Sculpting Guide: Banding

While working on my last 54mm Inquisitor, I thought I'd so a quick show of how I do banding for armour (ala marines knees)
click for larger images...

Firstly, get the limb into the right position.. this may need some cutting and filing... I used a bit of bluetac to check the pose and arm length etc

Next I drill a hole right through and pin the parts in place.. add a bit of glue and leave to dry...

Not always necessary, but I make sure the arm armour is the right size.. as piping for the whole section would look rubbish...

OK.. assuming this is done and dry (or not needed), take a thin "sausage" of greenstuff, carefully fill the gap

Make sure the GS is lower than the edges of the gap.. after all, its supposed to go inside the armour (how a marines arm goes in this I dont know...)

Take a knife and wipe on a moist sponge. Carefully place the closest edge of the knife where the line for the armour is and gently press onto the GS.. not too hard though.. just slightly more pressure than resting on.

Then keeping parallel from the armour plate, roll the knife so the point ends up pressed against the other side of the elbow pad

Repeat, keeping an even distance between cuts, and sorted! now leave to dry... about 12 hours will do it nicely

A couple of examples, for the Inquisitor, i've used thinner cuts on the wrists than on the groin... as they need smaller movements...

and even used the same technique to make cables...