New Patient- Flight Lizard. And my current ills.

[Flight Lizard]

Greetings folks. My name is Flight Lizard, and I am an addict.

<snip>

Point blank... I suck at <casting>.

I tried using the clear resin for a smaller flyer model since it is stealthy and thought making it "invisible" would be a nice touch. I got bubbles, snaggy bits, gaps, incomplete parts etc.
I haven't even attempted a larger model because even just as parts, they seem too big and complicated to get right and I have no idea where to even start with the mold box etc.
These models are absolutely only for personal use, as I am that kinda jackass as to want to not have any competition in my particular niche of the game, and think that the models being ridiculously expensive provides that buffer zone.

I've tried looking at tutorials and just cannot make it fit in my head. Can anyone guide me along to a decent tutorial for large detailed parts with undercuts and such? And for this stuff, am I going to have to get a vacuum or pressure setup?

Also, just how much detail am I allowed to go into on this thread? I'd like to be less vague but I worry I may have violated a rule or two already.

Edited by Mangozac

[Arkangel]

Flight LIzard you need to go check this ^^ thread out in: The Waiting Room part of the board. This will give you the general answers you need reference IP etc.

The LAST thing we want on here is something that will piss the big guns off.

I'm far from saying 'dont post your needs on here' all I am saying is think about what your trying to do, and how to ask the right questions to address your needs.

Magozac, Warhound and Paulson are some of the guys you need to be asking about casting large models, undercuts, pressure chambers, etc etc, the big stuff, they should be able to answer your basic needs questions.

Hope this helps without reading you the riot act. That's definatley not my intention

Take a look at some of the other threads to give you a better idea of some of the questions you might want to ask the guys.

Hasta

[mangozac]

Hi Flight Lizard, welcome to RA.

Arkangel has beat me to the punch here in that what you're suggesting is crossing one of the few basic rules of this forum. Don't fret, it's not that we want to scare you off, but if you're going to talk about such things you need to be a little more subtle about it

I suggest editing your post to stop talking about recasting IP - even if recasting for personal use is legal where you live, we don't want to be hassled by GW legal by discussing such things on here.

Secondly, we're all pretty busy people, so if you want to learn some casting skills you're going to have to be specific with your questions. You will need to explain the materials and techniques you are using so that we can make appropriate comments on them and how to improve

I will say this though: it takes a lot of time, effort, skill and money to pull of casting larger models like you're referring to. Honestly if you don't already have all the equipment required I think it would be cheaper just to buy the models....

[Flight Lizard]

Hey, no problem. good to know a little more about what kind of wiggle room I can expect.
I suspect I'm far from the last person on here that has similar needs or requests.

The specialized systems seem to be suggestive of expensive, but is there a way to maybe steer me in the right direction of a cheaper setup or at least how to go about starting it on my own. I have seen tutorials, as I've said, but one of the things that just confuses the heck out of me is how to set up a proper 2-part mold. I have seen some real complex models get done that way, and somehow I still just can't pull it off.

Also, I've gone through Tap plastics and used some of their materials. Any better suggestions for resin and or mold material?

[blind pig]

I have found that clear resins are notoriously hard to cast in. I have had some success, but it took many weeks and lots of resin to get it right. It also required the use of vacuum and pressure casting.

One thing to note, the moulds you have already made of your item if not moulded under pressure or vacuum, will be of little use if going down the pressure/vacuum casting route.

Moulds not made under pressure or vacuum that are later used to cast with pressure or vacuum will distort or you will end-up with a final product covered with thousands of sharp pinpricks/ bubbles over the entire item.

Here is a tutorial on how to do a two part mould:

http://www.paint-sculpt.com/tutorials/m ... rview.html

Good luck and don't post pics!

[paulson games]

I've honestly found the Tap Plastics stuff to be a bit difficult to work with.

Since you're in the US I'd suggest micro-mark or smooth-on. http://www.micromark.com and http://www.smoothon.com

The micromark resin is really awesome stuff to work with, it's very thin and sets up fast the only down side is there's no price breaks for buying large volumes. Not really an issue if you are only casting smaller batches of stuff.

Micromark has a very good how to dvd available on their website which covers the basics of mold making quite well.

Smooth On has really good resin and their silicon sets up in about 75 minutes so it's great for getting stuff molded quickly. Their resin is only slightly denser than micromarks and I'd rate it very comperably. I buy 90% of my stuff from smooth-on nowdays. I'd go with their OOMOO silicon (300) and either their smooth cast 300 or 305 resins, the 305 takes longer to cure but it has a longer working life which is helpful when starting out.

Tap has a lot of great info on their site, but not a lot about pressure casting and they don't cover two sided molds very well, but a lot of that info is on here or easily found with google searches. Allumilite and smooth on have some forums with lots of useful info as well.

Expect to make a lot of bad casts while learning it's always part of the process, but with a bunch of experimenting and reading up on techniques you'll be making good castings pretty quickly.

If you have any specific questions fire away I'll help where I can, what you cast for personal use is entirely up to you