Hobby Questions

[Hobo86]

I found one that had more detailed resin, I'm considering that one (even if uploading the stl was a b$tch)
I'll see how much the end prize will be.

at the very least deciding which bits are necessary and what isn't is a good exercise

 

[Hobo86]

any tips for painting bright eyes, enforcer flash 'shoulder lamps' on darker models?
I'm mainly looking for tips to help avoid unintended areas

(resolved - thin pointy brush & black oil wash 'eyeliner')

 

[Hobo86]

tried a few ways to sculpt hair and I'm starting to get decent results with a multiple layer approach:
-(optional underlayer, only for thick wavy hair) form thick sausages to create a wavy substructure
-(optional underlayer for a flat hairlayer) form a flat hairlayer, cut longer and shorter stripes with a hobby knife
-thin strand superstructure to hide greenstuff 'blobiness': add thin strands of greenstuff to add to the movement of the hair
(start at the same 'root' locations as your other hairbits but drape it in different directions - lock over forehead, ...)

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Regarding heating to reshape plastics, the only recent experience I had was with some tow ropes on an old Tamiya T34 kit which needed to be heated then bent to shape. My attempts to follow the instructions did not go well and I gave up with the whole idea as the plastic went solid, overly flexible, solid again, snap over maybe a two second period. I can see why they don't still use that technique on any newer kits.

 

[Hobo86]

Regarding heating to reshape plastics, the only recent experience I had was with some tow ropes on an old Tamiya T34 kit which needed to be heated then bent to shape. My attempts to follow the instructions did not go well and I gave up with the whole idea as the plastic went solid, overly flexible, solid again, snap over maybe a two second period. I can see why they don't still use that technique on any newer kits.

i gave up on that specific experiment... for thin resin it works, but thick plastic is to problematic.

theoretically slowly heating a model in a controlled manner (Bain-marie) to get a 'bendable' inner temperature could work, but you'd also need a setup to take care the figurine wouldn't touch the bottom, and I'm not sure how easy it would be to 'set' it in a new angle (maybe an ice-bath?)


a bain-marie could help you slowly heat the tow rope?

 

[Trafalgar Law]

It could work. But I've only ever seen it as a method on that one old kit (obviously from the early days of Tamiya as it had the holes for the motorised parts). The one tow rope I tried it on snapped like a piece of spaghetti while trying to get it into the correct shape to fit. I didn't bother with the other and decided that the tank had lost it's tow ropes somewhere.

Newer kits either use pre-shaped ropes or string on the newest kits so it really isn't likely to be something I'm ever going to experiment with again.

 

[Stoof]

I remember those bendable ropes and chains, I think the recommended method was putting them in a cup of freshly boiled water then bending them in stages. It was a faff.

(Just looked up what a bain-marie is and yeah... That but low tech)

 

[Hobo86]

25? years ago I also did historicals, but I think my technical skills were limited;

bain-marie in in short (cooking):
boil a big pot of water on the stove, place another smaller pot of water in the bigger pot without it touching the bottom.
by changing the heat in the bigger pot, you can control the temperature of the fluid in the smaller pot to just where you need it to be.

usually used for butter sauces, sabayon, desserts, ...
were you try to avoid frying the eggs in said dishes

 

[Hobo86]

a while ago I asked around here-ish about ways to make some kind of stencil to paint perfect circles on sculpted cloth.

I found a possible solution.

Greenstuffworld sells a sort of bendable aluminium/pewter foil: a fine layer of pewter between two layers of aluminium.
There is another greenstuffworld gubbin to cut round circles in the right sizes in plasticard, thin wood, ... so that should work as well.

 

[Hobo86]

Bluestuff molds... how do you maximize the detail you can get from it?

-do you just push the mini in in one motion or do you 'wiggle it in' a bit when the bluestuff is still hot?
-is it correct to assume when it just comes out of hot water it can take detail better?

I did my research (epoxies / greenput / create a mold case / ...) but I am missing the experience for the two above points

any other tips?
anything to avoid?

 

[Stoof]

Hot as you can handle to get maximum detail. I try and press it in from all sides at once whilst holding the part in place, tricky with fleshy human appendages.
Once it's cooled a little, drop it in some cold water with the part still in to fix the detail/stop it getting damaged when you pull the part out.

There's a casting & moulding thread here. Tips for onymaru/bluestuff start here.

 

[Hobo86]

ok, for this test I used very hot (put the full mold/casing in boiling water) bluestuff,
it's currently curing in the freezer (I used metal oil paint mixing pots to make 2 part molds)

i er... broke 2 'lengthened' heavy concussion rams trying to get a decent mold of those, but bolters/shotguns might work.

 

[Hobo86]

quality question about 3D scanning:
I'm still blue stuffing some parts with increasing results but I'm curious how 3D scanning compares to it (for weapons and only for personal use)

 

[Martini Henrie]

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?

I still use white ink in my airbrush, but the newish pro acryl titanium white is much better for brushing. To get a vibrant yellow I sometimes lay a vibrant pink before the yellow.

Peachy tips on YouTube has done a great primer for creating capes and the like using masking tape.

 

[Hobo86]

(on account of small yellow details on blue/black enforcer models)
for my testers i ended up with
-painting on a mix of liquitex titanium white ink with matt varnish (1:1)
- then a partly wiped away (no spirits) purple oil wash
-and a very thinned (contrast medium) moon yellow for a mustardy yellow finish (I forgot the thinning ratio... working on finding it, 1:10?)
-I'm considering using masking tape/liquid mask after applying my black oilwash filter to protect the yellow

I saw those and wayback I made hardened paper khemri tiaras etc...
for capes i tested (a lot) and came up with (the WIP result is in the hobby section on the yak discord)
-make templates/designs in baking paper
-grease working surface with vaseline
-use 50/50 greenstuff/milliput and roll it out with a smooth roll
-let pre cure 1.45h for thin decoratative coat / 2h for thick 'poncho' coat
(so it's still bendable but it doesn't stick anymore)
-cut the shapes of the designs out and gently apply (press the top part into the model with your fingers)
-bend the 'folds' with 2 toothpicks
(know in advance how you want to fold everything... you have a limited working time and you can over manipulate the green put)
-let cure/sand/correct & add more layers