Has anybody used this? I needed to fill in some cracks in some terrain I hut together and this is their recommended product but I found it impossible to work with. Any tips?
It's better for doing small sculpted details (it's what they sculpt the master miniatures from, after all) and for filling tiny crack-sized gaps in minis. If you're trying to fill larger areas you may find Milliput (or an alternative) more useful.
Is this plastic or resin terrain? If so, ask at your local hardware store what sort of stuff they recommend for filling in small cracks in plastic (you could say, "like a plastic windowpane," if you don't want to talk about your orc and goblin toys :)).
What about it is giving you the most difficulty? Tips that come to mind immediately: Keep your fingers and your tools moist to avoid it sticking. Work it to a soft, chewing gum consistency with uniform color before applying for best effect. A spatula or pocket knife blade helps with applying it and getting it smooth. If you have to touch it with your fingers as you apply it, use some of the plastic packaging as a finger guard to avoid leaving fingerprints.
There are a lot of different epoxy putties. Green Stuff is one of the most expensive you can find. There are other ways to fill gaps besides epoxy putty. I use "Apoxie Sculpt" a lot because it is much cheaper than Green Stuff.
I've also used plaster for gap filling as well as various sorts of glue.
Sean mentioned hardware stores. I have to second that; putties and resins cost significantly more when marketed to hobbyists. Also, depending on the size of the cracks/gaps, you may not need anything too special.
AD mentioned using "various sorts of glue." If your gaps are fairly narrow, this is possibly your best option. Even regular Elmer's glue hardens and fills gaps (and is relatively cheap and very available).
If you have a Hobby store near you (or you don't mind ordering online) try searching for Squadron White Putty. I use in on my plastic models.
Wetting my fingers helped a lot but it still sucked. Yur right about the price too, it was super expensive. I just bought it cuz it was what games workshop sold and I was buying it for their product.
I think ima try the Elmer's glue. Now that its mentioned, yur right it will dry hard enough and would also be easy to whipe off excess. Does anyone know if it will be noticeable? Sometimes different materials are noticeable through paint
Elmer's glue pancakes out and loses its bulk as it dries, making it less than ideal for filling gaps, especially large ones. And if the space is too big, the middle will be airtight and will stay wet. If you're willing to put on a few layers, it should work, but try to get Elmer's GlueAll rather than their watered down School a Glue or the fast setting, high shrinkage Carpenters Glue.
How big is the area you're trying to fill? Have you considered air dry clay or automotive Bondo?
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Sean mentioned hardware stores. I have to second that; putties and resins cost significantly more when marketed to hobbyists.
Wetting my fingers helped a lot but it still sucked. Yur right about the price too, it was super expensive. I just bought it cuz it was what games workshop sold and I was buying it for their product.
The trade name for green stuff is kneadatite. You can always find it for cheaper than what gw sells it for. They just repackage it and slap a mark up on it.
They are actually seams I guess, not cracks. So the widest one is still less than 1mm wide. The ones that aren't bad don't bother me but the worst ones, while not huge, are very noticable. What isle would I find Elmer's glue all?
It's just the regular white glue and would be with the other glues. Just try to get it, rather than school glue, since they are slightly different products, and the glue-all is a better fit for what you need.
What about it is giving you the most difficulty? Tips that come to mind immediately: Keep your fingers and your tools moist to avoid it sticking. Work it to a soft, chewing gum consistency with uniform color before applying for best effect. A spatula or pocket knife blade helps with applying it and getting it smooth. If you have to touch it with your fingers as you apply it, use some of the plastic packaging as a finger guard to avoid leaving fingerprints.
In addition to this, vaseline or plain chapstick helps keep it from sticking and you can use it to smooth the final product. You need to be careful not to let the vaseline mix in with the greenstuff (because then it won't stick to anything, including the mini) but it can be very helpful.
Since you've already bought it I'd suggest trying to work with it as you may as well get your money's worth. Once you get a hang for the feel of it it can actually be good to work with. Even if you don't use it for this project, hold onto it and practice with it--it can be extremely useful and you can use it to smooth out conversions, add cool texture to a base, etc. even if you don't want to get into the intricacies of sculpting.
For gap filling, you only need tiny tiny amounts. Roll a little ball, squish it into the gap, smooth with a knife or wax carving tool or whatever you've got to hand. Add in tiny amounts as needed.
Wetting my fingers helped a lot but it still sucked. Yur right about the price too, it was super expensive. I just bought it cuz it was what games workshop sold and I was buying it for their product.
Word of advice to save you pain and wallet-ache later: never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever buy the Citadel brand of any hobby product. It is almost always someone else's product repackaged and marked up several dollars.
For primer, buy matte spray primer like krylon. For tools, buy them at Micromark or a similar specialist.
FWIW, I usually buy Kneadatite (green stuff) from the Warstore. I get the 114 gram/4 oz tube for $13; compare to the 20g/0.7 oz stick GW sells for $10 (hopefully you can see how the former per amount is cheaper than the latter). The Warstore also sells a "tape" form version that is only $8 and I believe is also a lot more in quantity than what GW sells.
I think ima try the Elmer's glue. Now that its mentioned, yur right it will dry hard enough and would also be easy to whipe off excess. Does anyone know if it will be noticeable? Sometimes different materials are noticeable through paint
Elmer's Glue is just the white glue (also called PVA glue, and yes, Citadel will massively overcharge you for that stuff too) you will find in any school supplies section of any store that sells school supplies.
However, I wouldn't recommend it, as it can bubble or shrink. If you want to use glue as a gap filler, I'd maybe suggest something like Zap Gel. Which also makes a good superglue. I am not sure if the link I linked you gets you the best price (but generally Micromark's prices are reasonable).
Good luck.
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Personally, for small cracks I would recommend liquid green stuff rather than the putty version.
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Liquid green stuff alternative - acrylic gel / modeling paste: http://www.liquitex.com/GelMediums/ Should be able to get it cheap at michael's or hobby lobby.
Sean mentioned hardware stores. I have to second that; putties and resins cost significantly more when marketed to hobbyists. Also, depending on the size of the cracks/gaps, you may not need anything too special.
AD mentioned using "various sorts of glue." If your gaps are fairly narrow, this is possibly your best option. Even regular Elmer's glue hardens and fills gaps (and is relatively cheap and very available).
OK, so I didn't really mean for you to get or even to try Elmer's glue. I only meant that there are glues that can fill in gaps and cracks. You already have Green Stuff, you might as well use it.
One of the things I use for filling gaps is milliput, which is also sold at hobby stores. I've also used coarse epoxy putties sold in big box hardware stores for a pittance compared to hobby epoxies. But that tends to harden very fast.
The real question you need to ask is whether you are just filling gaps, or if you are needing to improve a structural joint. Green stuff is actually very good for the latter.
It's been a while, so your model work is probably already done. But for those who see this I thought what the heck. Here are a couple of "how-to" links from the web.
I have never used this stuff and my hands shake because of Epilepsy, but I read that the different mixture of Green Stuff will determine how hard the Stuff will get. The first link says it better.
My suggestion of the Squadron putty was wrong as it is only good for plastic models. I read about the Green Stuff could be used to make Capes for minis. I'm sure lots of people know that.
Anyway, hope the links help.