Making Molds and Casting Figs or Terrain

[cmsciulli]

Hi guys,

Do any of you have any experience with making your own molds and casting either figures or terrain?

I am interested in making some buildings, and right now I am trying to sort through all the different types of molding compounds and techniques.

So if anyone can suggest a good mold making compound lemme know!

It's looking like Silicone may be the way to go. . .

[fastolfrus]

The only "building from a mould" that I've tried is using a Hirst Arts mould to build a Pyramid and a "Weathertop" proxy.
Both easy (ish) but took quite a lot of work.

So if you're looking at brickwork, Hirst Arts might be worth a look. I think his site has some useful hints and tips for people looking at making their own moulds too.

[audrey]

What scale buildings? Something that is 6mm, 28mm, 54mm, etc? The scale does help dictate the medium. Resin works well for most all scale buildings. But a lot depends on what you want out of it. For example, light weight, sturdy and want to make mulitple copies or will a plaster cast/dental plaster do. Which tends to be heavy and less resilient, but cheap.

[cmsciulli]

What scale buildings? Something that is 6mm, 28mm, 54mm, etc? The scale does help dictate the medium. Resin works well for most all scale buildings. But a lot depends on what you want out of it. For example, light weight, sturdy and want to make mulitple copies or will a plaster cast/dental plaster do. Which tends to be heavy and less resilient, but cheap.

28mm-30mm, which is equivalent to O scale if I am correct.

I would like my molds to have a good library life so that I can make multiple copies of my buildings, and I'd like to be able to salvage the original I am making the mold from, if at all possible.

Although, with dental plaster my buildings could be flavored!  :mrgreen:

[fastolfrus]

Flavoured dental plaster ?
Make them out of chocolate and you could eat the battle damage !

:~}


Just a minute.... what about gingerbread houses, could work for fantasy games, but you'd have to bake fresh scenery for every game.
This could bring a whole new meaning to "beer and pretzels" gaming

[Skrapwelder]

This is the stuff I use and would recommend. The people at Dougls & Sturges have always been very helpful.  


http://www.artstuf.com/DStockNEW.fm$RETRIEVE?sortcode=CR030961&html=display

http://www.artstuf.com/DStockNEW.fm$RETRIEVE?sortcode=MC031915&html=display

The mold material has a decent longevity. I usually get at least 30 - 50 casts out of a mold before it starts to degrade. I make all my wall molds open faced like the hirst arts molds.

Mike

[cmsciulli]

Hey Scrap,

Thanks for the suggestion.  Do you ever run into issues with air bubbles forming when you create your molds and shrinkage?  I ask because I have been told by other mold makers to steer clear of silicone products unless I am going to vacuum pump out air bubbles and what not.

[Westfalia Chris]

You have to be careful with air bubbles, but I´ve used RTV hobby silicone for moldmaking several times, brushing on the first layer, so that bubbling was minimized, and then pouring in the rest rather slowly.

[Skrapwelder]

Its just as Westfalia Chris said. Brushing on the first layer makes it makes it easy to spot any bubbles and deal with them. I've had very little trouble with bubbles in my molds. I try to keep the number of undercuts to a minimum as well so that I don't create any traps for air.

The mold rubber I linked is a platinum based RTV. Tin based rubbers are a little cheaper but they don't last as long. If you're planning on doing less than twenty castings per mold the tin based is probably fine. The two are not at all compatible though. If you have made a mold out of tin based and go back to the same master and try to pour platinum based rubber it won't cure properly and makes a big mess.

[Aquilonien]

Hi cmsciulli.

I have been playing around with RTV silicone to make molds for plaster casts. It all started with Hirst Arts molds. I then wanted to have my own stuff. I'm not a great sculptor or terrain maker but I'm getting better the more I do.      You can check my 15mm WWII (generic) buildings (still a WIP).

I also made a few 28mm trenches from plaster using custom molds.

My last significant trial was making plaster tiles for a 3D board for Settlers of Catan.

I use a plaster called Hydrostone which is very strong compared to plaster of Paris yet affordable. For the RTV, I used a few different RTV products by GE Silicones (RTV426 and RTV7888 if I recall correctly - both tin-based).

Cheers!  :wink:

[cmsciulli]

Aquilonien, very nice buildings. . . I'll have to show my father as he plays 15mm WWII a lot..

Hmm. . .

. . . on second thought maybe I  shouldn't show him, he'll want me to make him buildings!

After getting feedback from all of you and talking to the guys at Smooth On, I think I have found the products that I need.  Some day I'll post the fruits of my labors. . . thanks for all the help and info guys!

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I use Hirst Arts, Linka molds or Scratch build my buildings/terrain.

For casting miniatures or things in pewter I use the Vulc-a-Mold stuff from Minature Molds here:

http://www.miniaturemolds.com