Right, I'm thinking seriously about getting the kit needed to do some half-decent casting. I've had some experience in casting with lead, but the quality was pretty poor. Anyone any suggestions for a good kit that I could use to do some resin casting?

Alrighty, since you're in the US, I would suggest starting with MicroMark's resin beginner's kit.

When you're comfortable with that, the next step is 10:1 high strength silicon through Smooth-On.

I think that MicroMark thing is what I was looking for! What's the advantage of the Smooth-On stuff?

I think I'll do what you suggest and go for the kit rather than jumping in at the deep end (although I'm famous for doing exactly that).

I have also just bought all the stuff to attempt resin moulding.

My main question is how to effectively remove air bubbles from the resin. I am thinking of a vacuum at the moment to take the air out of an air tight container. Any other ideas?

Would pouring and then 'banging' the table a few times also be sufficient?

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Couple of tricks:

- Lightly dust the mold with talc before pouring.  Makes a big difference.

- Part pour.  Mix a small batch of resin and half or quarter pour.  Use a toothpick to pick out air bubbles, and use a paint brush to paint the resin over the unfilled surfaces.  Leave to cure then fill the rest with a new batch of resin.

- Banging the mold will bring some bubbles to the surface, but trapped ones are less likely to dislodge.  Still, better than not banging.

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i started with the micro-mark kit. thought it was a good buy, honestly has everything you need to start except maybe some legos.

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Try putting the setting molds on a palm sander turned upside down.  That should shake out the bubble.  I'd secure the molds to the sander before you turned it on though.

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Smooth-On is right down the street from my office (well, about 5 miles).  Great company, great customer service.  You can call them and tell them you are clueless or have specific questions on advanced casting techniques.  They can guide you through any situation.

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It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

The "part pour" is most productive for me. I haven't noticed a difference using talc dusting, but I'm probably doing it wrong.

One thing I got to work fairly well was to actually mold plastic rods as the pour and vent shafts when you mold the part. Then, when casting, before pouring the resin, insert the rod back into the vent hole. Fill up the mold as much as possible, then slowly remove the rod in the vent shaft as you add more resin. That should create a fairly decent vacuum to suck the resin into the various parts.

After filling the mold that way, you can insert a rod in the pour hole and force more resin through. It works as long as you fill from the vent holes as you remove the rod.

this method can be rather messy and a little bit wasteful though.

If all goes well, this weekend I should be pouring some molds myself. If it doesn't turn out well, I may be back here looking for some help, too.

I'll have to give that a try semajnollissor.  That might solve my problem I'm having with fine detail not being replicated.

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Oh yeah -

Wear latex gloves while working with resin.

Always Wear Your Goddamn Safety Glasses While Working With Resin

Sorry, O-man.  Gotta disagree with you about something!

Always wear NITRILE gloves when playing with resin, the chemicals go right through latex.  (I've developed a latex sensitivity that I'm trying to prevent from turning into an oh, $h!t anaphylactic reaction because I used to work with MEK and latex gloves.  Place I worked for stopped using latex after an employee stopped breathing when someone pulled out a latex glove.)

Always, ALWAYS wear eye protection (safety glasses, or better yet, a full face-shield) when playing with resin.

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You might want to join this little forum. Troll Forged casts miniatures you can submit to him. However, this is normally a community for sculptors and such but I think casters are also more than welcome to join to discuss techniques and such.

Perhaps he can help you out more since he has more experience with casting figures into resin.

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I'll admit I havn't read through this topic very carefully so I might be repeating stuff, but here's the thoughts of a professional:

Something that vibrates helps a lot, put your mold on top of the washing machine or even an old vacuum-tube TV (while they're working and on) and pour into that.

Try not to make the mold so you pour directly into your model, having a feed tube (usually 4mm square) and air-release tubes in the mold will solve many problems.

Use microstrip (EMA or Evergreen styrene rods - I use .3mm and 1mm for the bigger areas)to create air "risers" where you foresee bubbles collecting and being trapped.

don't be shy to use a spiky object or an old brush that you no longer need to paint the resin in a thin layer over the mold before the main pour or to work the bubbles out once it has been poured - this is best with a clear silicone.

The best method is ofcourse a vacuum chamber, these are however expensive and noisy - you could build your own but it's difficult and the chamber needs to be pressure resistant so no tupperware or thin glass!
If you are considering the use of a vacuum chamber - make sure you use a resin that is ok for vacuum procedures - there are some (most standard polyurethane fast casts) that react badly with the lack of air. Also try to get a resin that drys slower than twenty minutes, preferably more than an hour, that way you'll have time to pour and then place into the vacuum chamber.

Another point with vacuum chambers is an injection chamber - more expensive and difficult to use. These have a feedpipe into the chamber that you can use to inject your resin into the mold once it is under vacuum.

Hope this helps.
I'll make up some diagrams to help explain the process of building a mold.

WHEN USING RESIN WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES AND NITRILE GLOVES - One of my good friends nearly lost his right eye because of blocked pores INSIDE the socket.

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