to dry out)
-If there are people who also work with oil paints; did you try to use masking to prevent the oil paints from flowing everywhere?
(as they're very liquid and they can seep very easily in unintended grooves) would a liquid mask work?

PS: I just finished kit bashing my necromunda enforcers and i'm getting around perfecting my paint scheme** and I'm awaiting miliput to include in making
er... cop poncho's*

* not sure if it'll work... / It would be a lot of work for a dozen mini's
** oil paint washes, stippling, OSL, varnishes,... I'm er... having fun


Feel free to add your own hobby questions, ...

 

[MusingWarboss]

PS: I just finished kit bashing my necromunda enforcers and i'm getting around perfecting my paint scheme** and I'm awaiting miliput to include in making
er... cop poncho's*

Milliput is always a welcome addition and has many uses. However I’m not sure a poncho is one of them.

Unless you’re planning to get a rolling pin out and really flatten it (and be very careful of fingerprints) then a thinner alternative might be better.

I’ve used wet wipes before (ones without fancy logos embossed) cut to appropriate shapes and then soaked in PVA+water+wall filler mix you can position it, tweak, add folds and leave it to dry - which it will. Rock hard.

That capes sorted out, ponchos would work just as well.

 

[Hobo86]

Milliput is always a welcome addition and has many uses. However I’m not sure a poncho is one of them.

Unless you’re planning to get a rolling pin out and really flatten it (and be very careful of fingerprints) then a thinner alternative might be better.

I’ve used wet wipes before (ones without fancy logos embossed) cut to appropriate shapes and then soaked in PVA+water+wall filler mix you can position it, tweak, add folds and leave it to dry - which it will. Rock hard.

That capes sorted out, ponchos would work just as well.

i was planning to use a miliput/greenstuff mix (one part for the front, a second for the back + a few separate details)
I heard milliput made greenstuff mixes more sandable...

(i have a rolling pin / glas plate & transparents to draw the outlines of the poncho's on),
Still worried about the models... They're subjugator based models and they have a fairly unique shoulder shapes to work around.
I'll need to test if I can work around them.

I just greenstuffed little enforcer headphones on a AOS head this weekend so I have some practice... but cloaks are another matter.
Do you have an estimation how long cloaks have to pre-cure (toughen up a bit after rolling them out / cutting out the shape) before you apply them on the model to bend in the folds? Any tips on materials to hold the cloak in shape while it fully cures?

______

I used the pva paper combinations way back to make khemri style shields / tiaras in my 'cough' younger days.
There are also a few clips with PVA treated masking tape out there somewhere...

 

[Lord_Ikka]

-Is there any information out there to safely bend thicker GW plastics? a low heat oven / the use of a hot water bath / longer heating?
(resin and thin plastics bend easily with boiling water)

A heat gun on low sometimes works- you have to be careful with the plastics compared to resin because the plastics heat up and cool down a lot quicker. It makes working with them pretty tricky, as they will warp quickly and then you have a short window of time to work with them before they harden.

 

[Hobo86]

I used boiling water on resin before... but I'm mainly curious if there's a formula to (gently) heat the centre of (something like space marine legs) the plastic to it's core to be able to bend it.
Thin parts are easier to manipulate with a hairdryer, boiling water or (I think I read somewhere about somebody salt-baking minis) as you can heat the center fairly quickly
but I'm curious if there are temperature lists out there with degrees at wich Gw's plastics melts/ignites,
if I can avoid those with some margin and use a hot water bath and keep the water temperature level with a food thermometer,
i should be able to heat the centre* without damaging the exterior

i er... did cooking school...

*like a ham on a slowcooker
long bake at a steady low temperature, low in the oven, submerged in water, 'fumet de' space shark

 

[Lord_Ikka]

Something that thick I would not try to heat and bend- best bet you are looking at cutting and re-sculpting there to get the desired pose. Trying to heat up that sort of part will probably result in distortions to the piece that would need as much re-sculpting as cutting, with an iffy-er chance of getting the correct pose.

I've basically just heated up cloaks/swords/smaller stuff like that for GW plastic. Resin is much more forgiving as far as heat goes.

 

[Tiny]

I agree cutting and gap-filling would probably work better than trying to bend something that thick.

Thickening Inks.. depends what you want from it. To be a wash more akin to Agrax Earthshade, then some kind of wash medium like Citadel Lahmian Medium or Army Painter Quickshade Medium. To have better coverage over a flat piece, I've used matt varnish and glaze mediums in the past to mix with inks to make glazes.

Miliput / Greenstuff mix works well for capes and is very easily sanded / filed. Flatten it out, leave for 20-30 mins to cure a bit, cut to shape, stick to mini, sculpt folds etc.

Trying to mask oil washes is a fool's errand. It just wicks under the masking tape.

 

[Hobo86]

I agree cutting and gap-filling would probably work better than trying to bend something that thick.

Thickening Inks.. depends what you want from it. To be a wash more akin to Agrax Earthshade, then some kind of wash medium like Citadel Lahmian Medium or Army Painter Quickshade Medium. To have better coverage over a flat piece, I've used matt varnish and glaze mediums in the past to mix with inks to make glazes.

Miliput / Greenstuff mix works well for capes and is very easily sanded / filed. Flatten it out, leave for 20-30 mins to cure a bit, cut to shape, stick to mini, sculpt folds etc.

Trying to mask oil washes is a fool's errand. It just wicks under the masking tape.

I use liquitex white ink (thanks for to a tip from martinihenrie) to get a solid base for yellow, but as it's runny it has a tendency to flood toward the grooves. your tip to combine it with matt varnish & glaze mediums (lahmian could work?) feel worth trying, thank you.

what about liquid masks?

 

[Tiny]

I mix matt varnish with white ink to get a smooth white base, though usually through an airbrush. Works well.

I think you'll still get some bleed with liquid mask, but I've not tried it. Oil wash seems to get everywhere. Give it a go and report back.

 

[Hobo86]

I mix matt varnish with white ink to get a smooth white base, though usually through an airbrush. Works well.

I think you'll still get some bleed with liquid mask, but I've not tried it. Oil wash seems to get everywhere. Give it a go and report back.

i have my airbrush but for small enforcer yellow bits I think a brush may be more practical

sir, yes sir

edit: replaced the word pencil by brush...
the dutch word for brush is penseel.

 

[Hobo86]

another hobby question:

does anybody know where I might find a tutorial for greenstuff shawls (not cloaks) ?
I'm trying to fit a sororitas head on a subjugator and I'll need some camouflaging.

 

[katfezza]

Do you mean full head coverage shawls? Or more like scarves/bandanas around the neck area?

 

[Hobo86]

just around the neck area,

 

[katfezza]

Okay, dead easy.

For a bandana style place a triangle of putty on the front of the neck and drape the thinner bits around the sides of the neck. Cross over the points and add a ball of putty where they cross. Add some wrinkles in with a clay shaper, using an image search of bandanas for reference (or your avatar as the tied bit of the mask is the same). Trim off any excess putty with a sharp scalpel.

For a scarf it starts with a sausage of putty placed at the back of the neck with the ends brought round to the front and crossed over (usually offset to one side). The hanging bits will be squarer rather than pointy.

I used to have some sculpting tutorial pics saved from a GW event years ago but they were lost when my old hard drive died.

 

[Hobo86]

I'll likely base my scarves on your proposition,
but I'll need to check how I can work with the deeper part around the neck and what could fit 'in' subjugator armor:
-a long, classical wintershawl as you describe it
-a small triangle shaped cowboy / tactical shawl
-or what you get when you google desert shawl

 

[katfezza]

Ah, like a shemagh. Yeah, plenty of layers in those to hide a rough neck area.

 

[Hobo86]

another hobby question:
I'm trying to obtain a creamy/mustardy yellow for palanite enforcers

currently Vallejo 'toxin yellow' seems to match the best:

but the offwhite included in the mix makes it unsuitable to mix with contrast medium over a purple oil wash/white
for more vibrant yellow paints this was possible.

Would a Vallejo 'toxin yellow' basecoat topped with a heavily thinned purple/brown oilwash work?

does anybody have other recipes for mustardy (cooler) yellow?

 

[Hobo86]

tried out a few and i'm quite pleased with the following:

-white undercoat (alternating coats of white ink+mat varnish & pure white ink, finish with a mixed layer)
-runny (dark) purple oilwash (1/9) to accentuate the grooves
-thicker (dark) purple oil paint (1/3 paint, 2/3 thinner), let dry and 'drybrush-clean' the brighter parts clean
(clean up the purple from surrounding areas with thinner moistened brush)
-mix 1/3 (vallejo) bad moon yellow with 2/3 (citadel) contrast medium, apply over the yellow areas

 

[Hobo86]

another question:
I'm working towards getting 3 mordheim/necromunda warbands printed. I have the stl and some contacts that could print;
-1 used an older printer and I was not really impressed
-1 one is a non-professional printer with ok-ish results / proper care who could print at likely around 59 euros
-I contacted 2 professional printers (ficta3D and 3D mini factory) who use different resin types, printing methods, post treatment, ...)
and who'd go around 260-280 euros

for a perfectionist looking to get finely detailed models, would a pro printing service be needed?

 

[aetherith]

I think the professional might be overkill. A buddy of mine who prints a little as a hobby did these on a 2k printer using resin that’s $40 a L.

Riflemen

• aetherith
• Mar 25, 2025

Specialist with Flamer

• aetherith
• Mar 25, 2025

Sargent

• aetherith
• Mar 25, 2025

I think of myself as a stickler for fine detail and at <3 inches you can definitely see layer lines. But after painting it isn’t visible at all, don’t even catch the washes.

I also have tried pro printers (~$10 a figure) and I can’t say the result is really any crisper. If you’d like I can prime one up and give it a drybrush so you can get an idea.

The big difference with the pros I found were more exotic materials, larger build volumes, and post processing (removing supports/etc) before delivery.