Sculpting a hut, my very first greenstuff experience ever...

I decided today to tackle a new aspect of the hobby, after more then 15 years of wargaming... to start dabbling in greenstuff and modelling clays in order to undertake a hand a sculpting.

Now, mind you, if I say `very first`, that is as good as very first ever. I did some (perhaps 10 or so) small patch ups on models (a collar, a tad of hair, ...) on 28mm models, and that was hell, I`m really not good at / with the stuff. With new into it, I actually mean totally new, I have no idea about curing times, tools best used, that kind of stuff. So armed with a ball of two part greenstuff and my stanley cutter knife I settled behind the desk, Gundam SEED playing on the background.

BUT I need a heap of scenery for both 6mm and 10mm, so I guessed, lets try it again then and this time with a bit more patience then usual... if it worked, I might give it some more tries, if it didn`t... well... no harm done.

So what to build and what scale? Nuhu, let`s not start with any hard questions thank you, I`m starting out with something very basic, which I labelled as a `fantasy hut`, a round hut with a doorframe, tatched roof and a chimney was ambitious for a green with green.

So first up was a `tube` rolled around a piece of oval plastic, which I think long ago was a part of an Osprey spyplane` engine kit or something, and a small piece of plasticard to support the roof from imploding. A small strip was added for the doorframe, and a second ball of greenstuff on top to make the roof.



Then problems arose... I couldn`t hold the thingie without trashing it, so in came a cap of creamtube and doublesided tape, and we we`re on the road again. The roof was `bulged out` and a small block of greenstuff added to become the chimney, and then the detailing could begin.
I did learn one thing from the few repairs over the years, namely to keep fingers and knife damp, not drown it like I used to do.
I envisioned the house a bit like the old 19th century `blockhuts` style, with a wooden underside and then limestone walls, before going over in the straw roofs. Hey, I said I called it `fantasy`, just in order to
1. not lie awake about historical accuracy and
2. just to have more artistic freedom

Lots of knife strokes later, the little hut got finished, and I`m not totally unhappy with the result. I`m definitly not a sculptor I guess, but the most important thing, I really, really enjoyed myself doing it and i`ll definitly be trying more things in the future. That much in fact, I even might think of looking for someone to cast the green up and as such be able to scatter some of them around on the battlefield... so no painting the little bugger for now.




And what about the final dimensions? The hut is based on a 2x2cm plastic base, and is just under 2cm in height. This makes it van be used as a sort of storage stable in 6mm, but also as a small hut in 10mm, and I think if I linger a few around in a normal dark age / fantasy village, it isn`t going to look out of place that much... so in a way, mission accomplished!