" is it a feasible option and some ?'s" Topic

I was interested in trying this out for various projects. All item props in my opinion could be sculpted fairly easily. Im thinking very simple shapes looking to possibly recreate my own cinematic effects. Armorcast has a good selections but the cost is so really high for there being no inherent game value in them what so ever.

If i were to use Friendly plastic what as i understand insta-mold is. What would i use to cast the mold? Green stuff?

Once you have all the materials if you enjoy the mold making and possible sculpting is it cost effective to make your own stuff? Or it more for pieces you want that arent made etc.

Also I have a friend who can sculpt okay, we talked about having him try to sculpt a beast i drew along time ago. If he was able to make a good copy. Is making a two part model a viable solution to replicate a 28mm miniature or will alot of the detail be lost. Ive been reading some of the FAQ on some of the mini kickstart projects and they make it sound like to get a good quality model hundreds or thousands are involved. However i have seen forums posts and blogs of ppl molding and casting franchise models etc and modding them etc and the look at least farily close to the original. So im alittle confused if detail is lost or not.

Can you please explain what you want to know?

Are you talking about copying the IP of other manufacturers? which is a crime?

Are you coming up with your own unique figures and using metal or plastic resin in a spin caster or a drop moulding technique or what have you?

If you can clarify what you want to know I may be able to help you providing your intent is not to make illegal copies!

:sigh: I mentioned i wanted to learn to sculpt so they would be mine as well as the fact in terms of miniatures i would be the owner of the master if i ultimately paid my friend to sculpt my monster drawing.

I referenced armorcast, to get advice on "simple shapes" if you look at alot of there cinematic effects there fairly basic shapes. As i have never sculpted anything i thought that would be a good place to start. I wanted to know if my impressions were correct in terms of difficulty.

In terms of moldings i have never seen the techniques ur referring too. I have watched videos on 1 sided molds and 2 sided molds using instant-mold which is "friendly plastic" repacked as i understand

Again i referenced kickstart miniature projects because if one reads the FAQs they are typically saying there masters are 50mm or at least the one i recall and the way they molded reduces etc. Which was my point, if i had sculpt made and i wanted it to be in 28mm would it have to be bigger than 28mm or am i taking there comments out of context due to the fact that i do not have there molding and casting techniques available to me.

Here is an old "How TO" on making a simple master as then making a RTV (room temperature vulcanizing silicon rubber) mold. You can make these quite easily:
link

Now, I did my casting in resin, but you can, of course, cast in other materials. Such as plaster or Durham Rock-Hard Water Putty.

Since the time I made that web page, there have been many products to make a mold that are less money and even less work.
Consider things like:
link
amazingmoldputty.com
link

That should get you started.

Less user friendly are Latex mold kits:
link
But Latex can be made very stretchy, so good for odd shaped items, and can be built up to almost any size (Easily 3 foot square) if you want.

You can even make mold with silicon caulk and other "House-hold" items.

But for fine detail is is hard to beat RTV:
rtvmoldmaking.com
link
link
link

You can find kits at Hobby Lobby, but I have had the best luck ordering from Micro-Mark.

More directly to your question about detail. Two thing lead to capturing good detail 1)Low viscosity (being very thin and running) and 2)High pressure.

Most folks do not has an easy ways to put high pressure on the mold compound so they use low viscosity mold compound. RTV can capture your finger print without even trying (Very detailed). The putties let you squeeze them to gain pretty good detail. Good enough for almost any miniature. The Insta-Mold/Friendly Plastic can be tricky. OK detail if you press your master down into a slab of the compound, Not as good to squeeze the compound around the master.

What you cast you item in has similar rules: Thinner = detail, Pressure = detail. But this is even harder to use pressure on. What you use depends a lot on the size, shape and strength you need in you castings.

would starting with something like instant-mold and casting in green stuff be a relative easy way to try out this part of the hobby inexpensively and move on to better techniques and material if i enjoy? Or the quality of the material i listed isnt even worth it?

A common thing people make with these lower quality materials is bases for figures according to the reviews on amazon. The amount of material to do a typical casting, is in the cents or dollars?

Friendly Plastic is harder and less flexible than Instamold, so it is probably not as good for molding something like a miniature. I have had some success reproducing items by putting Green Stuff into an Instamold form, using a blunt sculpting tool to press the green stuff into the crevasses. A relatively cone shaped item with limited undercuts works best, but whatever you do the instamold begins to rip after a few casts. Then, you just have to soften it and make a new mold.

If you wanted to make an entire animal figure using instamold, you would probably want to think about how to split up the cast before you begin sculpting and make several easily molded pieces which would be joined together after casting.

I think starting with muzzle flashes or similar basic shapes with no undercuts would be a good way to start with sculpting and mold making.

thanks for the info. Been really helpful.

The spliting up the model is something im really interested in as well. Ive only bought pre assembled and prepainted figures up til this point. Having to have a unit and pieces and than having to paint it should be fun.

Thanks for clarifying that friendly plastic isnt actually the same thing.I saw somewhere someone saw it was jsu friendly plastic repacked. Not a huge price difference regardless.

Instamold is the same as a Japanese product called oyumaru.