Am going to attempt to scratch build a couple of stegs. to save money and because i am not to fond of the head of the stegs that games workshop offers. I need a few suggestions on how to start and the best/ cheapest materials for the job. Im think building a frame of spruces and wrapping them in foil until they reach a decent thickness. then moddling the steg with clay on top of the foil. suggestionss
Tough job. Are your modelling skills up to making a detailed stegadon including leg shaping, scales, head and horns? That is the first question. Most people who decide to make their own steg start with a plastic toy stegosaurus, you can get them from lots of places online, museums, toy stores etc. That gives you a solid base and the right shape to get started with the model and is probably your best bet if you don't want the GW one, plus they are usually pretty cheap. You can easily model extra detail onto them if you don't think they look good enough.
My scratch builts (not Stegs, but two treemen and a few others) have all started with either (1) plastic tubing and steel wire or (2) polymer clay. I only use these as a base, then I use green stuff to skin them. I use the tubing and wire to essentially build a skeleton, and then GS on top of that. That is how I did my WE treemen. But they have little musclature, so the tubes were a good base. However, the Stegadon is a but bulkier with very heavy muscles, so the mere skeleton structure won't be enough and the GS will be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, I'd recommend starting with a polymer clay as a base. (If you haven't used polymer clay, it can be baked in the oven at under 250 degrees.) You can buy colors and skip the GS and paint, but I prefer to just get one color, model it, and then paint it on my own. There are firmer and softer polymer clays, so you have to pick based on your sculpting experience. Firmer clays, like FIMO, are very hard and much easier to sculpt for beginers, but you have to condition them in your hands ahead of time to make them sculptable, which takes some time. Softer clays, like Sculpey III don't need conditioning, but are very soft and easy to accidentally deform parts you have already sculpted if you aren't careful. PRIMO Sculpey is a nice middle ground. The polymer doesn't hold detail quite as well as green stuff, so if you want nice scales, you can do it in polymer, but GS will probably be better. However you decide to do it, good luck! should be a lot of fun. make sure to show us pictures!
He's about 14 cm long, 5.5 cm high (without the howdah or anything else), and just a tad under 5 cm wide (again, without the howdah).
Thanks... moving around right now so can't start yet.... Does anybody know a good model (not GW) that would be a good start for a steg????
I dug up these a couple months ago. I was planning on using the Saichania as an EoTG. http://krentzpresentz.com/sculpture/