Saturday, July 16, 2011

Casting in Resin, a Guide For the Poor

So, I has some people express interest in how I cast my miniatures. The original are usually green stuff or gray stuff, and I sell resin casts of those.

The method I use for resin casting is very, very simple, and it comes from a guide a friend of mine sent to me. Apparently this guide is getting passed around the tabletop war-gaming crowd as a way to flesh out an army. From what I know, there it's a bit questionable legally when used for Warhammer 40K,  Warmahordes, or any other licensed, copyrighted miniature, but I know it's perfectly legal when casting original sculpts.

That's okay with me though, cause I'm just casting my own creations. The guide, which can be found here, has several tips and tricks you can use to cheaply, and easily cast  your own gaming army.

I personally use the silicone trick, and cast the miniatures in a fast curing, white casting resin acquired from my local Hobby Lobby. The detail has always come out great, although I've had purist insult my technique for not using RTV silicone for my models.

I find that a drop of acrylic hobby paint for every table spoon of pure silicone caulk will cure fast and strong, and using Vaseline thinned with mineral spirits provides an excellent mold release. I use injecting molding to make the casts, and usually find myself with minimal flashing to clean.

It's an easy process, and I highly recommend anyone with an interest in the hobby try it out sometime.

9 comments:

  1. I remember going back to a time when I created my own Super Mario Sunshine molds for a board game my brother and I developed. Thanks for the guide, it looks really neat!

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  2. I needed to know how to do this. My friends and I were going to start a d&d campaign and now we can have our own minatures!

    +followed!!!

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  3. thanks for the info, might try it sometime. +followed

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  4. Interesting post, I'll have to try it one day

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  5. Interesting stuff, crazy how that works.

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