In the Shadow of Mighty Wings: Sgt's update

This post will be light on the philosophy and is more of a catch up of where we are. Painting is in full swing. 18 marines have had the airbrush layers put on and will be pushed into the brush stage. 

I've completed the squad Sgt. as a tester for the rest and I'm very pleased with the result. 

I've added a decal of the Legion symbol but I won't be adding any more as I'm not sure if Forge World will change it to a more nostalgic version. I won't be adding much in the way of detail to the models either - again waiting for Forge World to release a few colour plates so I have a feel of the secondary colours used and the patterns.

Dynameis - Literally translates as Powers but has connotations of Strength, miracles, but more strongly expressed as exceptional miracles (Renweal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective pg 156). Strange that miracles have a hierarchy - what would a mundane miracle be? 

The Dynameis are my terminator unit. The first creation was a terminator with parts from the Sanguinary Guard, Phoenix Terminators and the Cataphractii kit. In battle I imagine these guys are dropped like an anchor from which the Blood Angel support elements can build or face from. These guys are the back bone of a dynamic assault. Like all Blood Angels their armour is individually decorated and crafted with an eye to aesthetic beauty - an echo from Baalite culture.  

The second unit had to be 20 Tactical Legionnaires. Unlike their 40K descendants, Tactical marines could be taken in swathes. The silhouette of a 40K marine army is different to a 30K one, the Sicarans, Contemptors, Primarchs and Superheavies all make a distinct impression on the field. 

Read More

Tools of the Trade: An introduction to Paint Brushes

Since I use this wonderful little tool nearly everyday, I thought it would behoove me learn more about the paintbrush. Above is a break down of how the paint brush is constructed. For most modern brushes, the hairs are held in place with glue whereas the traditional method is to hold them with wax. You should never use hot water to clean your brushes; the heat melts the glue / wax, and splays the point of the brush.

Types of Brushes

• Round; The workhorse brush. This has a pointed tip with long, closely arranged bristles for detail work. Look for brushes with a single, cohesive tip that does not have odd hairs.
• Spotter; (Not pictured). Looks like a Round with a shorter bristle length. Used for precision detail, freehand and eye work. This is one of the most important brushes in your collection.
• Flat; For spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. Perfect for cloaks and weathering. 
• Bright: Shorter than flats, these brushes will often have stiffer bristles. Perfect for stippling or dry brushing with softer haired brushes. 
• Filbert: Flat brushes with domed ends Used in larger canvas style painting but can be used like a bright.
• Fan: For blending broad areas of paint. (I don't use this brush - may be useful for weathering I suppose). 
• Angle: Used like the Filbert, good for general painting application as well as detail work. Excellent for precision dry-brushing. 
• Mop: A larger brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application. Use for laying down washes over a larger, detailed area like a tank or the scales of a dragon.
• Rigger: round brushes with long hairs, traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. I use these for fine, long lines. 
• Stippler (Below): Round brush with very short hard bristles, used to add texture to flat surface     (such as fur on horses).

Most of these brushes will not be needed and are mentioned for the sake of documentation. I only use a bright, spotter, round and tapered mop. With this collection I can blend, layer, dry brush, wash and ink. Anything else I need to create I merely improvise.

What sizes do we need? If your used to Citadel's sizing then this scaling system can see a little daunting. Most previews give the actual size of the brush on screen. To find out what size you need simply hold up your old paint brush to the photo on screen to work out which size is a detail, large etc. As a general rule of thumb the number 0 or 1 will be a good size for most projects if you buy a quality brush such as the Windsor and Newton Series 7 or Raphael 8404. These brushes come with an exceptional point and can be relied upon for even fine detail work.

Click the picture for actual scale of paint brush

I use a size 0 and 1 Raphael 8404 round, a Windsor and Newton 1 Spotter for detail and fine work; a selection of Rosemary & Co Red Sable round for everyday work and I am planning on buying some pure red sable Bright's for dry brushing.

What brushes do you use? Do you have any recommendations I haven't chosen? Any brands you swear by? Please leave a comment below and share with us all!

Links for Excellent Brushes:

Raphael 8404


Rosemary & Co. 

Windsor and Newton Series 7

Da Vinci Sable

Read More

Blood Vestals by Raging Heroes review

Availability: Raging Heroes and all good online retailers. Very easy to find

Price: £16.50 for 5 basic Blood Vestals and £18.60 for the Command (excluding shipping)

Details: 28mm in scale in white metal. Designed by Benoit Guerville, sculpted by Benoit Guerville & Jean - Romain Barrau.

Look what came in the mail this morning! The much anticipated Blood Vestals by raging heroes. As a Druchii fan, I get giddy at the thought of little metal women in a frenzy. While I am a fan of Games Workshop's Witch Elf sculpts, Chris Fitzpatrick's sculpts are looking a little dated. With Avatars of War and Mantic rumoured to be producing Witch Elf equivalent kits, it is Raging Heroes who are the first on the scene. Let's see what they have to offer.

I received a confirmation e-mail on the 2nd of May to say that my order had been dispatched and were sent via France's postal service and I received the package on the 10th. They came well packaged each in an individual polytene bag. There were no missing miniatures and none were broken. While I experienced no problems with the service, DarkMark over at Druchii.net did, receiving a troop box instead of a HQ. Considering the size of the company and the large quantity of orders they were shipping out I was expecting to see a crop of messages op up across the forums with these types of complaints. I am happy to see that this seems to be an isolated incident (please post if you have had a different experience) and was quickly resolved by the guys from the Raging Hero team. I tend to judge companies by their reactions to set backs like this, and Raging Heroes pass with flying colours. 

The first thing I have to say is that they are beautiful. I was immediately struck by the delicate grace of the miniature and the more natural proportions in comparison to GW's. I've compared the miniature to two different generations of Witch Elves so that you can see the difference. I was also struck by how simple the sculpture is. I'm used to Citadel miniatures which are quite ornate and detailed (lots of skulls). Raging Heroes have kept a sleek, stylish concept that allows the painter to really play with the tone of skin and hair. The lack of detail allows these models to be used across a wide range of game systems and are not stymied to just one.

Above is another size comparison shot next to a Repeater crossbowman and my converted Spear elf. 

Turning the model around in your fingers is very nice. I got the feeling of holding something precious; it's the kind of model that takes you back to being a child and feeling that same thrill of having a new toy to play with. However, while I praise the Blood Vestal kit for its delicacy, from a practical point of view the ankles and wrists look very thin and I believe some people would find it hard to remove the flash tab and pin the model in place. The flash tab on model above is slightly too large to fit into the slotted tab, so that means a nervy clipping session to get it right. 

I'm not sure how well this kit would fare the rigours of a regular gamer.  I'd dread to think what would happen if it were to break - pinning that would not be a fun experience. 

Because these are early production miniatures you would expect there to be little flash. I struggled to find the flash line and could only manage the above photo to show how little there is. removing it was very easy; a few passes with my scalpel knife removed any flash present. The models do have quite a lot of release agent on them, so please make sure you wash them before you apply a primer. 

In conclusion, these are exquisite models that really fill me with hope for the future of miniature sculpture. I am still a sceptic about artists using CAD sculpts exclusively to produce kits, but the Blood Vestals show what this new technology is capable to producing. The elegant simplicity of these miniatures encourage artists to explore a space, or gamers to quickly paint these for the battlefield. I have no doubt that this company is destined for bigger and better things and these Blood Vestals may be remembered as a seminal product in their history. 

And for all those lucky enough to have the models in their possession, but don't know how to paint them, here's a little inspiration for you.

Georc's seminal 'raising my own level'

Read More

Travel in Style; My portable paint station

The problem; how do I travel safety and comfortably with my collection of paints and equipment (putty, airbrush, brushes etc)? This has been a real problem for me as I am required to move around the country quite a bit for work. I needed a durable case with plenty of storage room. 

The solution; an aluminium vanity box used by makeup artists.

This thing comes with 22 separate storage compartments, each compartment has removable sides so you can make the size of each compartment the size you require. It is easy clean black cloth interior, ideal for makeup, hair accessories ect. 

This particular case comes with a removable strap which clips on the side of the case, a very useful feature for mobile makeup artists, beauticians and hair dressers. I've found that I can contain my entire collection of paints, putty and airbrush set (excluding compressor, but I have quite a large one) easily fits in here. The removable 'walls' allow for a degree of customisation to accommodate your own collection. 

I'm not sponsored by the people who make these cases, nor am I affiliated with them in any way, and I apologise if this article has read like a sales pitch. This is what I use and I really love it. It's solved my problem in an affordable and elegant fashion. 

Dimensions : Aprox - Length 34cm, Height 29cm, Width 24cm Weight : Aprox 2.8kg. Lightweight yet robust and secure. Removable strap can be adjusted to different lengths. 

Links:

Aluminium Vanity Make up Box

And for those in the US

Read More

Tools of the Trade: Paint Brand Comparison Part 2; Vallejo

Vallejo

Vallejo produce three ranges of acrylic paints each of which has been specifically designed for military modeling, fantasy miniatures and the use with an airbrush. The Vallejo range is huge; model colour boasts a range of 220 colours, the model game colour range has 119 and the model air range has 110 (including mediums, varnishes and primers). This is a vast and vibrant range that is continually expanding and developing. With the proliferation of airbrushes throughout the painting community, coupled with the wide availability of these paints, Vallejo is often the next range of paints people try after Games Workshop; so lets have a look at what's out there. 

Model Colour

Price: £1.50 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

This is the largest of the lines with 220 different shades of paint available. These are advertised as acrylic vinyl colour; which means they offer excellent coverage and can be diluted very thinly for the use of layering. Looking over the paint range and comparing them with Citadel's, we can see that there quite a few dull, unsaturated colours (lots of mud and grey in the label descriptions) as these were designed to be used with historical military modeling kits. The nice people at Vallejo have also put together special colour sets (such as WWII German Cam) that makes re-creating historical colour palettes very easy.

These paints are excellent when you wish to create a more realistic colour palette for your miniatures and can offer a level of authenticity that may escape other ranges.

Game Colour

Price: £1.50 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

Whereas Model Colour has been designed to re-create historical colour palettes, the Game colour range offer a range of highly saturated colours for fantasy miniatures. These paints are highly pigmented and are a little thicker than its Model Colour equivalent. These paints feel like they have been designed for one-coat-coverage (although they cannot be used like Games Workshop's foundation range) and layer highlighting when you do not wish to blend the colours. These paints are slightly thicker because the pigment is acrylic resin rather than vinyl. This means that the colours will adhere to plastic and metal a little better, and will be more resistant to the wear and tear of wargaming.

Kabalite warrior from the Dark Heart. Instead of smooth transitional highlight on the armour, the 'eavy metal team have edge highlighted the armour plates to emphasize the sculpted lines of the miniature. 

If you were to purchase these paints I would highly recommend you create some gunk to help you with transitional blends dilute and help blend colours together more smoothly. 

Model Air

Price: £1.50 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

This range has been designed to the use with an airbrush but can just as easily be used to paint miniatures like normal paint. These paints are very thin, the pigment has been ground much finer than other acrylic paints to stop paint particles obstructing the nozzle. The formula of this paint contains acrylic resin, giving all the protective qualities of game colour but without the drawback of thick paint. These are easy to mix and can be diluted further with other additives. This range also supplies metallic and varnishes to be used with an airbrush.   

Advantages of Vallejo.

These paints are very easy to get hold of online and should be available in most model railway, craft or model shops. The range is huge and offers an excellent array of supporting additives to be explored. The paint is inexpensive, of good quality, and you get a lot for what you buy.

One of the strongest advantages this range has over its competitors is the eye dropper style paint pots. When the paints are used only a minimum amount of paint comes into contact with the air and so extends the working life of the paint. For those who use an airbrush using the eyedropper is much easier to keep track of quantities and is much easier to squeeze into the receptacle.

When shaken properly, this paint can be thinned down to a good degree for layering using just water. It is also very responsive to the range of additives and mediums that Vallejo sell.

For me, the metallic air range is the real highlight of the entire range. The metal pigment has been ground very finely and offers excellent coverage with outrageously thin coats. I would however, advise against the Model Colour range of metallic as they are quite thick and hard to thin evenly. 

Disadvantages of Vallejo

Bottles are well designed but not perfect. Paint will dry in the nozzle and this will lead you to just apply more pressure on the bottle, thus causing a mini-explosion of paint on your palette; very annoying. However, these clogs are easy to clean out with a straightened out paper clip.

There is no agitator for a paint that has a reputation for separating into medium and pigment in bottle. I would recommend buying agitators for the Model Colour and Game Colour ranges, but this would bump the price up. Taking the cost of agitators into account, each paint would cost about 4p more (but these can be re-used over successive generations of paint that you buy).

Game colour really needs more than water to thin it. It's incredibly thick and is best suited for layering without too many transitional stages (look at the dark eldar range painted by 'eavy metal for an example of extreme edge highlighting). This line does not lend itself well to subtle tonal changes and will be frustrating to use for many people. The separation in the bottle, and clogging in the nozzle are also pronounced in the Game Colour range.

The Model air range suffers from the same problem as the rest of the vallejo range; the colours easily sperate and need plenty of shaking. However, because of the thin consistency of the paint, these problems aren't a big deal (two or three shakes will normally be enough to mix the paint). It could be argued that another disadvantage of the range is that you're paying for diluted paint; something that you can learn to do yourself with regular acrylic paint. For the way I paint (thin layering) these paints are ideal to use straight out of the bottle, but some may not like the consistency of this and would prefer to thin the paint themselves.

Other products in the Vallejo paint range:

Liquid Gold

Price: £3.20 for a 35 ml. plastic pot with a childproof cap.

This is an alcohol based paint that uses metallic pigment mixed with resin to produce a much more vibrant finish. This next bit is important if you wish to use these paints:

"The colours can be mixed with one another and dry almost instantly. They can be overpainted or varnished almost immediately. The specific weight of the pigment causes the formation of sediment at the base of the container, and paint should be thoroughly shaken or stirred before use. If it were necessary to dilute the colours further, only 96% pure alcohol should be added to avoid oxidation."

In my opinion, these paints are unparalleled in their finish of true metallic metals. They require a little more effort to use, and ideally, you would need a more robust style of paint brush (those used for oil painting and are designed for the rigors of cleaning with turpentine or spirits). For the tiny amount of extra effort you put into the preparation of these paints you get an incredibly vibrant and strong metallic finish. These paints work excellently with citadel's range of washes.

The alcohol used to dilute this paint is isopropanol, or rubbing alcohol. It can be bought quite cheaply from your local chemist or online. Please beware that this alcohol is extremely flammable and so are the Liquid gold paints themselves. Be careful in their use and storage.

Washes

Price: £2.00 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

I have not used these, so I cannot pass on an honest opinion about them. I've read that they handle very much like much like Games Workshop's range of washes.



Vallejo Extra Opaque


Price: £1.79 for a 17ml eye dropper pot


I have not used these, so I cannot pass on an honest opinion about them. I've read that they handle very much like much like Games Workshop's range of Foundation paints.

Additives

Vallejo also produce aerosols, varnishes, brush cleaners, drying retarder etc. There is a lot to play with here for the miniature painter. These offer good value for money and are an excellent resource for people who are just starting to explore wider world of fine art with acrylic paints.

The full line of auxiliaries can be found here:

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/gb/auxiliaries-model-paints.html

Pigments

These pigments help produce very realistic mud and rust effects. They can be sealed with matt or glaze medium. The full range can be found here.

Conclusion

Vallejo offer an unbelievably diverse range of good quality paints, at a cheap price. If you are only used to Games Workshop's range of paints, pick up a couple of pots of Vallejo paint to try them out. I have not tired the range of washes or extra pigmented paints but I have read that they are quite similar to Games Workshop's wash and foundation ranges. This is not the finest example of acrylic paints on the market, but in terms of price, availability, range and quality, the Vallejo range offers an excellent resource for the miniature painter.


Links related to this article.


For a discussion on paint agitators

Home made paint agitators

Where to buy paint agitators? 

Generalsplatton's review of Vallejo and Reaper Master Series acrylic paints 1, 2

Vallejo to Games Workshop Citadel paint comparison chart

Read More

Tools of the Trade: Paint Brand Comparison Part 1; Games Workshop

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first of a series of articles exploring different paint brands that we can use to paint our miniatures with. These articles are by no means conclusive, but were written with the intention to evoke debate and a rolling discussion on the various merits or shortcomings of each range. Any feedback or personal experience would be highly appreciated.

First up, the one of the biggest hitters on the block; Games Workshop's range of Citadel Paints

Overview 


Price; £2 for 12ml pots

The Citadel line of acrylic paints is probably what we all started using when we first entered the hobby.

This may explain why these are unfairly stymied by some painters as a beginner paint, or a lesser acrylic paint; this is not the case. Games Workshop's range of acrylic paints are of good quality that are widely available and quite easy to get on the high street. However, these paints fall down in two areas; price when compared with other brands, and current pot design (even though the above picture is out of date, the current pot design still has the same problems).

Advantages

This range has a good choice of colours (70 paints in total including the foundation, washes and metallic range) and the paint itself is of good quality. The paint has a good consistency, good pigmentation and can be thinned with water alone. The range of acrylic paints are suitable for use in an airbrush, and I haven't noticed any adverse effects when additives are used. Where this line really shines is through their line of washes and foundation paints.

The foundation range is highly pigmented to offer one coat coverage. Although this statement is slightly boastful, and untrue depending on the underlaying colour, these paints offer excellent coverage with thin coats. A must for low opacity colours like red and yellow if you intend to use a dark undercoat.

The line of washes act as ready made 'juices' (used to subtly change the hue of colour) that leave a slightly satin finish when used. These are of an excellent quality and open up a whole new way of painting miniatures to every level of modeler. It is possible to paint very effective miniatures with a simple, neat basecoat and two to three layers of wash. Painting armies has never been so easy with this line of paints. Try picking up devlan mud to experiment and you'll relaise why this colour is the most popular in most people's collection of paints.

One advantage that I think hasn't been mentioned is the heritage this line of paint has through the 'eavy metal studio. I don't think any other line of paints made for miniature wargaming (niche market as it is) has the depth or breadth of material available to explain what can be done with the product. I've grown up alongside 'eavy metal painting articles, and I owe a lot of my current painting style to messieurs McVey and Blanche.

Engrimm Van Horstmann's paint paint scheme is typical of 'eavy metal's style; bright, direct and clean.

Disadvantages

Ultimately, you feel like you are paying for a brand name rather than an improved quality of paint. On average, when compared with other acrylic paints in the market, you tend to pay more for less paint wrapped in a duff pot. The availability of this product isn't so much of an issue either with the internet hosting a wide array and variety of products.

The biggest drawback of Games Workshop's range is the pot design. I absolutely hate it. Unless you want your paints to dry out within six to eight months of use, you must use this product with a palette; something which the pot design was designed to do away with. The amount of paint exposed to the air when you open the lid means these paints have a low life expectancy (especially in with blood red).


Conclusion

If you are interested in exploring the world of miniature painting (and if you have read this article on a little known niche blog, then i'll assume you are) and you have found out there are other paint brands out there, don't throw away your Citadel paints away quite yet. Games Workshop's paints offer good quality, for a good price, but there are more economical ways to spend your money.

These paints lend themselves well to a clear, direct and bright paint schemes, typical of the well established 'eavy metal style.

Useful resources:

Games Workshop's 'eavy metal online articles  (Unfortunately Games Workshop have taken down all their online article resources. Let's hope they are just re-tolling this and not scraping it altogether.)

Read More

The Lion Of Caliban: Making Banners part 1

I wanted to write an update of what i've been working on today. I've had some interest in the banner I created for Apollyon and, since I enjoyed creating it so much, I decided to  create another for my Librarian.

The first thing I do is gather images. This is one of my favourite activities when working on a project. I'm gathering images, quotes and music that inspire me all the time; and when I stumbled upon this old artwork by John Blanche, I knew I'd use it at sometime in the future:

At this point I had no real theme in mind. I liked the image, and it felt right to use with this model.

The initial sketch is very rough. I'm working on shapes, proportion and working in any detail that catches the eye. I'm not really concerned with the final outcome, i'm just trying to cram interesting information into my brain to use in the next sketch. 

I had a lion's head, but not much else. I knew from my previous attempt at creating a banner, highly detailed images do not lend themselves well to such a small scale. I decided to have a broken blade protruding from the mouth of the lion, and winged background to frame the head.

Below, we can see a rough sketch (on the right) trying to fit all the images I wanted to use. This time I draw to scale, to make sure the Lion's head, broken Blade and Winged motif is not too complicated. 

For this last step I concentrate on technique, form and composition. I measure out the gaps between the feathers, mark the central point of the banner and construct the lion head around the broken sword. I decided to elongate the mouth beyond what is biologically possible to reinforce the nightmarish qualities of the beast. The banner is now ready for painting! 

I'll run this through the scanner and put a download on my website if anyone would be interested in this design for their own Dark Angels (or any other chapter; there is no specific mark on there).  Please leave a comment below if you wish to have this available as a download, or whether you would like to see any other banner designs. 

LilLoser

Read More

Liquid Green Stuff Review.

Games Workshops latest range of Hobby Tools has courted quite a lot of controversy amongst the online community. Amid this fractious debate, Liquid Green Stuff  introduces something rather unique to modelers who are only familiar with Citadel products. The following review will attempt to discern what this strange product is used for, how it can be used and if there are any cool techniques you can now use with your models.

When using this product, I would urge you to use a palette. Because of the pot design, you will be exposing a proportion of your liquid green stuff every time you open the pot, and will dry. Take little amounts at a time, put it on a palette and close the lid securely. To apply Liquid Green Stuff, GW suggest using a paint brush because the putty is water soluble. I had my doubts about this, and I would suggest using a synthetic brush for the application rather than your finest kolinsky sable. However, the putty did indeed wash out using water, leaving now discernible residue. Make sure you clean your brush regularly during the procedure not to allow any putty to dry in the bristles. 

So, what does this stuff handle like? What is the consistency of the green stuff? Is it really no better than PVA water? When opening the pot, and running a brush through it, I found that it felt roughly equivalent to toothpaste. It is very easy to thin down with water and I had no problem smoothing it onto the surface of my Talos. I had no problems with it adhering to the surface of the plastic hull. It needed no special preparation or consideration. The liquid putty is not sticky by any means, but I do not foresee any problems with it not sticking to a surface. When dry, it is slightly powdery and thus unsuitable for casting (I know, I thought that this stuff would be ideal for creating parts, but alas no). 

Taking a blob of undiluted liquid green stuff, I smoothed it onto the gap on the hull of the Talos. I found that I needed a little water to help it off the brush and onto the plastic. A little bit of water will help you create a smooth finish.

The above images are of the Talos after one pass of the liquid green stuff. The next step was to file over it and repeat the process until the gap had disappeared. I would suggest using very fine grain wet and dry sandpaper (2000 - 4000 grade) to create the smoothest finish possible. 

After a few passes with the liquid green stuff the gap has all but disappeared. I also gave the hull a very thin layer of liquid green stuff to buff out any small scratches caused by my filing. I found that the liquid green stuff has a working life of around three minutes. After this it seems to separate and clump together.

Even though I have used a brush for this article, I would recommend using a soft nosed clay shaper for detail work and smoothing. Old paint brushes tend to have splayed bristles that do not lend themselves easily to detail work. Clay shapers were created to mimic the texture and pressures that can be exerted by the human finger, and would be perfect for any type of detailed putty work you wish to pursue. The rubber tip will not fray, you can get to hard to reach places with smaller shapers and you don't need to worry about ruining the bristles of your brush.

I applied a milliput wash to the dress of Isabella Von Carstien. 

Another use for this putty I can think of is to replace the mulliput wash technique. This technique is where a lump of mixed milliput is thoroughly mixed water until it is the consistency of a wash, then applied to a scratched or uneven surface to create a smooth finish. I find that I have to use this technique whenever I sculpt a large smooth surface (such as armour, or cloaks) and hairline cracks appear in the putty. Having, what is essentially, a pre-made batch of milliput wash available to me all the time is priceless.

If you have Milliput and liquid green stuff, why not combine the two? Many sculptors have custom blends of different putty ranges to yield different qualities. For example, I have found combining Green Stuff with Milliput yields a putty that has some of the elasticity of epoxy putty, but can by smoothed and diluted with water for sharp lines. Try mixing a little liquid green stuff and Milliput, or magic sculpt wash to produce a putty that can easily fill gaps and is easier to sand. If you do this, I urge you to only mix up small quantities and work fast. Liquid Green stuff only has a working life of around three minutes whereas mulliput's is normally around the hour, hour and a half bracket. 

Another interesting technique I have read is adding a little chalk dust to the Liquid Putty to make the cured putty easier to sand. I know that in order to fill gaps people use a mixture of superglue and bicarbonate of soda; try replacing the glue with some Liquid Green stuff in the combination. 

Alternatives

Vallejo produces a product very similar to Liquid green stuff called Vallejo Plastic Putty. Vallejo's plastic putty comes in a 17ml bottle and is slightly cheaper. I would argue that even though you get more putty for a cheaper price from the Vallejo equivalent, the main reason why you should buy this over GW's product is the bottle design. GW's much maligned paint pot design disadvantages this new product greatly. When opening the pot, you are exposing quite a lot of the liquid green stuff to the air - not good when the product is an air drying medium. 

Milliput wash gives you a very cheap and excellent alternative that can be filed, sanded and manipulated in a solid or liquid state. The drawback is that it is a pain to mix up and difficult to use; I'd rather pay for the convenience of having a product readily available.

Squadron Green's Green Putty, recommended by the writers of the Imperial Armour Masterclass book, and use this in a similar way to Liquid Green Stuff. Green putty is supplied in a 65g tube (like oil paint) and offers the best value for money versus quantity you buy (shipping costs may stop this being true). The disadvantage of this product is that it is toxic and quite pungent. 

For the last word in heavy duty pro-modeling, there is Mr Surfacer which can sanded easily. There are three grades available (500, 1000, 1200; the higher the number, the finer the granules) but is lacquer based and gives off some pretty wicked fumes.

In conclusion...

Because of the acrylic nature of Liquid Green Stuff, this material does not lend itself well to sanding. Let me stress that Liquid Green Stuff can be sanded, but much like its bigger brother, once cured the green stuff will bobble and scratch when filed and does not create a smooth finish without a thin layer to finish the job. This product is ideal for filing in those annoying mis-aligned joints, imperfections in sculpting smooth surfaces and eradicating any unwanted depressions. 

I think that part of the reason GW is getting such a negative response to this product is due to it being marketed as a fix for fine cast. If it were simply marketed as a filler for those inevitable gaps that appear in model construction, I think people would be generally more accepting of it. The frustrations surrounding fine cast will colour peoples perceptions of any product they release alongside it. 

Overall, an exceedingly useful tool to have in the arsenal. Liquid Green Stuff is a great product that is let down by GW's awful paint pot design and price when compared with its competitors. Like many of GW's modeling range, this product that will act as an introduction for many people to cheaper alternatives of the same quality available through other companies. 

LilLoser

Read More