ow we'll start the actual assembly. It might seem an involved process, but you'll find that each step doesn't take very long at all. You shouldn't have any problems fitting a wing-building session into your normal painting and sculpting time. While waiting for glue or Green Stuff, or Kneadatite, is the most common two-part epoxy that sculpters use to craft miniatures. This is not due to any wonderful sculpting properties (in fact, it sculpts somewhat like chewing gum), but because it's heat resistant enough to survive the vulcanizing mold process. Most miniature stores carry this now.Green Stuff to dry, you can paint other figures.

Lay the arm on your bat-wing template to get an idea of where the wing bones should fit. Mark the locations with a pencil, or dot them with the a tiny dab of paint. Rotate the piece in your hand while holding the 0.032 wire close by to ensure the hole position is accurate. Remember, it's more important to match the wings to each other than it is to match them precisely to the template.

Now we work with Green Stuff, or Kneadatite, is the most common two-part epoxy that sculpters use to craft miniatures. This is not due to any wonderful sculpting properties (in fact, it sculpts somewhat like chewing gum), but because it's heat resistant enough to survive the vulcanizing mold process. Most miniature stores carry this now.Green Stuff -- or more accurately, Brown Stuff, another sort of Kneadatite (aka green stuff), is an excellent two-part epoxy for defining sharp surfaces such as swords and armour. It's not as sticky and dries harder but is a little more expensive.Brown Stuff. Both are epoxy putties made by Kneaditite, but have slightly different qualities. I find that the green is more sticky, gum-like, and dries softer than the brown. The brown isn't as sticky (making it easier to work with in my opinion) and dries harder. Most sculptors use the brown for weapons and armour as it holds a sharp edge better than the green, while the green is generally preferred for organic shapes.

In this case, I'll be using Brown Stuff, another sort of Kneadatite (aka green stuff), is an excellent two-part epoxy for defining sharp surfaces such as swords and armour. It's not as sticky and dries harder but is a little more expensive.Brown Stuff for the joints of the wings and a green-based mix for the wing bones, but there is no reason that you can't use the green for all of the following stages. Half my reason for using brown was to make it easier to differentiate between the joints (in brown) and the wing bones (in green).

One thing to note in the accompanying photo: I cut off the small talon from the bottom of the plastic claw and used that location as one of the wing bone positions. Also note that I only covered the two longer wing bone locations with the joint. This was purely a stylistic choice.

Using our happy little bat-wing template, we move on to the minor joints on each finger/wing. These are quite simply small blobs of Brown Stuff, another sort of Kneadatite (aka green stuff), is an excellent two-part epoxy for defining sharp surfaces such as swords and armour. It's not as sticky and dries harder but is a little more expensive.Brown Stuff wrapped around the wire and textured. The ring-like pattern was made by rotating a sculpting tool around the piece.

It's very important to make sure that you wait until each stage dries before proceeding to the next. There are few things as annoying as sculpting something and then messing it up with a badly placed finger or by bumping it into another miniature.

After the finger/wing joints are dry, talons are added. Roll a teardrop shaped piece in your fingers and smush it onto the tip of the wire. With wet fingers or a sculpting tool, slowly and carefully draw the Brown Stuff, another sort of Kneadatite (aka green stuff), is an excellent two-part epoxy for defining sharp surfaces such as swords and armour. It's not as sticky and dries harder but is a little more expensive.Brown Stuff into a point. Be careful not to pull it off the wire entirely!

Here I'm using Olive Stuff to make the wing bones. This is just two parts Green Stuff, or Kneadatite, is the most common two-part epoxy that sculpters use to craft miniatures. This is not due to any wonderful sculpting properties (in fact, it sculpts somewhat like chewing gum), but because it's heat resistant enough to survive the vulcanizing mold process. Most miniature stores carry this now.Green Stuff, two parts Brown Stuff, another sort of Kneadatite (aka green stuff), is an excellent two-part epoxy for defining sharp surfaces such as swords and armour. It's not as sticky and dries harder but is a little more expensive.Brown Stuff, and one part Sculpey to get a blend that is slightly sticky like the green, easy to work with and dries hard like the brown, but takes longer to dry and has more working time.

The bones are essentially tubes of epoxy, smoothed out with a wet sculpting tool of choice.

To reiterate, there's no reason at all that you can't use Green Stuff, or Kneadatite, is the most common two-part epoxy that sculpters use to craft miniatures. This is not due to any wonderful sculpting properties (in fact, it sculpts somewhat like chewing gum), but because it's heat resistant enough to survive the vulcanizing mold process. Most miniature stores carry this now.Green Stuff for the wing bones. In fact, I don't recommend straight brown for this -- it's hard to get the brown to stick to a thin piece of wire in such a long section like we're working with here. However, we do want the hardness of the brown for later, so I opted for a mix of green and brown. Green, however, is just fine if that's all you have.