I am getting more daring as I venture into making my own molds. it has been a bit hit and miss.
The main material I used for mold making was Siligum which is not a pouring material but two parts mashed together stuff. It has no smell and is not sticky. It feels very therapeutic to squeeze and squash. It is ready to use in a short time and can be used not long afterwards. I used two part Teexpert resin.
BELOW: My Monster in My Pocket Scorpion Man in pewter/lead ad a resin one. The metal one I am getting better at getting it to come out. My early shots were pitted probably from impurities in the melt. However, I had to do a lot of grinding on the grinding wheel to slim down the bow. The resin figure has better detail but frequently the resin did not reach the extremities, as here where an arm is incomplete and the poison sack is absent. I'll fill these in with green Stuff.
The resin took several hours to congeal. it takes near 24 hours to be perfectly set but I found I could remove it after half that time, provided I was very careful to do it slowly. It starts off rubbery and then hardens. it seems to be quite sturdy and not delicate.
The mold. I have learnt to create an overlap on one part rather than having the two parts meet evenly and this reduces leakage. However, on this mold I frequently had leakage from the resin, not so much from the metal.
Gum machine little big-headed fantasy guy. One casting lost his nose so I cut one from a matchstick.
Painted Scorpion man with new stinger
below: Semi flat Prince August (?) 40mm scale figure of a hussar. I already had painted the metal figure and decided to make a mold so I can make a unit. They are intended as Gillikin cavalry for my Ozzz world. The pistol arm did not quite come out, so I'll build it up with putty and I made another outlet to the mold. I'm going to try making them in metal. I think this is a fairly easy mold to use as the figure is so flat.
The spearman came out except the feet which I made with putty. I added a putty cloak over the old one to beef him up. An experiment in using Green Stuff in the mold didn't work well but I salvaged half of it and matched it up with the incomplete resin casting!
This incomplete resin one has missing parts replaced with putty.
oh dear, this resin spearman did not complete but the part that did is crisp so I am going to build up the rest with putty. I pushed the pin into the legs whilst the resin as still sift. I am going to make this one into a Hobbit hero.
prince August halberd men. I was disappointed in these as they are significantly smaller than 1/32 and that is the scale I wanted. The first oe came out perfectly whilst the other lost part of its base.
This is more challenging project as I thought I needed to separate the arm. It is a Timpo Action Pack British Napoleonic cavalryman. I have a number of these painted but fell short in completing the last regiment so I am going to make some extras and maybe an extra regiment as well. But why not improve on the original thus making it more of an original figure? The head was sliced off and reattached to face forwards, The horse plume was improved and tails to the jacket added.
Attaching the arm afterwards will be a pain but I don't think it would have come out of the mold well otherwise.
So, pros of using resin: It doesn't involve noxious fumes from melting metal, is not potentially dangerous from hot melted metal and it is easy to trim.
Disadvantages: It takes a day to set so only one figure can be done a day or two if the model is removed when still soft. It doesn't always reach extremities of the mold, more so than with metal. This might be remedied by heating the resin. The resin is sticky ad takes some effort to remove from skin. The advice is to wear gloves, but I didn't. It is also bad to get in eyes - something I avoided.
METAL advantages: A large number can be cast in one day. I have a number of pewter cups I picked up years ago, so I have cheap material and also old castings I that I was not happy with.
Disadvantages: Molten metal must be handled very carefully to avoid injuries. Gas cylinders are required. It is difficult and time consuming to trim.
It has been a learning experience. I had not, until recently cast from resin. it is only in the past year i have made my own molds.
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