Concept Check

[Keeper]

I was reading an anthology of wargames modelling articles last night, which was published in 1975, and they suggested a conversion medium that seemed quite strange and I wondered if anybody else had ever tried this ...

The article suggested that for small modifications, packs, rolled coats, etc. to a mini where we would natually reach for the green stuff / brown stuff / etc. that you can use plasticene, and when the shape is good, coat it in liquid polystyrene cement, let it dry and it goes hard and is good to paint.  :icon_ermm:

So, before I try and find some plasticene and try this apparantly bonkers suggestion (well, it practially begs you to try it, doesn't it? ), has anyone here ever tried this? :icon_scratch:

[Agentmolar]

hmmm. crunchy on the outside and soft in the centre....

Dont drop the mini, or it might crack???

[Keeper]

Hmmm, Cadbury's Cream Riflemen  :icon_razz:

[Custom_Hobby]

Thank god for Procreate and Green & Brownstuff

[Fabian]

I've tried it in the past for gap filling... it works suprisingly well for that, but I dunno about making items out of it.

[Keeper]

Do you mean for gaps in multi-part models or conversions?  Does it give a hard finish? And does it take acrylic paint OK?

[Fabian]

I've used it for multi-part models in the dim past.. as did the WD guys in the early 90s for conversions. Undercoated it takes the paint fine.

[Bungle]

I used it to make a 25mm triceratops for an ork to ride many years ago.

when it is not worked it sets quite hard, and painted fine using enamel paints... all that I had at the time.

It does get damaged though if things dropped on it.

[Bruenor Odinson]

hmmm. crunchy on the outside and soft in the centre....

Armadillo's!!!!!!!!!!!


Wouldn't recommend it, unless you coated it in super glue.

[Captain_Jack]

Yeah it does work the whole plasticene with glue thing, I used to use it all the time before greenstuff was readily available.
Super glue tends to result in a stronger shell but can lead to some severe misting which does affect mini quality but nonethe less it is still quite fragile.  It works perfectly fine for filling a small gap.  Also it can result in the sculpting lookiing very sloppy if your doing anything larger and it will get sloppier the more the shell breaks.  Blu tak also works  instead of plasticene as does modelling wax.  Varnish also works instead of glue, a couple of coats is best.

If you need some quick terrain this method works well.  Things such as craters and low hills or adding texture to a surface ie mud.  Filling in bases slots too but masking tape works just as well once you flock it.  heck if you need really quick terrain just mix up all your colours so you get this mottled grey brown mess and use that on its own with out coating it.  That method is good because you can simply squish up the terrain feature and make a new one for the next game and your minis wont fall down the hill so much because you can lighty press the base into the terrain and that should be sufficient to hold them.  You can even paint straight onto the plasticene.  may not look the best but it looks better than some alternatives such as mugs, ashtrays, books, pens, pieces of paper and the like.

so yeah I guess thats my experiences with it.  I got into the hobby while I was still at primary school and coming from an artistic background I had masses of plasticene at my disposal.  Any questions?

[Keeper]

Thanks everyone for your input.  I guess as soon as I get any time at all in my workshop to play with some, I'll give it a go, and then use more conventional techniques again in the future  :-)

Cheers all!

[gi6ers]

For v.small gaps I tend to use the Superglue that Heresy sell, it's thicker than the bog standard stuff and works a treat.

My accelerator technique is to apply a tiny bit of water to the opposing surface and it sticks straight away.


It's good on cuts too!

[Captain_Jack]

Yeah I use what sounds to be a similar type of glue Zap-A-Gap.  Thicker gap filling formula, great for cracks and the like