Topic: Molding & Casting - Making Molds & Casting Parts and Accessories

[Darth More]

First off, I'm definitely not the first dude to do this and do not claim to have invented any of the following steps myself.

Okay, having said that, I know there are many forum members out there who have already done this once or work with these techniques on a daily basis.
But after a couple active years here in the forum I reckon that the interest and demand for a tutorial like this is still strong.

So before jumping right into this I'd like to kindly ask you to use the affiliate links to ebay and Amazon on our frontpage to support our forum if you want to buy some of the materials, used in this tutorial, on these marketplaces. I do not profit from this. Thank you very much!

http://imperialshipyards.net/ 


I've been wanting to share my experience of making molds & casts for some years by now.

But let's start with the basics for an easy start. Actually I've worked with silicone molds and resin for casting so far. But recently I got into instant casting. And this is what I show you here in the following photo turorial.

Special thanks to forum member CenturionsCorner for his support & for sharing his knowledge about instant casting.
Make sure to check out & subscribe to his YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWs4F_l3Xv7LxtjAB3lB58A



Special thanks also go to JDeck for his inspiring custom weapons and accessories.
Check out his latest projects after the jump:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10103.300



Actually, the first two pressed parts are hardening right now as I'm writing this!

Well, let's get started on this turorial (no matter how many patents I infringe here...):

Technique - Instant Casting - Pros & Cons:

This technique is well suitable for parts you only need once or a few times.

Pros:
+ materials are rather cheap
+ enables you to reproduce parts quickly (about 30 minutes working time, at least 2 hours to cure)
+ no pressure pot required
+ impression putty (Oyumaru) can be reused to make new molds


Cons:
- lining will be your biggest enemy! (as it is with every instand casting compound)
- you have to work quickly to make a good mold (short ways are the key to success)
- some casting compounds might not be as detailed as silicone to make molds
- depending on the quality of molds (detail & accuracy) some detail might get lost



Materials & Tools:

- Pair(s) of Disposable Gloves (nitrile, vinyl etc.) - Beware of possible/known allergies against Latex, gloves may cause reaction on skin.

https://amzn.to/2LfIXHX

- Casting Compound (e.g. Oyumaru, Blue Stuff etc.)

https://amzn.to/2ZCxzLl

- Epoxy Putty (e.g. Milliput (yellow-grey black, white etc.), Alteco EpoPutty, Aves Apoxie Sculpt, Green Stuff etc.)

https://amzn.to/2ZFQmW6

- Sculpting tools

https://amzn.to/2ZFQRiW

- Parts you want to reproduce

- Buildable Bricks for outer frame of the mold

https://amzn.to/2ZEzoYd





Information taken from packaging.

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix equal quantities of the two sticks by rolling and kneading for at least five minutes until the colour is uniform and free from streaks.
Milliput becomes rock hard in 3-4 hours at normal room temperature.
Stire in cool, dry conditions. Further instructions and product information can be found on our website www.milliput.com

https://amzn.to/2HA1bTl


WARNING

Keep out of the reach of children. May cause an allergic skin reaction.


Personal note: Also the putty runs black/leaves black dye on hands, which you can wash off with soap. But that is one more reason why you want to wear gloves.

So these are the accessories I need more of. Whether it is Clone Troopers you get used from ebay that miss one shoulder armor or hands or maybe you want to reproduce missing weapons & other accessories.





Working Steps:

Making Molds:

1. Prepare all materials you need and set them up at your "work bench".
2. Warm up the Oyumaru/Blue Stuff casting compound to about 176 °F/80 °C.
3. In the meantime: Prepare the approximate dimensions of the mold (I use bricks here. I've not seen any video in which this is done so far.)
4. Get the casting/molding compound out of the hot! water (use tongs, a spoon, gloves etc.) and quickly dry it with kitchen towle/tissues.
5. Apply the compound to your prepared form of step 3. Make sure it's thick enough for the part you want to imprint. Also make sure the compound is not higher than the edges of the form so that you can add a second row of bricks.
6. Place the original part in the center of the form and evenly press it into the soft molding compound.
7. Modify all edges around the original part by pushing the compound at the part to imprint all details by using a tool.
8. Add at least two more imprints with a pen etc. to make a negative for better accuracy later on.
Let the compound cure for 5-10 minute.
9. After curing of the first component of the mold you now add the second half by following steps 2 and 5.
10. After 5-10 more minutes your mold is ready to be taken apart and used for your first cast! 


2. Warming up the instant casting compund/impression putty:


So I listened to you guys after my last contribution to a similar project and got a new pot JUST for the hobby for 6 bucks.

See also: Restoring Star Wars Action Figures after the jump:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10179.15







Making the Mold: Steps 3-6






7. Make sure to get the compound actually AT the edges of the part using a tool:




Smoothen the surfaces of the molds also to put even pressure onto it.
Also try to place the part as much in the center as possible by pushing it carefully into the compound:






mold ready:






casting the part:





Putting constant pressure/weight onto the mold (optional):




finished parts:








Comment:

It was already getting late (2 am) so I actually damaged the blaster pistol a bit by cutting off too much. But being my very first instant casts, I'm quite happy with the results. I started with these two parts because I really need a second one of them! One TVC Captain Fordo I got loose recently is missing his second blaster pistol. And my used TFU Militia Elite Trooper is missing his right shoulder pad. This technique works well to replace such small accessories! I chose a black epoxy putty to avoid possible paint rubbing of custom parts. I will also cast Clone Trooper hands in black. That's a solid base to start with that will never have issues with paint-rubbing!

To be improved...I hope you find this tutorial helpful. For any questions and/or suggestions feel free to post them in the comments down below. Thanks for coming by!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wish you much fun & success with this easy & fairly cheap technique.
And here's the song I listened to while making the molds & casts (sounds even more excellent throgh headphones):

Again, thanks to Steve - CenturionsCorner - for sharing this video, which I didn't know before. So if you want to see how the entire process is done, check out this video by Zubbie:

Double-click for full screen view, you can then make it smaller for embedded view. Yea, you know the drill.

- Philipp

[JDeck]

Very cool. I'm glad you posted this, I've never seen it done using Miliput, I use that stuff all the time, it cures fairly fast and is really strong. I never thought to use it for casting. I'm interested in that mold material. It makes sense to be able to melt it down and reuse it, unlike silicone. Of course with silicone, the set time takes hours. Doing it this way, there's no worry about air bubbles. The only drawback I see is the flash, being Miliput, it must be difficult to remove. I will definitely have to try this out. Thank you for sharing your techniques.

[Tamer]

Wow, what a tutorial! First off thanks for sharing it as I have now done on the front pages.

Second, I love how you used images to explain your instructions.

And thank you for asking folks to use our links. If I can find the time this weekend I will try to get specific amazon and eBay Links to help point folks in the direction of the products you are sharing about. I am hoping we can get enough comissions to do a custom contest in the spring. Thats the goal anyhew.

[Starchaser]

This is a really great tutorial Philipp. Thanks for posting it. You did a really thorough job sharing and including pictures. This was helpful and informative. Really great job on this!

[Darth More]

JDeck: Thanks for coming by JD! Yeah, I know Milliput from such tutorials on YouTube. I've done some long research on epoxy sculpting clays. And Milliput is fairly inexpensive compared to others and the detail it captures is quite good. I'm looking forward to working more with it.
The Oyumaru or BlueStuff is VERY useful to make molds again and again. But I'll use silicone for my next molds for higher accuracy and detial. To be shared soon.

And yes, once the Milliout is cured completely, th flash has to be sanded/sawn with a dremel. But since I removed the two parts early (after about 2 hours) I could still cut it with a scalpel/exacto-knife.


Tamer: Thanks for the flowers, Tamer! I'm happy to hear that and looking forward to the contest next year! I hope you can find some specific items to advertise on here.



Starchaser: Thank you so much Starchaser! There's much more to come! I had been wanting to share this for 3 years by now...but never dared to due to patents and stuff. Don't want to get in serious trouble...
Thanks for coming by and checking it out!


Your feedback is always much qppreciated, gentlemen! That's the reason why it pays off for me to share my content on here.

- Philipp

[Darth More]

Be sure to check out the latest castings of RCWCreations using this technique:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10243.msg214915#msg214915


I think the results turned out excellently!

[Don]

Thanks for sharing.

I tried some casting about 10 years ago, and had some predictably terrible results. I'd imagine that with practice I'd see improvements, but the supplies are expensive, the process is time consuming, and I was discouraged by my results. So I never went back to it.
I'm glad other people are doing it because I've been able to get some cool parts, and great custom heads, from hobbyist casters. So keep it up!

[Darth More]

Chuckles: You're very welcome! Thanks for coming by! It is a lot of work and quite expensive to begin with. But if you are willing to spend that money it brings many advantages. Casting with resin is quite cheap, but yet again a hell lot of work, ets quite messy and isn't that healthy as well...

[Darth More]

So the first entry on this thread was about impression putty, which you can actually re-use. Let's move on to non-reversible putties, which are more durable and can be more precise, too. There are many parts & pieces that can only be produced and reproduced with a 2-part-mold. In this post I show you how I make such molds & casts.





At the moment I'm working on three customs of General Grievous. If you get the TLC/TVC Grievous used, the chest and/or shoulder pieces are often missing. I got two figures of Grievous that need to be completed. I took the occasion to show you how I do it.




If you want to see what I did with this TLC General Grievous click here!

I think the comparison to what happens in nature is quite handy here. Impressions are preserved by sediments, pressure and quite some time...

I do not own this image. All rights belong to Prof. Blume and his publication: The chemistry of fossils
URL: https://www.chemieunterricht.de/dc2/fossil/pos-neg.htm


The original part is removed carefully to avoid damage to part and mold. You can use epoxy putties like milliput or similar ones like Apoxy. milliput is quite hard so you need to knead it real intensively to make it as soft as it can get. But you might know softer putties that are more suitable for this task.




I got this G.I. Joe rifle with a fodder set and only got it once - so I wanted to dublicate it for a while now to assign it to an Airborne Trooper or my latest Clone custom:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10513.msg218114#msg218114

 


You can use rubber bands to keep the molds under pressure while the putty cures inside. Milliput takes about 3 hours to harden and another 2 hours to cure. I cannot recommend to use it for making molds - and it's suitable to be used for casts to a limited extend. It's just to hard even when it's not yet cured. Need to try other alternatives like Apoxy when I'm over in the U.S. the next time.




Comment:

I used to work with this putty during my apprenticeship almost on a daily basis. It's extra crazy expensive because it's for the dental/medical field. This box of putty and activator costs 50€. I got both for 30€ because I'm a student now. All molds I made with it on my latest run yesterday were all good right away - so no waist here. Depending on the original part's shape you can use those molds several times (like the rifle). But Grievous' chest plate and the Jet backpack left some damage to the mold when I removed the cast. So be prepared for some loss of detail when you work with these putties and use them more than once.

Got any questions left? Let me know!


- Philipp

[Tamer]

Looks like you got some great parts out of these. I hope you get to use em a bit more before they deterioriate. Nice work.

Off to the front pages.

[Starchaser]

Thanks so much for sharing this. I appreciate your care in describing details and your openness to questions. The pieces you made for this tutorial turned out really well. I hope you continue to have great success molding parts.

[Darth More]

Tamer: Yes, I made some more parts in the meantime which I will share on here tomorrow. I will use one mould until it breaks - let's see how long this is going to take.



Starchaser: Thanks, mate! I'm glad how they turned out, too! I'm going to share how I've done most parts so far. I use a two-component silicone for the moulds and resin for the castings.
Thanks for checking back in! Your comments are always welcome!

[Tamer]

Its really great that you share your process with the Yarders.

Saving a ton of money by casting is great. I mean some figures are way nuts because of the parts on em.

[Clonehead]

So Philipp, I had read over this and had the page open for a few days now. I apologize for not commenting sooner, work keeps me too busy to even scratch the surface of what goes on around here. I can only hope to contribute.  Good show on your molds and great presentation pics! The parts look good.
    I had tried some putty casting in the past but didn’t give it a chance to gain any incite into the process. I have always been a silicon n resin caster, as you know, and do what I can to get past the materials limitations with trial and error pipe-dreams that sometimes work to my advantage. It is work, though, and an expensive venture for the modest caster.
   I appreciate your tutorial here and encourage you to continue on. I had crafted a similar thread years ago tucked away around here somewhere where you guys probably couldn’t find it. I wouldn’t mind that one coming back to light again if it still exists.

[Darth More]

Scott Neitlich shares a video on "The History, Cost and Long Term use of Toy Tooling. Everything you want to know about Tooling" on his YouTube Channel Spector Creative!

He gives an in-depth look at the entire process of making plastic toys, how molds can be modified for a new prouction run, shares how the protection of elephants inspired the production of plastic and more!


I'd also take the occasion to place some interlinks to all threads on this topic by other members on here:

Cloneheads casting:


Tutorial on Sculpting a Gun by krztfr


Two-part Pinch mold by Jaeger45