Polymer OR Greenstuff????

[Alan maguire]

Hi,

Do people have a preference in what the miniature is sculpted in,when buying master figures/greens?

[Connectamabob]

I've never had to buy a master, but from what I know of the materials, I'd think GS would be universally preffered.

A major feature of GS that makes it popular for minis is its high heat tolerance, which allows it to be subjected to the vulcanization process used to make rubber molds for metal minis. Polymer clay can't do that, or at least not without being destroyed in the process. My understanding is that with polymer clay masters, it's common to use an RTV silicone mold to make high-temp resin or low-temp metal interposative castings to use as masters for the vulcanized production molds.

The caster kinda has to do that anyway, in order to make a production mold that can cast multiples of a given specific figure/item. But a master that can survive vulcanization allows you to use the same tools and materials and skills to make the interposatives that you'd use for the production casting, so it greatly simplifies things for the caster.

In addition, GS can take rougher handling in general, which makes it more secure for shipping and for handling by the caster. Polymer clay, especially in the small/thin amounts used for a wee gaming fig, is very fragile, whereas GS is like hard rubber, and can take a fair amount of knocking and dropping.

The benefits of polymer clay are more for the sculptor than anything else. It lets one sculpt and refine with more freedom without having to worry about "beating the clock", and depending on the make and formula, can have much better sculpting properties than GS. A sculptor who's well used to GS may not notice or need these benefits, however, and may even find polymer clays harder to use since they won't behave the way he/she is used to.

If you're asking as someone looking into starting sculpting for masters, I'd say just go with whatever you personally find most comfortable to work with (which is what you'll do your best work with, and that's what customers want). BUT... if you prefer polymer clay, either be prepared to have fewer casters/producers willing to buy your work, or invest some time, money and effort into learning to make high-quality resin casts of your sculpts (again: high quality) so you can make your own interposatives so the caster/producer doesn't have to worry about that.

The exception to the above is when you're dealing with large-scale subjects that would be better produced in resin than metal anyway. Such as terrain, or figures/creatures above 50mm or so. As a sculptor, having the ability to sculpt/refine all over without a time limit becomes almost logarithmically more valuable as you go up in size. You don't want to be sculpting a 100mm tall cyclops or a 500mm long dragon in epoxy. You just won't be able to coordinate the proportions and gestural details nearly as well if you're forced to work and finalize in discreet sections. As a caster, a large/thick polymer clay sculpt will be much easier to cut into sections or modify if need be than a similar sized GS sculpt (ideally this would be done by the sculptor, but if the sculptor doesn't know anything about mold engineering, the caster may have to instead), and since it's being produced in resin anyway, the vulcanization thing isn't a factor.

[Vermis]

Some days you just wish the LAF had a 'like' button on posts.

[Silent Invader]

Yep, that is a very good reply by Connectamabob. 

[Alan maguire]

I've never had to buy a master, but from what I know of the materials, I'd think GS would be universally preffered.

A major feature of GS that makes it popular for minis is its high heat tolerance, which allows it to be subjected to the vulcanization process used to make rubber molds for metal minis. Polymer clay can't do that, or at least not without being destroyed in the process. My understanding is that with polymer clay masters, it's common to use an RTV silicone mold to make high-temp resin or low-temp metal interposative castings to use as masters for the vulcanized production molds.

The caster kinda has to do that anyway, in order to make a production mold that can cast multiples of a given specific figure/item. But a master that can survive vulcanization allows you to use the same tools and materials and skills to make the interposatives that you'd use for the production casting, so it greatly simplifies things for the caster.

In addition, GS can take rougher handling in general, which makes it more secure for shipping and for handling by the caster. Polymer clay, especially in the small/thin amounts used for a wee gaming fig, is very fragile, whereas GS is like hard rubber, and can take a fair amount of knocking and dropping.

The benefits of polymer clay are more for the sculptor than anything else. It lets one sculpt and refine with more freedom without having to worry about "beating the clock", and depending on the make and formula, can have much better sculpting properties than GS. A sculptor who's well used to GS may not notice or need these benefits, however, and may even find polymer clays harder to use since they won't behave the way he/she is used to.

If you're asking as someone looking into starting sculpting for masters, I'd say just go with whatever you personally find most comfortable to work with (which is what you'll do your best work with, and that's what customers want). BUT... if you prefer polymer clay, either be prepared to have fewer casters/producers willing to buy your work, or invest some time, money and effort into learning to make high-quality resin casts of your sculpts (again: high quality) so you can make your own interposatives so the caster/producer doesn't have to worry about that.

The exception to the above is when you're dealing with large-scale subjects that would be better produced in resin than metal anyway. Such as terrain, or figures/creatures above 50mm or so. As a sculptor, having the ability to sculpt/refine all over without a time limit becomes almost logarithmically more valuable as you go up in size. You don't want to be sculpting a 100mm tall cyclops or a 500mm long dragon in epoxy. You just won't be able to coordinate the proportions and gestural details nearly as well if you're forced to work and finalize in discreet sections. As a caster, a large/thick polymer clay sculpt will be much easier to cut into sections or modify if need be than a similar sized GS sculpt (ideally this would be done by the sculptor, but if the sculptor doesn't know anything about mold engineering, the caster may have to instead), and since it's being produced in resin anyway, the vulcanization thing isn't a factor.

 

Thats about the best reply i could of asked for. Thank you!!!!!