UMS "Agram" : Learning to Sculpt - the Tomb Guard project < Articles < Hobby

Learning to Sculpt - the Tomb Guard project

Sebastian Søgård, 14th October 2024

For a while I’ve been wanting to learn how to sculpt miniatures from scratch, based on armatures I make myself. I consider this a very useful skill to have in the hobby as it opens up endless new possibilities for custom characters, conversions and army projects. My theory is that if I can sculpt a whole mini, I can certainly convert or sculpt parts on a mini in the future. I was recommended Greenstuff and Milliput, which are products I’ve familiarised myself with in smaller detail sculpting on previous projects. By now I have a good grip on their working time, consistency, and pliability, so I think it’s time to tackle a full sculpt. After watching a few tutorials by Tom Mason, particularly the one about making armatures, I felt ready.

My expectations are low, as I know this is hard, and requires endless hours of practice. But if I can manage something that looks good enough to make me want to paint and play with it, I’m happy.

This was a project for the summer, and a goal I set myself for August. Since I was planning to travel during this period, I made myself a travel kit with “all” the necessary equipment.

The kit contains Milliput, Greenstuff, Green Putty (a filler), superglue, hobby-knife, steel wire, pliers to cut the steel wire, a piece of cork to insert the steel wire into while working on the model, two silicone sculpting tools, two metallic sculpting tools and an old brush (to apply the green putty).

After making the armature, and getting the pose I wanted (this is a difficult, but obviously very important step), I started by covering the whole body in a thin layer of greenstuff. I also sculpted chest muscles, although this was only for practice, as I knew I would cover all of this later with clothing/armour.

Working on this project, I mostly sat outside on the ground, by a table, or wherever I found a good spot when I had a little downtime. With me I always had a cup of water, some Nivea hand cream and my little kit. Since sculpting is a slow process, requiring patience and at least a few hours of curing time in between each session, I found this to be a great activity in combination with a slow summer holiday - something to do in between the daily activities.

I actually had no plan where I was going with this, or what kind of miniature I wanted to end up with. I’m not sure how smart this is, and wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but for me, being my first try and all, it worked. I started from the inside, building out, and with each session, adding another layer of clothes or skin. The cape I just tried out since I happened to have an extra thin sheet of greenstuff after finishing a session, and I kept it as I like to paint capes. It’s perhaps more realistic than most miniature capes, but lacks the clear folds of a GW mini for example, and will therefore be harder to paint. But I don’t worry about that now. Painting is not a part of my sculpting concerns.

I eventually decided on armour for my mini, instead of clothes or muscles. Mostly because it seemed the easiest of the three. Armour is harder, stiffer, and less organic than clothes, and doesn’t require any advanced anatomical knowledge like muscles and skin. To make it simple, I made a thin sheet of Greenstuff and rolled my hobby knife handle over it—both to make it as thin as possible, and to imprint the pattern of my hobby knife onto the Greenstuff. Then I used that same knife to cut out small triangles from the thin sheet, which I glued to different parts of the armour. Different sizes of triangles were used depending on where they went on the body—big ones for the chest pieces, smaller ones for the shins.

When I came back from my vacation, I went through my little box of bits, and found a few I liked that fit the style of what I had sculpted. This was basically for the parts of the mini that I didn’t have the skill or time to sculpt. As I had been told that hands and faces were the hardest, I delayed sculpting these until the end. But I never got around to it, and would probably have ended up ruining what was turning out to be a body I was quite happy with. So after finding hands and a face that fitted, I glued them on, covered some gaps with more greenstuff and had this:

I was happy at this point, but felt it could still be improved. I removed a few details from his head piece that I felt overcomplicated it, and glued these same parts to his chest instead, covering up some details there I had sculpted that I wasn’t quite happy with. I also added a handle to the lantern in his hand and a skeleton head as his belt buckle. Then I sanded a few details to smooth them out, and finally covered most of it (except the armour with the pattern I had made using my hobby knife handle) in green putty, to cover up any unevenness, gaps or other flaws in the sculpting.

After a zenithal prime, I had my first sculpted mini. Not perfect by any means. The lantern arm looks broken, the posing of the legs is stiff, and required me to make a strange base for it to look more natural, and in the end, I didn’t sculpt the entire mini. Also the scale is off (this mistake can be traced all the way back to the armature), so it doesn’t really fit in with other 28 or 35mm models. However, as a Tomb Guard (the lore became apparent during the later stages of sculpting), he can basically be any size - a large, living statue, guarding some kind of valuable tomb in D&D or other narrative game. Now I’ll also have more confidence going forward with other projects that require small amounts of sculpting or conversion. So all in all a worthwhile project.

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SFRJ 1986 v2 Diorama part 5

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time I have again decided to use a former country. Another version of the SFRY 1986.

	  

	So far I have finished making the base, painting the base, painting the interior of the vehicle and painting the figures. Now it's time to add the vegetation

	  

	The pines/trees were already fixed to the base before painting, so the first vegetation I added was tall shrubs that filled the volume of the base.

	  

	Then I added lower vegetation like tall grass and lower bushes.

	  

	Finally, I added some short grass, making sure when I was making the parking lot and path that there was no vegetation in the places where the wheels pass.

	  

	The paint on the base has just dried up, so next time I'll add the vegetation.

	  

	When the diorama is turned to the back, the volume of the forest is visible.

	  

	Before placing the vehicles and miniatures on the base, the diorama looks like this.

	  
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	U ovoj seriji članaka pratit ćemo moj rad na novoj diorami, još jednoj u nizu serijala 1986. Ovaj put sam se opet odlučio za bivšu državu. Druga verzija SFRJ 1986..

	  

	Do sada sam završio s izradom baze, bojanjem baze, bojanjem interijera vozila i bojanjem figura. Sada je došlo vrijeme za dodavanje vegetacije

	  

	Borovi/drveće je već bilo fiksirano na bazu prije bojanja pa je prva sljedeća vegetacija bila visoko žbunje kojim sam popunio volumen baze.

	  

	Potom sam dodao niže raslinje poput visoke trave i nižeg grmlja.

	  

	Na kraju sam dodao i nisku travu pri čemu sam pazio kad sam radio ugibalište i puteljak da vegetacije ne bude na mjestima gdje prolaze kotači.

	  

	Kada se dioramu okrene, vidi se volumen vegetacije u šumi. 

	

	Prije postavljanja vozila i minijatura, diorama izgleda ovako:

	
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Marko Paunović, 19th January 2026

SFRJ 1986 v2 Diorama part 4

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time I have again decided to use a former country. Another version of the SFRY 1986.

	  

	After the base and the vehicles, I started painting the miniatures. Two policemen and a truck driver. The first step was the base color – black and then white..

	  

	After that, I started with the basic colors, concentrating a little more on the truck driver..

	  

	Considering the year and location of the action, I decided that his jacket should have the logo from the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics..

	  

	Then I threw myself at the policemen..

	  

	The paint on the base has just dried up, so next time I'll add the vegetation.
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	U ovoj seriji članaka pratit ćemo moj rad na novoj diorami, još jednoj u nizu serijala 1986. Ovaj put sam se opet odlučio za bivšu državu. Druga verzija SFRJ 1986..

	  

	Nakon baze i vozila, bacio sam se na bojanje minijatura. Dva milicajca i vozač kamiona. Prvi korak je bila temeljna boja – crna pa bijela.

	  

	Nakon toga, krenuo sam s osnovnim bojama, malo više se koncentrirajući na vozača kamiona.

	  

	S obzirom na godinu i mjesto radnje, odlučio sam se da mu jakna ima logo od ZOI Sarajevo 1984.

	  

	Zatim sam se bacio na milicajce.

	  

	Taman se tako nekako osušila i boja na bazi pa ću sljedeći puta obraditi i dodavanje vegetacije.
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Marko Paunović, 19th January 2026

SFRJ 1986 v2 Diorama part 3

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time I have again decided to use a former country. Another version of the SFRY 1986.

	  

	As I announced last time, it's time to get down to the vehicles. The first thing I did was disassemble the models and take out the interiors of all three vehicles.

	  

	As you can see in the picture, the interior of the vehicle is poorly or not at all painted, so a lot of attention and time was spent there. I painted the upholstery in shades of gray, or brown on the Tristač. I brought out the details on the dashboard and around the gearbox.

	  

	There was something missing from the start on the Fićo, but I couldn't figure out what it was until Kruno pointed out to me that the flashing lights were missing. I fixed that with a small 3mm clear LED that I painted in Tamiya Clear Blue with a silver edge.

	  

	This completes the painting of the vehicles’ interior.

	  

	The finishing touches are the decorations in the truck's cabin.

	  

	Next time we will continue with painting the figures.
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	U ovoj seriji članaka pratit ćemo moj rad na novoj diorami, još jednoj u nizu serijala 1986. Ovaj put sam se opet odlučio za bivšu državu. Druga verzija SFRJ 1986..

	  

	Kao što sam najavio prošli put, vrijeme je da se bacim na vozila. Prvo što sam napravio jest da sam rastavio modele i izvadio unutrašnjost sva tri vozila

	  

	Kako je vidljivo na slici, unutrašnjost vozila je slabo ili nikako obojana stoga je tu otišlo mnogo pažnje i vremena. Tapecirunge sam obojao u sive nijanse, odnosno u smeđe na tristaču. Izvukao sam detalje na komandnim pločama te oko mjenjača.

	  

	Na fićeku mi je otpočetka nešto falilo, ali nisam mogao skužiti što dok mi Kruno nije skrenuo pažnju da fali rotirka. Nju sam sredio pomoću jedne male 3mm prozirne LED koju sam obojao u Tamiya Clear Blue sa srebrnim rubom.

	  

	Time je završeno bojanje unutrašnjosti vozila.

	  

	Završni detalji su ukrasi u kabini kamiona.

	  

	Sljedeći put nastavljamo sa bojanjem figura.

	 
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Marko Paunović, 19th January 2026

SFRJ 1986 v2 Diorama part 2

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time I have again decided to use a former country. Another version of the SFRY 1986.

	  

	Last time I explained how I created the terrain, and this time I'll be painting the terrain. The terrain itself consists of several parts: an asphalt road, a turnoff and path, and the terrain in the forest.

	  

	Since I wanted all the surfaces to have similar tones, I decided to paint without a base color, applying the main color immediately. The paint I applied was very thin so it stayed wet for a long time, which allowed me to mix the base colors and get a uniform tone.

	  

	After applying the basic tones, I started shading. I also used the same principle, using quite diluted tones to create unevenness in certain parts of the surface.

	  

	Then I added a layer that I could most simply call wash. A very diluted darker shade of color.

	  

	I applied the final shades using another technique, the simplest one – dry brush.

	  

	While these paints were drying, I was simultaneously disassembling and painting the interior of the car and truck, as well as the figures, which will be the subject of future articles.
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	Prošli put sam objasnio kako sam izradio teren, a ovaj put ću se baviti bojanjem terena. Sami teren se sastoji od nekoliko dijelova: asfaltna cesta, ugibalište i puteljak te teren u šumi.

	  

	S obzirom da sam htio da sve površine imaju slične tonove, odlučio sam se bojati bez temeljne boje, nanoseći odmah glavni ton. Boju koju sam nanosio bila je jako razvodnjena tako da je dugo bila mokra i to mi je omogućavalo miješanje osnovnih tonova i dobivanje ujednačene tonove.

	  

	Nakon nanošenja osnovnih tonova, krenuo sam sa nijansiranjem. Također sam radio istim principom, dosta razvodnjene tonove kako bih dobio neujednačenost pojedinih dijelova površine.

	  

	Potom sam dodao sloj koji bih najjednostavnije mogao nazvati wash. Jako razvodnjenu tamniju nijansu boje.

	  

	Završne nijanse sam nanio drugom tehnikom, najjednostavnijom – dry brush.

	  

	Dok su se ove boje sušile, paralelno sam rastavio i bojao unutrašnjost automobila i kamiona te figura što će biti tema sljedećih članaka.
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Marko Paunović, 19th January 2026

SFRJ 1986 v2 Diorama part 1

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	In this series of articles, we will follow my work on a new diorama, another in the 1986 series. This time I have again decided to use a former country. Another version of the SFRY 1986.

	  

	As always, everything starts with an idea. This time, the idea came from a model of an Agrokomerc truck that Bojan brought me from Serbia (where it was published as part of a magazine). The design itself changed a bit over time (the first few months of planning). Initially, it was supposed to be just a truck at a roadside stop. Then the idea came to include the Police. And then I got two police vehicles. Fić and Tristač. Basically, this is the first drawing that started it all.

	  

	The base for the diorama came from Moson, from Buco. A fantastic combination of MDF and Styrodur that allows you to remove the diorama itself, but also to lower the terrain below the base level. I removed the Styrodur base, modeled it a little to get different terrain height levels. I modeled the road from a cork board, and assembled the rest of the terrain from DAS clay and wooden bark.

	  

	Once everything was dry I added texture. Two or three sizes of sand and that was it.

	  

	And when that layer was dry, I used a drill to fix the trees to the back of the base. Since all the trees had tall trunks, I decided to leave them as is and not move them during the painting process.

	  

	That's it for this week. We already have a nice outline of the diorama, and next time we'll continue with painting the base.
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	Kao i uvijek, sve počinje idejom. Ovoga puta, ideja se izrodila iz makete Agrokomercovog kamiona kojeg mi je Bojan dofurao iz Srbije (gdje je izašao u sklopu nekog časopisa). Sami dizajn se malo mijenjao tijekom vremena (prvih par mjeseci planiranja). Otpočetka, trebao je to biti samo kamion na nekom ugibalištu pored ceste. Onda se rodila ideja da stavim i Miliciju. A onda sam nabavio i dva milicijska vozila. Fiću i Tristača. Uglavnom, ovo je prvi crtež od kojeg je sve krenulo.

	  

	Baza za dioramu je došla s Mosona, od Buce. Fantastičan spoj MDFa i stirodura koji omogućava vađenje same diorame, ali i upuštanje terena ispod razine baze. Izvadio sam stirodurnu podlogu, malo je izmodelirao da dobijem razne razine visine terena. Cestu sam izmodelirao iz ploče pluta, a ostatak terena složio od DAS glinamola i drvenih kora.

	  

	Kada se sve osušilo dodao sam teksturu. Dvije ili tri veličine pijeska i to je to.

	  

	A kada se i taj sloj osušio, bušilicom sam fiksirao drveće na stražnji dio baze. S obzirom da su sva stable imala visoka debla, odlučio sam ih ostaviti tako i ne micati ih za process bojanja.

	  

	To je to za ovaj tjedan. Imamo već lijepe obrise diorame, a sljedeći puta nastavljamo sa bojanjem baze.
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Marko Paunović, 19th January 2026

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