GUIDE TO CUSTOMISING - PART 1

 Trying something a bit different now…

In an effort to stop this blog just being post after post of images, I thought it might be of some interest if I tried a bit of a custom tutorial – step by step, every stage of creating a new monster. I do write-ups with most of my customs, but they’re usually very cursory, and only scratch the surface of any techniques used. This gives me the chance to delve into a load more detail. If it’s of any use, please let me know in the comments!

I’ve yet to decide which monster to use as the guinea pig – I’d quite like it to be one I’ve not touched before, so I can approach it genuinely fresh, and share any mistakes I make along the way!

A proviso – this is not the best, or the only way to make customs – I can’t claim that kind of authority. It’s just the way I do things! These posts will assume no knowledge at all in the reader, so hopefully I’ll describe things in enough detail.

To begin with…

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Basic supplies that I’m never without, and that feature in pretty much all of my customs to some extent.

1. Milliput. I shudder to think how much of this stuff I’ve burned through over the years – well over my body weight, I’d guess! Milliput is a two part epoxy putty, that is available in a number of different colours – terracotta, white, and standard yellow/grey, which is the one I tend to run with – it’s slightly cheaper and I’m now well used to how it behaves. I’ll cover working with this stuff in greater detail down the line.

2. Sculpting tools. There’s no hard and fast rule which is best to use here. I’ve always used a scalpel – specifically the left hand one in the image above – to sculpt all my customs. The blade offers a fine point for detail work, and the handle a blunter point for shifting the putty around. I have a load of different tools specifically created for working in clay, but I always find my way back to old faithful… Repeated sculpt work, and then sanding off the accumulated crud means the blade of this is as blunt as a butter knife, so I have another blade for actual cutting and sharp knife work.

3. Plasticard. As the name suggests, thin sheets of rigid plastic. Used mainly for scratch building jobs like the War Machine, but also handy for some customs in supporting areas of sculpt, or creating crests and the like. Available in different thicknesses – I have 0.3mm, and a few sheets of 0.1mm (which is more like paper in thickness)

4. Wire cutters. Handy for clipping plasticard, and chopping off bits of figures you don’t need 

5. A dremel (or similar rotary tool). Probably the most ‘luxury’ item, and perhaps not to everyone’s taste or budget. Mine retailed for around £50, so it’s not exorbitant, and it’s hugely useful in preparation work – grinding down surface details before sculpting, or sanding down sculpted details for a smooth finish. Again, I’ll cover dremelling in far more detail down the line.

There are more things I call on from time to time – moulding/casting mediums, other materials for building customs – that I can cover as necessary, but this is the core of my supplies.

This doesn’t touch on paint - I’ll get to that when I’ve a figure ready to be painted...

Next up – picking your base figure.