Floppy Greenstuff! :-s

[O Dinas Powys]

A quick question for the sculptors out there. I added a blade to the broom shaft of this beggar woman. It's rather thin and quite flexible. It doesn't have a sold core.

Presumably this is just the nature of thin, unsupported greenstuff, but I just wanted to check whether there could be other reasons: poor mixing; too much of one colour; old greenstuff.



Cheers!

Meirion

[Ithoriel]

No idea on the "floppiness" of the green stuff though I've had the same thing happen in times gone by so interested in an answer from those who know.

Much more important - nice conversion, I like it a lot.

[O Dinas Powys]

Much more important - nice conversion, I like it a lot.

Thanks, here's the rear view:

[Leon]

If it's quite thin it can be flexible, although sometimes it's because the mix wasn't quite right and it hasn't cured off properly.  I'm sure Techno will have some better advice though, as he's a bit of a putty master!

[Techno]

OK chaps...

Green stuff has a certain 'flexibility'.....EVEN when you give it a core of metal.
From the 'wire' that I use myself......   At 'our scale', we're talking about something a fair bit less than half a mm in diameter for the core.

Green stuff never goes anything like as stiff as Milliput.

That's great when (for example) I need to slightly reposition an arm....
If I'd used Milliput....The arm would almost certainly shatter....and I'd have to probably have to re-make the arm.
A green stuff arm can be 'bent' without this problem.
The worst that can happen is that the GS tears slightly....and just needs a bit of filling.

An unsupported bit of GS will ALWAYS be 'floppy'.....especially at our scale.

Hope that helps.

Cheers - Phil.

[petercooman]

One way to cure this is to harden it with superglue. I use a por of brush on loctite, and you can easily wipe that littmle brush over there and make it solid. Wipe off the excess glue first though, or it will look like a mace 

[O Dinas Powys]

OK chaps...

Green stuff has a certain 'flexibility'.....EVEN when you give it a core of metal.
From the 'wire' that I use myself......   At 'our scale', we're talking about something a fair bit less than half a mm in diameter for the core.

Green stuff never goes anything like as stiff as Milliput.

That's great when (for example) I need to slightly reposition an arm....
If I'd used Milliput....The arm would almost certainly shatter....and I'd have to probably have to re-make the arm.
A green stuff arm can be 'bent' without this problem.
The worst that can happen is that the GS tears slightly....and just needs a bit of filling.

An unsupported bit of GS will ALWAYS be 'floppy'.....especially at our scale.

Hope that helps.

Cheers - Phil.

Thanks Phil.

I thought that was probably the case, but always best to ask the experts 

Cheers!

Meirion

[O Dinas Powys]

One way to cure this is to harden it with superglue. I use a por of brush on loctite, and you can easily wipe that littmle brush over there and make it solid. Wipe off the excess glue first though, or it will look like a mace 

Cool, might try that 

Cheers,

Meirion

[Techno]

Giving it a coating of superglue is fine, as long as it's not going to be put in a vulcanizing 'press'.

If there's too much of the glue, it can do unexpected things..... if you're unlucky.
To thicken up a 'flat' sculpt once, I super-glued an extra layer of Milliput on the back....and then neatened all the edges. (Good job..thought I )

When it was pressed, it apparently 'exploded' in the mould when the super-glue got heated and expanded.

Hey Ho !

Cheers - Phil

[Leon]

Yep, superglue can do all kinds of fun stuff in the mould press!

[O Dinas Powys]

Giving it a coating of superglue is fine, as long as it's not going to be put in a vulcanizing 'press'.

If there's too much of the glue, it can do unexpected things..... if you're unlucky.
To thicken up a 'flat' sculpt once, I super-glued an extra layer of Milliput on the back....and then neatened all the edges. (Good job..thought I )

When it was pressed, it apparently 'exploded' in the mould when the super-glue got heated and expanded.

Hey Ho !

Cheers - Phil

Yep, superglue can do all kinds of fun stuff in the mould press!

Sounds like putting a sealed glass bottle in a microwave 

[Techno]

The odd times I DO have to use it for a model that's going into a mould....I try and use almost microscopic amounts.....(I put a drop of ultra thin s/g on an old piece of plasticard, then dip the end of a pin or dental probe into that, then use THAT to transfer the glue to the appropriate place on the figure)......and as Peter says above....If there's any excess...Get rid of it !!
Cheers - Phil

[marshall1945]

interesting discussion.

I have been using milliput for filling holes in vehicles and some add on bits - had it for years as I don't do major things. From the discussion I take it that there is no 'best' between GS and milliput? Seems to be about what you want to do with it?

One thing I find with milliput is that using a very small aount can be hard - getting it to it to say put and not fall off or stick to the thing I am using to apply it can be a pain. what is GS like to work with for small amounts?

[Techno]

Hi Marshall.

Yes... To a great extent it depends on what you want to do with the putty.

They both have pros and cons.....But normally I'd say that I'd almost always prefer g/s over M/P.
Small bits of M/P are extremely difficult to get to stick to anything.
I'll come back a bit later and try and write something coherent.....What I've just deleted was a complete load of gibberish !!

Cheers - Phil.

[marshall1945]

Phil

thanks. will probably invest in some green stuff and use the two putties as appropriate - anything more on the subject woudl be much appreciated

have a great Christmas

Steve