"I Need some advice about 15mm molds" Topic

I write to ask for some help and advice:
I make my own figures from scratch for wargaming, as a hobby. I have posted some pictures of them here in TMP before.
In some cases I have made the figures one by one, in others, I went for some sort of limited "mass production" using dropcasting in RTV 3120 gravity molds also of made by my own. The metal I employ is 50% tin 50% lead (the only available here).
I am now starting a new proyect in 15 mm "Unitarios and Federales" but, this time I will like to go for centrifugal casting because:
1- I am not sure I can achieve good result in this scale with dropcasting ( I have make some 15mm gravity molds and casting before, but is difficult and too time consuming).
2- I would like not to have to make the molds and casting.
3- I would like to make this figures available for others (not to make a living, just to sharing and if possible pay the costs).
The figures are made whith FIMO soft, over a simple aluminium wire structure (an inverted "U"). For the muskets I will use metal or wood.

Is it possible to make vulcanized rubber molds directly from this kind of figures or is it necessary first, to "translate" them to metal? FIMO soft supports up to 110°C.
What do you think would be the best way to do what I intend?
Kind regards, and thank you in advance.
Cesar.
Here are some pictures of the miniatures (unfinished):

they do look very good.
did you heat the fimo to cure it?
there is a way to test it, why not let someone have an item made form the fimo clay and vulcanise it in a low temp silicone mould and if it works on that then it should work on a fig, dependant on pose ect.
are you in the uk?
shaun

While the horse is pretty basic, it made a nice clean casting and has a better posture than many commercial products I have seen (and purchased). If your figures come out as well as that, I wouldn't be too worried.

Cesar,

I believe that you will have to translate them into Metal. The vulcanizer heats to 167 C, (our thermometer states 325 F) so if the master is only good to 110 C it will not last through the vulcanizer processing.

Jeffinho

And yes those horses look really good.

Cesar,
I do prototyping of masters into a vulcanizable format. How many different foot, cavalry riders and horse masters do you plan on making for this line? I also produce short runs of products or can put you in touch with professional mass casting companies.
Contact me by email thru my web site if you want to discuss prices plus you can see what I can do in my product listings; thoroughbredmodels.com
Toby Barrett

I really appreciate that you have answered me . Thank you very much to all .

Shaun : seems like a good idea to do a test , I have to see who could do it. What temperature vulcanized those molds that you mention ?
Once finished, the piece made with FIMO must be bake for 30 minutes at 110 degrees Celsius .
I am not in U.K. , I am in Neuquen, Argentina .

Wiznard : Many thanks , you really know how to encourage a person !

Weddier : in fact, all my figures are pretty basic ( specially compared to those in the market ) . As I mentioned before, I've done RTV molds for my 15mm figures . But this time I want to avoid it : really , molding and casting is not the fun part of the hobby for me!

Jefritrout : Is it not possible to use this material to make molds ? :

link

Apparently the temperature necessary to vulcanize is low, between 80 ° and 123 ° Celsius.

Master Caster: I 'm still not sure , depends a bit on all this we are talking about , but about 30 figures walking 10 riders and 6 horses.
thanks for your offer , I will contact you.

Thanks again to all of you for you kind help.
Regards, Cesar

Cesar Paz,
Low temp silicone vulcaniser moulds should do things nicely, temp is about 100 C if memory serves have a look at Cokers website for the technical detail
j-coker.co.uk
there are lots of options of course including US companies and if you prefer to deal in Spanish there is
link
never dealt with them but their stuff looks very nice.

The only thing Im not comfortable with is the wood possibility. Probably ok in low temp silicone but I'd avoid if at all possible.
L

110°C is just the baking instructions, but you can bake it at higher temps with no problem, I would even recommend it as it make the miniature harder. But it produce toxic fumes over 150°C. If you don' mind fumes you can bake it at 160° and probably as high as 180° (not that I recommend it).
however the problem when making molds is not just the heat but also the pressure, which will destroy the fimo miniatures….
some moldmakers can make low temps vulcanised molds from fimo, but IIRC the master get destroyed.
Generaly when you have a fimo master and want to make vulcanised molds for metal you make RTV molds and resin master first.

Leon and Sylvain, thank you very much to both for this useful infromation.
Leon: I could make the muskets in metal if wood is a problem.

Sylvain: Generaly when you have a fimo master and want to make vulcanised molds for metal you make RTV molds and resin master first.

Sylvain: Could you please tell me what kind of resin should I employ to make this masters so they can stand the vulcanizing process?
Regards, Cesar.

polyurethane resin, eventually with alluminium powder filler.
however if you make the resin casting yourself without vacuum/pressure equipement you'll probably get a bubbles. Bubbles Under the surface may collapse during vulcanisation…

Oh no, I will not dare to make the resin copies. I know nothing about it!
But, is it possible to copy well a 15 mm master with this method?
This resin copies of the masters, are as good as the metal ones that could be done in RTV moulds (with a Tiranti machine, for instance) or Low Temp vulcanised rubber moulds?
Cesar.

resin copies are better than metal copies (if done properly)
you may need to get metal masters done from the resin so that's an extra step, or make a low temp production mold from the resin masters, not sure how all moldmakers deal with this, better find a moldmaker and discuss it with him.

Thank you very much Sylvain.