Tag: Green Stuff

Nobody here at SylCreate would claim to be a climate scientist or Greta Thurnbeg. But summer does seem to be getting warmer. And this can present challenges to scale model makers, sculptors and creators of table-top fantasy miniatures given the impact that heat and hot weather has on epoxy modelling putty and casting resins.

How can the summer weather, its speeding up of cure times and its tendency to mess with the properties of epoxy modelling putties be overcome? For hobbyists, the answer might be taking a break from their model making by swapping the workbench for a pub garden or beach until the temperature cools down.

For those who sculpt for a living, those options are less viable. Unfortunately, business and cannot just stop because the sun is out. That means that the leading model makers have to find ways to work around the heat. We asked Kevin Adams from Goblinmaster Ltd and Paul Wade of Red Zebras Models for their hints and tips for using epoxy modelling putty in the summer heat.

A damp sponge, an air cooler and a lighter touch with “maddening” Green Stuff

His goblins, orcs and other fantasy creations have taken on legendary status over the course of a near-40 year career. And yet even a man as talented as Kevin ‘The Goblin Master’ Adams describes using Green Stuff in the middle of a heatwave as “sometimes maddening”.

Green Stuff is formulated to be sticky. Its stickiness, malleability and penchant for holding the finest of details is what makes it so popular. It is an epoxy modelling putty which takes time to get used to and can be difficult to work with even in winter – so imagine what it is like in 30°C heat.

“Working with Green Stuff in high temperatures is something that has to be mastered,” says Kev. That starts the minute you take it out of the package and begin kneading the yellow and blue parts together, at which point it can already be sticky enough to want to adhere to everything it comes into contact with.

“Mixing Green Stuff without it coating thumb and fingers can be avoided by wetting them beforehand. I use a damp sponge from a blister pack, and dip my sculpting tools in as well to avoid the putty sticking to them. That is one thing I would definitely recommend.”

The recent hot weather has seen Kev undertake new measures to reduce the temperature at his work bench. “I have started using an air cooler on the side of the desk. It has a top tray which can contain ice water and I aim that at the putty I have mixed. It keeps it fresh, less sticky and prolongs the curing time.”

Even with Kev’s new cooling system, he still has to take a more delicate approach when using Green Stuff in summer. “It needs a much lighter touch than usual. Trying to roll it on my Formica desk is impossible, it just smears and won’t roll. The smallest parts are the most difficult. Rolling tiny balls for rivets and they just smear on fingers.”

“Perseverance is ultimately the name of the game. It is not impossible, just challenging. You spend longer working as you can only make smaller parts due to the faster curing.”

“In winter, I will make a dolly from copper wire and model the legs and upper body in one go as the putty is workable for two hours. In the summer, you struggle to even get the legs done due to the putty curing quickly.”

“I think it is a case of having to adapt to the heat to be honest. If I don’t make any models, then I don’t have any money. It’s as simple as that.”

Heat to overcome the heat for Magic Sculp

Magic Sculp is a much easier epoxy modelling putty than Green Stuff to shape, manipulate and work with in the heat of summer. It cures to a cold, hard feel like ceramic.

That makes it much less sticky. Sculptors wanting an ultra-smooth finish should be wetting the putty as they go, and Kev has already pointed out the benefits that can bring in hot temperatures.

The biggest impact that heat has on Magic Sculp is to speed up the curing time. Having spent many years living and working in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, Paul Wade is no stranger to dealing with hot temperatures. Even a roasting British summer pales into comparison to the 49℃ he would regularly experience in the Middle East.

It was his time in that part of the world that inspired Paul to set up Red Zebra, a military scale model company which focusses on wars from the Middles East rather than more mainstream conflicts like World War II.

He also learnt whilst living in Doha a trick for extending the cure time of Magic Sculp. This may come as a little bit of a surprise, but Paul says the secret to overcoming heat is to use more heat.

“When I can feel my Magic Sculp getting slightly harder and beginning to cure before I have fully worked it, I heat it with a hairdryer for a few seconds. The small blast of artificial heat actually softens it, giving you an extra bit of working time. If you use a hairdryer on it for too long it will start to cure faster, though.”

Paul also uses casting resin to create copies of his masters. Like putties, resins will also cure quicker in a heatwave. His advice for casting and moulding in the summer? Start early!

“When it is really hot, it is not unknown for me to be out there at 5am in the morning casting. By the time it gets to 9am, I have to stop for the day. I used to keep polyurethane resin in a small fridge, thinking that it would help maintain the cure time. When that fridge gave up, I did not replace it and kept my resins at room temperature. I never really noticed any difference.”

Epoxy modelling putty in the fridge – effective or an old wives’ tale?

Ah, the infamous fridge question. One of the most frequent enquiries we get asked during the heat of summer is whether putting epoxy modelling putty in a fridge or freezer can make a difference.

Who better to ask than Kev and Paul whether storing Green Stuff and Magic Sculp between a cucumber and a bottle of mayonnaise is a worthwhile exercise or an old wives’ tale?

Neither seemed particularly enamoured by the idea. Paul responded with: “I wouldn’t resort to putting Magic Sculp in the fridge, no.” Kev meanwhile said: “Putting Green Stuff in a fridge is not worth the bother. By the time you have taken it out and moved it to your desk, it is going to have warmed up anyway.”

Kev though did have one piece of advice involving Green Stuff and a household appliance. “Occasionally, I get called by my partner for dinner when I am in the middle of a model. If I have not finished a bit of detail, I put it in the freezer and it keeps it in limbo for when I get back.”

“With really delicate detail, I will sometimes put Green Stuff in the freezer first. It means the putty is very stiff for the first five minutes, which is great for doing teeth and eyes.”

Milliput also advise that their putties can be put in a freezer should interruptions occur when working with them. The freezer will keep the products at the same cured state for up to 36 hours. When you are ready to resume work, remove the Milliput, warm it with hands, and it is ready to use again.

Green Stuff? Magic Sculp? Or both alongside Geomfix in our Modelling Putty Kit?

At first glance, the two figures sculpted from Magic Sculp in 1/35th scale look like a couple of men casually standing on a street corner – you certainly would not have them marked out as two of the world’s most deadly snipers.

They have their hands in their pockets, as if they are doing nothing more than watching the world go by. It is only when you notice the sniper rifle that you realise these two are anything but civilians.

Abu Tashin al-Salhi and Musa Hardem were in fact feared snipers who fought against ISIS in the Iraq-ISIL War, which raged between 2013 and 2017.

Their feats earned them legendary status in both their home country and across the globe – which is what led Red Zebra Models some 2,717 miles away in the United Kingdom to immortalise al-Salhi and Hardem in Magic Sculp before and polyurethane casting resin.

Regular readers of our Showcase page need no introduction to Red Zebra. They are the military modelling company who specialise in figures and accessories from Middle East conflicts and desert warfare.

It says much that even in a range as intriguing as Red Zebra’s, al-Salhi and Hardem stand out. Which is what made us want to find out more about the process and inspiration behind recreating al-Sali and Harden in Magic Sculp – as well as the incredible life stories of these two snipers.

Abu Tashin al-Salhi

Abu Tahsin al-Salhi first came to the attention of Red Zebra when owner Paul Wade discovered a photo online whilst carrying out research into recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

“I came across a photo on the internet of what appeared to be an old man in a boiler suit holding a large rifle. I was curious to learn more about this man and after some research, discovered the incredible story behind the figure.”

For al-Salhi was more than an old man in a boiler suit. He was  one of the most feared snipers in the Middle East having taken part in conflicts in the region dating all the way back to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, earning the nicknames “The Sheikh of Snipers” and “Hawk Eye” over the course of his 44 year military career.

Much of al-Salhi’s story cannot be verified, not helped by his status as a mythical figure among Iraq’s Shiite community.

From what we know, al-Salhi was born in 1953 and travelled to Kuwait as a young man, where he worked as a shepherd of cows and camels. For protection, he carried a French rifle which he also used for hunting rabbits.

In the early 1970s, al-Salhi swapped shepherding for sniping. He was sent to a Russian sniper school in Belarus shortly before joining the Iraqi army.

After serving in the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur war, he saw action in the 1974 Second Iraqi-Curdish War, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein’s 1991 invasion of Iraq, the Gulf War, and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Al-Salhi came out of retirement in 2014 to join the Popular Mobilization Forces militant group in the fight against Islamic State after the terrorist organisation seized vast swathes of Iraq.

It was during his time fighting ISIS that the photo of al-Salhi was taken, inspiring Paul to sculpt his first snipers model using Magic Sculp and a small amount of Green Stuff.

In it, al-Salhi can be seen with his trusty Austrian-made rifle. With this piece of weaponry, he killed 384 ISIS fighters according to the Popular Mobilization Forces, including four on the day he died as part of an advance to retake the town of Hawija in September 2017.

His rifle was given pride of place in a museum in Karbala following his death. Al-Salhi was celebrated across Basra and other Shiite areas as posters with his face adorned homes and shops, poems were written in his honour and a bakery even started selling cakes with his face on.

Thanks to Red Zebra, al-Salhi will live on through his own military figure. “Although I’ve sculpted a lot of figures over the years, they all tended to be more regular soldiers,” Paul said. “The look of this man certainly appealed as something completely different.”

Musa Herdem

It was whilst trying to get information on al-Salhi that Paul came across another photo from the fight against ISIS.

“It was a soldier stood on the parapet of a building, looking out over the ruins. He was stood there with his hands in his pocket and his rifle flung over his shoulder. Obviously, his job was complete.”

The soldier in question was Musa Herdem, an Iranian-Kurdish sniper who garnered worldwide recognition when it was revealed that he had successfully killed ISIS fighters from a distance of 400 metres using his Russian-made Dragunov rifle.

Herdem’s reputation was further enhanced when he became the subject of a profile carried out by an Iranian-Kurdish AFP photographer during the Battle of Kobane in Syria.

Pictures of Herdem were widely circulated among the international press, including the one that inspired Red Zebra to investigate his story.

Herdem was born in Rojhelat and grew up in Salmas, a city near Iran’s border with Turkey. Salmas is a melting pot of cultures, home to Azeris, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Jews, and Persians.

He spent his childhood working as a kolbar, somebody who is paid to smuggle goods on their back across the border of Iran and Turkey. It is a dangerous way to make a living, with many kolbars shot dead by government forces when crossing the border or dying due to the treacherous journey over mountains in freezing conditions.

Herdem survived though and in 2012, he joined the Syrian Kurdish YPG at the age of 23. When ISIL captured 350 Kurdish villages and towns surrounding Kobani in September 2014, it was Herdem who helped lead the fightback, earning the nickname Musa the Sniper along the way.

He fought in Kobani from the first day of the siege until the last. From September 2014 until January 2015, he moved from ruined house to ruined house killing as many ISIL fighters as possible. Herdem is credited with hundreds of kills.

When he was not taking out targets, he was training other snipers to be just as effective as he was through his role as commander of the Kobani Sniper Group.

Herdem was killed in action in April 2015. Just a couple of months before his death, he gave an interview in which he talked through the Battle of Kobani while pointing at the bodies of nine ISIL fighters who he had dispatched.

This casual attitude to war appealed to Paul. “Just as with Abu, I liked the idea of the relaxed casual pose. Once I found out some history about Masu, I just had to sculpt this individual.”

The figure of Herdem features him in his signature pose, casually leaning up against a ruined wall with his Dragunov rifle strapped to his back. As with the model of al-Salhi, Magic Sculp and Green Stuff were used to sculpt Herdem, this most feared of snipers.

Masu the Sniper and Silver Sniper, Abu are both available to buy as part of the Red Zebra 1/35th Scale Range.

There are bad examples of peer pressure and good examples of peer pressure. Going out to the pub for a ‘quick drink’ with your mates because they have bullied you into it and then not getting home until gone 2am is bad peer pressure.

Good peer pressure is when an award-winning model maker is convinced by his friends to write a book which shares his secrets. Which is exactly what happened to David Parker – with the result being David Parker’s Crew School, a must-read for anyone with an interest in producing tank crew figures.

“The inspiration came from some fairly persistent demands from friends that I should put together a guide to my figure techniques,” David explains. “I have always felt that a unique or individual crew figure will lift a model and I am aware that for many, the idea of even painting a commercial figure is simply too daunting – let alone sculpting, converting and adapting one.”

Which is what David does, as a glut of international awards is testament to. It is also why his AFV Modeller Magazine has been going strong for approaching 20 years now.

Like most, David’s model making journey began as a child with model aeroplanes. When he went to University in the mid-1980s to study Fine Art, his modelling was put on hold due to being “more interested in beer and girls.”

Once David graduated, he got back into model making whilst working as a graphic designer at his own advertising company. David wrote for various UK modelling magazines throughout the 1990s at the same time as expensive model making magazines from Japan would frequently arrive at his office.

David preferred these Japanese publications because of the vastly superior quality of their photos – even though he could not understand a word of what was written inside.

It was at that point that his business partner asked what would turn out to be a life-changing question: Why didn’t he do an English magazine in the same way that the Japanese do? AFV Modeller was born and began publication in 2001. The advertising business was soon shut down as all efforts went into the magazine and four years later, AIR Modeller was launched to deal with the aircraft side of modelling.

“AFV Modeller magazine as a very different style of modelling magazine aimed at the serious end of the hobby,” explains David. “The focus was always on quality and graphic presentation.”

That mantra is evident throughout David Parker’s Crew School book too. It is a 112 page guide which features high-quality photos and easy-to-follow instructions for painting and customising figures to create totally unique tank crew.

“Possibly the biggest barrier to the modeller using crew figures is the idea that they cannot paint faces,” says David, who then spends the first 10 pages dismantling those barriers, including the challenges which come with moving up in scale, where more detailed painting is required for greater realism. “That’s why the book begins with painting and what I hope is a good, solid base for techniques so that readers can master it.”

After tackling face painting, David moves onto uniforms. Achieving the exact colour required for plain uniforms is made to seem easy. Even getting camouflage right appears simple thanks to the detailed breakdown that David provides.

Once painting is dealt with, David moves onto explaining the differences that position can make to a tank crew. “Small changes to a uniform or the pose of a figure can give it that unique edge. In the book, I wanted to show how to change poses by, for example, repositioning an arm.”

Repositioning an arm is one thing. Next, David deals with sculpting entirely fresh body parts and accessories and using them to adapt existing figures. Over the course of the book, figures receive new arms, heads, hats, shades, belts, straps, insignia, body armour, additional clothing, and items in their pockets.

By adapting figures in this intricate way, a completely new tank crew can be created. David says that these adjustments present “ambitious changes before tackling fully sculpted figures for the more experienced modeller.”

These fully sculpted models are created with the help of mannequins in 1:16 and 1:35 scale. David explains how to develop figures which can suit any scenario, bringing to a close the tutorial section of David Parker’s Crew School.

Over the remainder of the book, David shows how he has employed these techniques on various tank crew projects. The last of these projects is the recreation of a scene which will be familiar to many model makers; the famous image of a crew consulting their maps at the Kaiserbaracke road junction on the N23 road between St Vith and Malmedy during the Ardennes Advance of 1944-45.

David uses his 1:16 mannequins to model the crew for the Eduard Schwimmwagen, detailing each step in the creation of the figures through to the completed model, which is then photographed outdoors in fading winter light with a background of conifer trees.

It perfectly captures the mood of the original photos and is a striking way to end, pulling together all the techniques and advice that have been poured into the book in the preceding pages.

The result is a book that explains and then demonstrates, ensuring that it offers something for everyone – beginners will learn invaluable lessons and more experienced model makers can benefit from the tips and tricks that David has laid down in print.

The book finishes with an appendix in which David lists the products and equipment that helped bring his figures to life. It is a nice touch and allows the reader to learn a little more about the preferred tools of a leading model maker.

His putties of choice are Green Stuff and Magic Sculp, two SylCreate products which he dedicates two pages towards extoling the virtues of. He also explains why he uses Swann-Morton 10 and Swann-Morton 10A blades for carving and trimming. There is even an adapted kebab skewer listed for sculpting – perhaps another throwback from those student days of beer and girls?

“The approach has been to try to demystify the processes and to encourage the modeller to try new techniques with a guide to tools and sculpting putties.” And David Parker has certainly succeeded in that aim with David Parker’s Crew School.

It is an excellent step-by-step guide to getting the very best out of tank figures. Not only that, but it is genuinely entertaining too – and there is no better way to learn than when it is fun. Let us hope that David’s friends can pressure him into writing more books in the future.

David Parker’s Crew School is available to buy from the AFV Modeller Website, where you can also subscribe to AFV Modeller and AIR Modeller Magazines.

Military modelling is big business and whilst much of the demand focuses on World War II, one company has exploited a growing interest in conflicts from the Middle East – Red Zebra Models.

There are so many intriguing questions surrounding Red Zebra and their work that it is hard to know where to start. Why do they focus on the Middle East? Where does the name Red Zebra come from? And perhaps most interestingly, how did the company come to recreate real-life snipers from the fight against ISIS as models?

To understand the story of Red Zebra, you have to start at the very beginning with founder Paul Wade. It’s Paul’s journey through life that underpins Red Zebra.

“I started building models when I was a kid,” says Paul. “I think it’s fair to say that these models wouldn’t win any competitions as they were covered in glue fingerprints and looked like they’d been painted with a mop.”

“As I got older, I began to take a little more care and some of my models would look a bit more like what they should have been.”

Paul also became interested in making his models look more realistic. This was a time before the internet, when accessories and other addons were very limited.

Paul wanted his model tanks and trucks to have figures, bags and tarpaulins which would help them bear a closer resemblance to the real life versions that he had seen in books and on television.

The only way to achieve this was by sculpting his own accessories. Soon, modellers began to ask where Paul had bought his accessories and figures.

“When I told them I’d sculpted them myself, they would always be very surprised. Over the years, it got to the stage where I enjoyed creating the accessories more than building the actual kits – which gave me the idea of setting up my own company.”

And so Red Zebra was born. By this point, Paul had spent many years living and working in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Spending so much time in the Middle East gave him a real interest in conflicts in the region, and so instead of just producing World War II military modelling accessories, Paul wanted Red Zebra to include modern day subjects as well.

Among those subjects are real life snipers. While researching on the internet, Paul came across a photo of what appeared to be an old man in a boiler suit carrying a very large rifle.

This turned out to be Abu Tahsin al-Salhi, an Iraqi sniper known as the Sheikh of Snipers. He was credited with killing over 384 ISIS members during the Iraqi civil war, the final chapter in an extraordinary career.

“I’d sculpted a lot of figures over the years,” says Paul of al-Salhi, “but they all tended to be regular soldiers. The look of this person certainly appealed as something completely different, which is what Red Zebra is about.”

Paul’s research into al-Salhi led him to discover another photo. This was of Musa Herdem, an Iranian sniper who came to international attention when he was revealed to have successfully shot ISIS militants from a distance of 400 metres.

“What stood out to me about the second sniper was that he was stood there with his hands in his pockets and his rifle over his shoulder. I liked the idea of the relaxed casual pose and once I found out some history about Masu, I just had to sculpt this individual.”

Snipers, machine guns, bedrolls, animals – everything that Red Zebra make is currently produced in-house, from creating the masters to making the moulds and undertaking all the castings. Red Zebra even produce their own artwork for the packaging.

All the masters that Paul creates are made with either plastic strip/sheet or Magic Sculp. Sometimes, he will use a small amount of Green Stuff. He has even combined the two modelling epoxies when the project has required it.

“Both Magic Sculp and Green Stuff have their own plus points. Magic Sculp isn’t too sticky and even has a bit of a waxy feel. It can be rolled out into very thin sections, especially if left to cure for a short while, so that it’s a little bit firmer.”

“Green Stuff is sticky once kneaded together, which is good for creating straps on figures or small details to attach to a master, like straps around a bedroll or haversack.”

“By mixing a little bit of Green Stuff with a ball of Magic Sculp, it’s possible to combine the waxy feel with the stickiness. It means that very thin sections are not quite as brittle as they would be when using straight Magic Sculp.”

Paul has made unique tools of his own over the years to help in the modelling process – as well as relying on the traditional instruments of the trade.

“Regardless of the modelling material, we still rely on paintbrushes, rubber sculpting brushes, cocktail sticks and scalpels.”

“When I lived in Dubai, Sylmasta even sent me some Magic Sculp and Green Stuff after I’d run out. So, thanks for that!”

Red Zebra sell their military modelling accessories all over the world via mail order and through model shops in Belgium, Netherlands, Beirut and at the Bovington Tank Museum in the United Kingdom.

You can find out more about Red Zebra and browse their extensive range of products over on the Red Zebra website.

Which leaves just one final point – where did Paul get the name Red Zebra from? “The idea was to come up with something different that people would remember. If you’ve seen our trade stand at model shows, then you can’t miss the red and black stripes.”

A memorable name and memorable colours for a memorable company.