 John the OFM  | 14 Oct 2025 7:31 a.m. PST |
Prince August casting is legitimate. They make the molds, which obviously deals adequately with the IP and copyright issue. But, way back in the formative days of the hobby, the hobby press somewhat advocated home casting. As noted in the RAFM thread, there were even articles in the Courier, and even Strategy and Tactics. Scruby? I think so but I'm not sure. So I bought the Dow RTV sets and mold clamps and ladles from those advertisements.
I found the RTV to be incredibly messy to mix the two parts. And I wasn't very good at making the molds. I never got any good results. Bad castings, etc. so I decided I didn't need another hobby and quit. As I noted in the other thread, the moral outrage came later. 😄 That's when the term "piracy" came into vogue. 🤷 And I could see the justice in that. So, the question is, "Did you ever try home casting?" Either legitimately via Prince August, or hoisting the Jolly Roger?🏴☠️ 3D printing is a whole different matter. I think it should be dealt with in a different poll altogether. |
 miniMo | 14 Oct 2025 8:43 a.m. PST |
Yes, a bit of both Prince August moulds which provided a lot of skeletons and wolves, some with kobold riders, and also some RTV moulds from skaven I legit sculpted out of Milliput.
I shudder now to think of the lead fumes I inhaled over the stovetop… |
| KeepYourPowderDry | 14 Oct 2025 8:47 a.m. PST |
I must confess that I have thought about it. I want some limber horses that are now no longer available (owner of the range died, and the range has disappeared in to the ether). I'd happily buy them but they just aren't available. I have 2 unpainted examples. So naturally I did think I wonder if I could… Of course ethically wrong, but even more problematical is the fact I don't have the foggiest idea how I would go about it |
| Wackmole9 | 14 Oct 2025 8:57 a.m. PST |
Also a Prince august mold user and I have the scars to prove it. once had water get into my pot and it exploded and cover my Landry room in a splatter pattern. |
| Oberlindes Sol LIC | 14 Oct 2025 9:03 a.m. PST |
Never. This sounds like even less fun than 3-D printing. |
| Martin Rapier | 14 Oct 2025 9:07 a.m. PST |
Oberlindes +1 AlthoughI did do lots of conversions and carved a number of 6mm vehicles out of balsa wood back in the 70s. |
| PzGeneral | 14 Oct 2025 9:46 a.m. PST |
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| Red Jacket | 14 Oct 2025 9:50 a.m. PST |
I was given a casting set for Christmas when I was 8 years old. 54mm American Civil War figures, 12 different poses. Got lead from Mario at Highstreet Metals, the grave digging junk man. Dad ran all the dangerous parts, although I never understood why he was concerned about an 8 year old melting lead? (Actually, it was my Mom being concerned, I seem to recall my Dad just telling me not to kill myself when I asked him to let me borrow his acetylene torch. In Dad's defense, this was the era when we all had chemical sets that could kill us in any manner of ways) Ended-up with one complete casting of Abraham Lincoln which I have kept for the last 55 years on the windowsill above my kitchen sink. I still have everything laying around the house, somewhere. We could never get the lead to reach the full extent of the molds. We tried heating the molds and also tried pouring the lead really, really, really fast – nothing worked. Very disappointing, even 55 years later. |
| Frederick | 14 Oct 2025 11:07 a.m. PST |
Good God no! Living in Detroit in the '80s was pushing the envelope enough when it comes to life-ending events |
| Phillius | 14 Oct 2025 12:22 p.m. PST |
I think a mate and I tried it when we were teenagers (50 mumble years ago). But not since. |
| The Last Conformist | 14 Oct 2025 12:36 p.m. PST |
I did Prince August homecasts as a kid in the '90s. |
 Sgt Slag | 14 Oct 2025 1:04 p.m. PST |
Prince August around 2000. It wasn't terribly hard to do, but getting arms and other extremities within the mold to fill up with molten metal was very challenging. At first, I thought I would cast hundreds of figures using inexpensive/free lead tire weights. The lead yielded poor castings. I sprang for PA's expensive Model Metal to see if I could get better castings… "Better" is a relative term. The Model Metal yielded better castings, yes, but the figures still had too frequent issues with extremities not filling with molten metal. For smaller figures (Goblin Wolf Riders), the castings turned out poorly. For heavier, chunkier figures (Orcs), they turned out rather good. I needed 60 Wolf figures for a Battle of Five Armies. I pumped out 60 Wolves using the PA Goblin Rider + Wolf mold. The Wolves turned out quite good, even their legs filled with molten metal! After the BoFA game, I sold off plenty of those castings, but I still have around 30 of them in my collection: painted, based; some with plastic Caesar Goblin riders (spearmen figures, feet cut off their molded bases, glued into a riding position) and they look great, IMO. Saved me quite a lot of money, to be honest, casting my own Wolves! In the end, I sold off all of my molds, and my melting pot, going back to professional spin-cast figures. I also switched heavily to plastic figures around the same time: D&D's pre-painted vinyl figures came out, along with Mage Knight fantasy figures, and these were actually quite affordable. Once given a dark wash and a matte clear coat, they proved to be very inexpensive to use to build out armies with. Cheers! |
| TimePortal | 14 Oct 2025 1:09 p.m. PST |
Yes back in the 1960s with terrible results |
| Grattan54 | 14 Oct 2025 2:15 p.m. PST |
When in high school I did some casting of metal soldiers for my industrial arts class. That has been it. |
| myxemail | 14 Oct 2025 2:26 p.m. PST |
Using metal, nope. As a kid I did have a machine that melted plastic pellets, and the kit had two part molds for cowboys and Indian figures. There were molds for horses too. Man, I can remember the smell and the occasional burns on the fingers. I forget who made the kit |
| Zephyr1 | 14 Oct 2025 4:47 p.m. PST |
Yes, and I even bought a dental spin caster (TBH gravity casting sucks. ;-) Now I just have to find the time to cast my sculpts (and every mistake you make in sculpting shows up gloriously when made in metal… ;-) |
| robert piepenbrink | 14 Oct 2025 7:17 p.m. PST |
I bought from those who did. I believe the term is "accessory." |
| Cuprum2 | 14 Oct 2025 8:54 p.m. PST |
I cast and sell. I used to use drop casting, now it's centrifugal.
I'm quite good at sculpting, and I also hire sculptors. A long time ago, I started casting by making copies of plastic figurines. Piracy, in my opinion, is when you make copies for sale. If you make them for yourself and don't make a profit, I don't think it's wrong.
As a child, I had a book on making tin soldiers, which described the entire process well (at the time, it was for casting in plaster molds). Later, new silicone materials appeared that made it possible to cast large quantities. That's when my hobby gradually began to turn into a business, as more and more people began to want to buy my products. Not a bad retirement activity. It's not work, it's pleasure)))
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 Wolfshanza | 14 Oct 2025 10:24 p.m. PST |
I used to. 54mm and 25mm. Prince August, Dutkin and others. Most of my stuff came out ok. problem is i'm lazy. Whenever ah wanted to mold some, it had to be done on my back deck. PITA setting up and cleaning up so all the gear is sitting in a tote somewhere :/ |
 piper909 | 14 Oct 2025 10:32 p.m. PST |
This is odd. I posted a rather long and detailed reply here yesterday and now it's vanished. Makes me feel depressed, that was a big waste of time. Short answer: Yes, I had one of those Dow RTV kits I worked with for a brief while in 1980. Didn't last long, unsatisfactory results after a ton of work. Not skilled enough. |
| ZULUPAUL | 15 Oct 2025 3:30 a.m. PST |
Yes Prince August & some home made molds of OOP metals. Nothing now. |
| ThunderAZ | 15 Oct 2025 7:57 a.m. PST |
Cuprum, I've been eyeing some of your excellent models. I hope to get some some day. When I was a pre-teen, I played my first historical game at a convention and it happened to be a WWII micro armor put on by the guys who made the In Services Miniatures brand, with cast micro armor figures. They actually had a keep what you kill game and I went home with a few. I bought their scaled down fast play ruleset. They had a booth in the dealer room, but I didn't have enough cash to purchase anything beyond the $8 USD or so rule book back then. The guys put on several great games over the years and were a quite eccentric crew. I have great memories. I was determined to try to duplicate the few I had. I cast the armor and turrets seperately in two part plaster of paris molds. I used Vaseline as a release agent. I melted down some Ral Partha and Grenadier figures in a vegetable tin can with a bent spout. The castings obviously weren't great, but they were playable. The ironic thing about copying In Service miniatures, based on what I heard and read, is they they were copying GHQ models. Their rulebook also was remarkably similar to a rule book from the UK I which later obtained, although I'm not sure which was published first. Later in life, I'm the proud owner of hundreds on micro armor miniatures properly purchased. |
| Hal Thinglum | 15 Oct 2025 1:59 p.m. PST |
About 40 years ago I decided to do the Sudan and Islandlawana in 25mm. I had quite a few Ral Partha Zulus but needed many more. I bought some miles from Joel Haas in NC and they worked out great. I don't recall what I used for lead. Seems to mecthe molds were only $5 USD or so. I got many hundreds of figures from them and was very pleased. |
is after something that has presence, that actually looks like a small stand of tropical bushes, and is cheap, tough and portable.
