"How do you handle misaligned mold halves?" Topic

This is kind of a follow up to my thread about mold lines themselves.

In the past couple weeks of working on them with both plastic and metal models, I'm noticing that in some cases mold "lines" are actually a slight ridge formed because the two halves of the mold are at like SLIGHTLY different heights.

It's not a raised line above the surface of the mini. It's actually as I said a small ridge formed because the two halves of the model are at very slightly different heights.

I had one of these going across a sack that was slung over the back of the model. It's one of the worst possible places for one of these ridges since it's going across the very folds of the sack itself. You're trying to shave down a mold ridge that is going across an irregular surface with curved peaks and valleys. Even after scraping it AND sanding it I can STILL feel a ridge between the two halves when I run my finger over it. The problem is that if you scrape or sand any further you are going to start to damage the surface of the details themselves.

These are notoriously difficult to get rid of. On some metal models I was able to sand down the ridge to get rid of it. But in some areas of a model it's not possible to sand the entire line without starting to mess up the detail of the model.

I also notice that with these kinds of mold ridges, even after I've completely eradicated them and made the surface flat and everything smooth, they STILL somehow manage to show up when I drybrush over them. It's maddening. It's almost as if that raised shape just mimics even though it's literally been flattened down to nothing.

How do you deal with these kinds of mold ridges where the model's halves are actually at two slightly different heights? I cannot imagine going and trying to FILL that kind of irregularity! At that point you're practically sculpting new area into the model itself. That's just not practical or feasible when you're trying to prep. and paint and entire army!

I suggest you take off the sharpness with small half round file. then smear milliput into the dip. Do use plenty of water after that to make it nice and smooth. No adhesive needed. Do make sure you use the file first in order to kill off the harshness.

Return it to the manufacturer, ask for a replacement or a refund. Minor issues fine. There is no way I should have to use greenstuff or milliput to correct a casting defect.

I would ask for replacements or refund from the manufacturer. If I couldn't get either I'd throw them away. Way too much work to fix.

I'd agree with the good doctor--and the private. That's a problem for battery-cast Scruby figures 40 years ago, not something for today's technology and prices.

I think I may have misrepresented what I was talking about.

It's not that the mold halves are blatantly misaligned. It's VERY subtle.

And it's not an isolated sort of miscast thing where a rare mimi. is out of whack and simply not acceptable, where as you suggested you would send it back for a replacement.

I came across this with GW plastics as well as Lead Adventures metal minis. I also encountered it in some historical plastics. I've seen it in many manufacturers.

As I said, it's the kind of subtle thing where it's so subtle that you don't realize it's there until you go and drybrush over it. Even though all through the cleaning and priming processes the line/ridge seemed to have been completely eliminated visually.

Maybe it's more a thing where I just have to scrape and sand a little more than I'm doing, and maybe do some subtle filling in some cases.

In the example of Lead Adventures it was several packs of dwarves. Only one of the five dwarf models had that "ridge" thing of two different heights between the mold halves. And it was VERY slight, but really only troublesome across the sack details. But it certainly wasn't like a blatant misalignment that got past lazy quality control or something.

Quality Control wouldn't even flag that because at first glance it looks like any other mold line. You'd have to prime and paint it before you could see the issue!