Anywho since people have been asking for more posts of other's work, I figured I would make a thread posting some finished projects and some WIP.
In the thumbnail is my 28mm scale soviet KV-1/KV-2 for Bolt Action/Chain of Command/whatever WWII game I can play manufacturered by Warlord Games. Also if anyone has any pictures of real KV-2s with soviet insignia/anti-fascist slogans, that'd be great since I couldn't find any when I was doing research on this. Very few KV-2s survived the war.
28mm soviet weapon teams. Heavy mortar, vickers machine guns, and DP-27/28 LMGs. Variety of manufacturers, namely the Toy Soldier Company and Wargames Foundry.
Chibi Sherman with Kay from Girls Und Panzer. I sculpted the Kay from scratch. It was my first time sculpting a person, so I wanted to do something that didn't need to be completely accurate. I really, really needed to have more sculpting wire because those fingers were a pain. The face also ended up being a little too flat. Not a serious project, was just something I got for Christmas to bang together real quick.
28mm Raptorling Riders from Warmonger Miniatures. These guys were a blast to paint. I use them mainly as Squig Hoppers in Warhammer.
Scratch built orc baggage train for use in God of Battles or whatever scenarios in other games. The orc driver was my second mini from scratch after doing Kay above. The boar and squigs were made from leftover Games Workshop bits. The wagon itself is poster board with the paper peeled off and carved into before sealing it with Mod Podge. The wheels were wrapped in sheet styrene (a.k.a. plasticard) and leftover bitz were used as details for the rest of the wagon. The furs are simply torn pieces of paper from the poster board layered over tissue paper and sealed with Mod Podge.
I've hit the image limit so I'll come back later to add more in the comments.
And I'm back with more posting (can't stop won't stop)!
High Elf White Lion Captain sculpted entirely from scratch for use in Rangers of Shadow Deep and Warhammer Fantasy. This was the third mini I made and you'd think I would have learned to give myself enough armature wire. Whatever you think you need, double it, then double it again. I ran out of slack when I got to the legs and it was a pain trying to add more wire so I could join the top to the bot while still being able to bake it in the oven (so no using superglue). Lesson learned!
My orc giants, Trollfoot and Meetayeeta, from Games Workshop. The fur took a really long ass time. Overall happy with how they turned out, though on Meetayeeta I should have softened the abs a bit. Too sharp on the edges. I don't like how people put their giants together as-is right out of the box, so they're all in the same pose. For these, I put them together, then got weird with it and started chopping and cutting them into pieces. Then I put them back together with miscellaneous bitz into different poses.
I've hit the image limit again so more later.
These are amazing. What do you sculpt out of?
It depends on what I'm doing. My go-to is a 50/50 mix of Aves Epoxy and kneadatite (a.k.a. greenstuff). Aves cures into a hard, brittle shell while greenstuff is more like rubber after curing. Mixing them makes the best of both worlds. You get a hard sculpt with sharper details that's easy to work with.
Oil-based polymer clay is what you want when doing a whole piece from scratch. Super Sculpey is really nice for mini making. It won't cure until you bake it in an oven. This means you can work on it indefinitely. You can also use it on minis that are entirely metal, since the pewter won't be damaged at the low temperatures for baking the clay. You just want to make sure the mini is lead-free, especially if using your home oven, so you don't accidentally release lead fumes and poison yourself.
Milliput is what I use when I want a grainy texture that can flake and is easily carved once it cures. It's also cheap, so it's useful for covering large areas after you fill in gaps with paper/foil/garbage/whatever. It's what I did for the giants' furs and is the lighter color putty you can see in the pictures. I also like to mix it with greenstuff or Aves or both if I want to make it a bit more stiff. It's easily soluble in a bunch of different liquids (mainly water, alcohol, and plastic cement) that allows you to do some neat things.
I've recently started using brownstuff/greystuff which is similar to greenstuff but it's a lot smoother and less sticky before curing. It turns into a stiff and rigid rubber-like material compared to greenstuff, making it ideal for cutting and creating sharp edges.
All of these can be sanded and filed after they cure. Aves and milliput are more ideal for that, though, since greenstuff and brownstuff will want to chip and flake if you're not careful. Polymer clay you have to be really careful, because it will want to crumble if sanded/filed too hard.
Something I haven't tried yet is a 50-50 mix of polymer and greenstuff, which gives you a long working time and will still harden without needing to bake it. The epoxy heats up as it cures, which actually "bakes" the clay.
Lastly, Das air dry clay. It's my go-to for gap filling large areas or making large objects. You can sculpt something like a treeman using aluminum foil, then coat it in air dry clay to make a bark texture. Now with your main shape, you use your epoxies and what not to keep working. Another useful thing is to make textures for mini bases. I think I uploaded the orc wagon WIP pics here somewhere and you can see the base was coated in air dry clay. It can be baked at low temperatures (under 400°) if you need it to become bone dry.
Wow! Thanks for explaining all this. I might give it a go when I've got more free time.