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Advice on casting materials please |
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Lord Inquisitor
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please  Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:29 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:20 pm
Posts: 1216
Location: Norfolk VA USA
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Hello,
I am not Lord Inquisitor - I am his wife, so I am sorry if this is in the wrong section and if there is a better place to ask, please let me know.
I am trying to find out where to buy the best casting materials so he can turn his green-stuff creations into moulds and make copies. ?He tried before with a white metal casting kit, but a lot of the details were lost.
Does anyone have a brand they recommend, and what material should he cast in? ?Resin? ?Metal? ?He will mostly be making 40k scale models, not epic...
Any advice would be gratefully appreciated as I am quite lost! :-)
Angel
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Otterman
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:28 pm |
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Are you located in the US, UK, or...?
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Dave
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:35 pm |
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| Hybrid |
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Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:25 pm
Posts: 9539
Location: Worcester, MA
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US from memory...
If so, check these guys out:
http://www.miniaturemolds.com/
Quick Sil is what you want for RTV rubber that can cast white metal with good detail. 8th down on the left.
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Sergeant_Crunch
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:19 am |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:45 pm
Posts: 678
Location: San Angelo, TX
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I know the Smooth-On resins seem to get a thumbs up. Never used it myself though.
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Reaver
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:38 am |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 756
Location: The grim North... of England!
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Moulding and casting is not easy - you can spend lots on materials and still have a second-rate result. It might be worth paying someone to do the moulds and casting for you. That way you get quality metal casts and it's often as cheap as doing it yourself.
In the US, HistoriFigs is a good company to deal with. They'll charge $75 for a Pattern mould - which you'll need if the sculpts you have contain non-vulcanisable materials (polymer clays, some resins, plastics, superglue mainly.)
If your sculpts are all vulcanisable (ie basically metal and epoxy putties) then you can go straight to a Production mould. A 9" mould will hold 10 to 15 28mm figures, depending on bulk and complexity, and costs $40. Then it's onto casting, with metal around $45 per 454g at the moment. A (very!) rough average of 15g per figure, means that spending roughly $130 or less will get you a dozen figures moulded and cast, and of course the mould can then be used again and again - so the next batch of figures will only cost about $20 a dozen.
All rough costs, but as you can see, compared to the money and time you'll ?spend doing it yourself, it's not a bad deal.
So give HistoriFigs a try.
Regards,
Reaver
_________________ Visit our websites: Michael Lovejoy's ArtGrey Army
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Otterman
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:12 pm |
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Lord Inquisitor
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:21 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:20 pm
Posts: 1216
Location: Norfolk VA USA
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Thankyou, some good thoughts there - I have looked at the smooth-on site till my eyes cross and still have no idea which to get - unfortunately all the beginner's casting course spaces are filled for months ahead, too...
He has cast models in white metal before a long time ago, but we bought cheap moulding supplies and they weren't great. I think now he wants to move on to resin and silicone moulds.
It is a nice idea about getting a pro to mould and make his models, but he may end up wanting to make parts to sell on the internet, so he will want the moulds himself.
Could somebody tell me precisely what I should buy from smooth-on, I want everything he needs to start up, I am not too bothered about costs, just need to make sure everything's covered and they are things people have used and recommended...
Thankyou!
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Otterman
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Post subject: Advice on casting materials please Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:48 pm |
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Silicon: Smooth-On MoldMax 305
Resin: Smooth-Cast 304
Ease Release 200
Cheap plastic cups from the grocery store
A postal scale for measuring the 10:1 silicon
A variety of wooden sticks for mixing
Legos to build mold boxes out of
Safety glasses
Hey Moscovian, what was the rubber to rubber release agent you got from Smooth-On?
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[ 8 posts ] |
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