Attn: Custom Artists!! Newbs, ask Questions here!

[ItsSinjin]

Hey whats the best material for sculpting a predator bio helmet?

 

[ItsSinjin]

Depending on cost, I would like to try my hand at sculpting. I have very little experience in it, but I've been pleased with all of my work I've done this far. I've sculpted in kneadatite epoxy (more commonly known as "green stuff") but was wondering what sorts of material you all use.

Do you use polymer clays? Anyone use anything similar to kneadatite that doesn't involve an oven? And if so, does your stuff dry up from storage?
Thanks!

Well use Apoxie Sculpt (No i didnt spell it wrong). Dries as fast as you want depending on the mixture ratios. And works, well STRONG

 

[EndoSickness]

Hey, not a custom question, but:

I have a problem and dunno how to messure it, but my 600 can´t hold the Gatling in firm position.
The shoulder joint is kind of flimsy and it won´t let the forarm stay in 90° angle so that the gatling is posed in a "targeted" way, you know?
I already unscrewed the one from the shoulder to look if I can fix it, but the arm is not detachable.
So it looks like a shoulder problem.
Any help?

 

[ItsSinjin]

Hey, not a custom question, but:

I have a problem and dunno how to messure it, but my 600 can´t hold the Gatling in firm position.
The shoulder joint is kind of flimsy and it won´t let the forarm stay in 90° angle so that the gatling is posed in a "targeted" way, you know?
I already unscrewed the one from the shoulder to look if I can fix it, but the arm is not detachable.
So it looks like a shoulder problem.
Any help?

I had a similar problem with one of my neca figures. What i did was got electrical tape and firmly put it on the joint. i made layers until it was firm.

 

[EndoSickness]

Yeah, I have somethin´similar in mind but the problem is INSIDE the shoulder joint and I have to detach the arm from the shoulder to reach the area of said problem.
Anyone knowing how to dismantle the arm on the 600?

 

[Grosby]

I have a question for those that use Super Sculpey Firm. I decided to take up sculpting recently and after a little searching decided Sculpey Firm might be a good choice for this. I've never used clay of any kind before this.

Now my problem is that I've been using Sculpey Firm for a few weeks now, just doing basic things to get a feel of things, and I'm finding it generally very frustrating. I have no complaint with actual sculpting, the trouble I'm finding is with the clay. Firstly, it seems like it takes a lot of time to begin with, warming and kneading the clay for use, and then after that I'm finding I still have to knead the clay as I work. The clay often seems to crumble/break as I work with it and it doesn't seem to blend together easily. Like if I had a blob of clay and then I wanted to fatten a section just a little with just a very small and thin strip of clay, it's a lot of work to get that thin strip to blend on smoothly. I come across a lot of folds and pockets, too.

In general, it just seems very tough to work with freely. It feels like half the time is spent getting the clay workable rather than actual sculpting, even after the preparation stage. Is this how things normally are or does it sound like I'm doing something wrong or have some old/bad clay?

My preparation process at the moment is that I break the Sculpey up into pieces no bigger than 3cm or so and then I put it in a plastic bag in warm-to-hot water. After I leave it there for a short while, I knead it with my fingers. Even if I just had a very small ball of it and kept kneading it for five-minutes straight it still breaks and crumbles. Is that normal? I was expecting it to have the smooth quality of blu-tack or an art/kneaded eraser, almost. Is it not meant to be like that? Is regular Super Sculpey more like that?

 

[Anzik]

You might have a bad batch. When its crumbly try mixing a small amount of Vaseline in it as you knead it.

 

[Grosby]

You're probably right. When I wrote before I was actually thinking of that as the least likely answer for some reason but looking into it I see others talking of bad batches and whatnot so it sounds like a good possibility now. I'll try this vaseline business or some other softener and see what that does. Thanks for the tip.

This one Sculpey Firm I bought online. In future I'll stick to buying it in stores. Just for future reference, can someone say if there is some way to check the quality of this clay in stores? I see others elsewhere talking of doing this, somehow checking the quality, but what they're doing I don't know for sure...

For normal Super Sculpey, if you press your finger into it it'll be soft and make a smooth impression, that's what you do? What about with Sculpey Firm? I still have half a box untouched and when I try to push my finger into that it's like a rock. I can make an impression of about a fraction of a millimeter but beyond that it's literally like a rock. Does good Sculpey Firm have more give than that in the box?

 

[feroze13]

I have a few questions about painting head sculpts.

I've got daler-rowney artist quality acrylics, are these any different from the Testor range? any benefits to going Testor?

Is there a UK equivalent to Pine Sol for stripping paint? or should i use acetone?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Predator vs. Alien]

Elder Wolf predator custom. Well I've had this ideas for about a year, and I'm looking for a custom maker who can help me.

What i'm looking to do: well I'd like the dreads re-painted into the P2 Elders blue color, have his head re-painted and the scars lightened to look more "old". I'd also like to have some of his armor dinged up from more xeno combat. I'd also like a Predalien skull trophy. And of course have his over all skin tone re done to look like an Elder Pred.

This will be done using the Cleaner Kit Wolf Predator. Please PM me if
you'd be intrested in helping me accomplish this. There are more fine details I'd like done, but I don't wanna drag this post out anymore.

 

[Buttmunch]

OK, I got a clothing question. I've got 2 HT STARS Chris Redfield vests that I want to change the color of. They are of a windbreaker type material, so its a synthetic material and won't dye with normal clothing dye. Does anyone know of any dye/dye remover that would work on this type of material? I might need to remove color first before dying to get the colors I want. The first would be red (for Barry Burton) and the second would be yellow (for Brad Vickers).

The only other thing I've thought of would be fabric paint, but I'm not sure how that would turn out. Any thoughts/suggestions would be great!

 

[gdb]

That sounds tough. Not completely up on that vest but how about getting some material at the fabric store, cutting it to wrap around the vest and sewing it together?

 

[K07]

So this thread's a mess and not organized enough for a newb to jump in and get help.

Basic question: What kind of paints do you artists use? Brand names and types along with colors would be more than helpful. Also, once I'm satisfied, how do I "seal" it so it doesn't come off so easily? Or do I not do that?

EDIT: I own Testors Model Masters Acrylic paint for models. That's why I've used on Wizards of the Coast SW minis as well as Mattel's 6" Movie Masters figures. Will these suffice or do I need to get a different sort of paint?

 

[Anzik]

Model Master Acryl is very popular as is sealing it with testors dull cote.

 

[K07]

Thanks so much!

 

[K07]

I attempted painting a head today. It turns out too "caked on" looking an not natural. I thinned it out with some water but when I drybrush the lighter tones over the darker ones (as found in Josh's tutorial near the beginning of this topic), it just gets really caked on and less natural.

What am I doing wrong? Should I add more water? If I put too much water it's runny and doesn't stick to the surface at all.

 

[Skiman]

What tends to help me with this issue is being patient and adding the layers, the Burnt Sienna layer, the skin color layer and then whenever I'm happy with that next would be my face tones...

 

[K07]

How do you get the paint out of creases? I decided to start it over but can't get all the paint off.

Definitely gonna have to do this next week if I don't get called in for any jobs. I won't have time tonight or this weekend. I was really looking forward to this too!

 

[Skiman]

How do you get the paint out of creases? I decided to start it over but can't get all the paint off.

Definitely gonna have to do this next week if I don't get called in for any jobs. I won't have time tonight or this weekend. I was really looking forward to this too!

Do u have paint thinner, dip in cloth and perhaps a small tooth brush behind cloth while wiping the sculpt... but gently of course.

 

[K07]

I've got thinner and used a paper towel. Didn't work. I painted over it several times with a base coat and that fixed it. I got the skin looking much better just trying my own method rather than following Josh's and it looks pretty good for a first try. Followed Josh's method for hair and it looks AMAZING. The eyes really need a touch up so I'm gonna do those tomorrow. Thanks for the replies, guys!