"Casting some buildings for 15mm scifi" Topic

Some of you have seen the building I've spent the last two weeks working on. Pictures are here on my Blog:

homebrewgamer.blogspot.com

This past weekend I spoke with a friend who has a lot of casting experience and as it turns out, I should be able to cast this thing fairly inexpensively. I do however have to decide on material. I saw a demonstration of the expanding foam resin and I'm torn on if I want to go that route or with regular resin.

The expanding foam stuff is pretty nice. Fairly durable – though not as durable as regular resin, it's also extremely light. As it turns out I could save a little money using it as well.
The down side I think is that while it's light and easy to work with, it's also more susceptible to being beat up.

So now I'm looking for some opinions. Light weight, cheaper foam castings or heavier more durable regular resins?

You could also use microballoons with regular resin to make the casting lighter.

A stupid question first.

What is the price break between the normal resin and the expanding foam resin ?

I've heard of nothing but trouble from people working with expanding foam and game components. The foam will take detail poorly and require a lot of pressure when casting to even fill the mold correctly. If your friend is a pro – he might be able to work you thru the learning curve. But for the rest of us – I would leave it alone. I can only think of Ziterdes as a company producing expanding foam gaming products (and I think they did GW's foam pieces a few years back).

Go with slab construction (kit style) for buildings, or if you really want a solid object, design a plug to fill the cavity in the mold. If your worried about cost, resin can be cut with a variety of materials. Microballons are one, sand or talc can work also.

Grumpy – I can't give you an exact number but it's not a huge difference. The expanding stuff is more expensive by weight then regular resin but since it expands, tends to cover more casts than normal resin.

Ran the Cid – I didn't see any problems with the expanding stuff. He'd mentioned it while we were talking and decided to show me how it works. It took him about the same amount of tim to mix it up and pour it. Curing time was longer but the detail was comparable to regular resin, otherwise I wouldn't even consider it.

For regular resin we'd probably just use an insulation foam core that can be cut out after casting to save on space.

From people I know that have done casting work, they like the foam for low detail terrain pieces, such as hills and rock mounds etc, where super crisp detail is not necessary, but where you have a large terrain piece that you want to keep as light as possible. For detail casting they all would recommended a more conventional casting material since it would catch the details you want and make a much more attractive piece. I love the look of your work and just think it would be a shame to lose all the fine details you have added.

Jeff

I definitely want to make sure detail transfers. The piece we cast this past weekend had small shingles and window shutters and the foam seemed to carry that detail really well.

I'm still leaning towards regular resin but like to get feedback.

What product are you working with? If it does work so well, I'll want to try it out.

Ran, I'll have to get you that information. My friend orders in bulk for all his casting needs (He does a line of 15mm terrain for WWII) but I can't tell you offhand what the product was.

Honestly I wouldn't even consider it if it weren't easy to work with and couldn't get the job done. I think in this case it would work fine, even with some of the detail I ahve on my piece.

The other question is whether to cast attachments in metal or resin!

I use vagabond resin and you can't beat the quality or price if you buy direct from them. i use the 36-XXX off-white slow cure. It gives you enough time to pour multiple molds and work out the air bubbles before it starts to set. check them out at: glenmarc.com
CW

I will say, that if you have seen a foam product that can capture the details, go for it. I've just not seen one that worked that well. Lighter weight is always a plus, both for the gamer to drag around and for the company making it since it could reduce shipping costs when sending to customers.

Jeff

For buildings, the attachments and details could be in either metal or resin. I prefer metal for vehicle details and turrets because resin gun barrels tend to snap easily, but a building likely wouldn't have that problem.

If you want to save on resin, put a block of styrofoam in the hollow of the building and then just leave it there after the resin has hardened. It won't add much weight and may add strength to the building.

with a RFID tag so you can always check for recasts ;)

combat wombat – my friend uses a high pressure chamber for casting and it reduces bubbles like you wouldn't believe. I don't think they're all that expensive either so it may be something you want to take a look at.

Javelin – yeah, block of styrafoam, we looked at that concept as well.

Some of the buildings I'm doing will be 'hollow' with removeable roofs for putting infantry in. This first building was sort of a test run, but I also felt it didn't look right for having a removeable roof so didn't bother.

Please consider how you will post the items out.

I have had many a fragile kit arrive rather than a completed item. International post knows no bounds for destructive testing in my experience.

Andrew
blog.kings-sleep.me.uk

Andrew – yeah, that is definitely a consideration!

More durable. I like the stuff I see. Will there be apartment blocks?

Well I've decided to go with hard, solid resin. I think the pay off just isn't there for the softer stuff. The difference in cost won't be much.

Uesugi – no plans for apartment blocks. The stuff I'm doing right now all has the same theme. It's basically pre-fabricated for initial massive colonization and exploration efforts. This stuff is hauled out in bulk freighters that basically drop it on the planet, then the colonists can plug in various mechanical/electrical pods and other techno-bits to give the building a purpose.

For example, this first structure can (in concept) be used for scientifc research as a lab setup. It can be used as a domicile by colonists. It can also be used as a garage of sorts, as well as vairous permutations of each. That's why I'm including the bits to go with them. It's a visual cue that each is different or atleast that you can identify what it's being used for by the type of modules plugged into it.