Messing Around with Instant Mold.

[Roebeast45]

I've just posted a blog about my experiences with Instant Mold from Cool Mini or Not. This stuff is actually really useful and inspiring. But it does have some limitations. Check out what I've made on my blog:
http://roebeast.blogspot.com/2011/05/messing-around-with-instant-mold.html

[Viper]

I would like to draw your attention to one issue I have with "Instant Mold."

The issue is that this product is simply a Cool-Mini rebranding of an already existing product called Oyumaru.

Now while rebranding in an of itself is of no great concern to myself, where I do take issue is that Oyumaru is CONSIDERABLY cheaper than "Instant Mold."

I'm afraid I do not know American prices for Oyumaru but I would suspect that being closer to Japan (where I believe it originates) it is possibly slightly cheaper than it is here in Scotland.

Here at least the usual price for Oyumaru runs at around £4, around $6-7, for a pack containing 7 sticks, compared to Instant Mold coming in at $12.99 (before tax?) for 6 sticks.

One thing you will probably notice should you investigate this yourselves is that Oyumaru generally comes in coloured sticks rather than Instant Mold's clear, but the coloured sticks are still pretty transparent so that should be no issue.

As these products are, as far as I know, identical Roebeast45's experiences are still very useful information.

There are some videos up on youtube about it too.

Just realised that video says he paid $6 for 6 sticks, but seeing as he shows the same box I've seen elsewhere that pack is supposed to contain 7 sticks.

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

Anyway all that nonsense aside ... great article Roebeast showing many of the potential wargaming uses.

One thing I would be interested to get your take on is in relation to the "whole model" casting front.

While the way you did your whole figure cast is probably the easiest as you said the "mold was more difficult to cut and had some problems with trapped air and parts that didn't fill in."

Another method which this stuff can be used for is making 2-Part moulds.

Essentially you follow the process shown on this website:
http://www.lenham-pottery-models.co.uk/moldmaking/index_mold.html

Except instead of plaster you use oyumaru/instant mold, this lets you skip the need for the clay base stage aswell.

Much more time consuming, but no cutting needed and trapped air pockets can be sorted via adding vents for the air to be pushed out of.

I've seen many people use lego to make the walls of their moulds as it is cheap, easy to clean and you can make the size you need, also if you press the top of a lego brick into the first part of the mould it will create indents that the second part of the mould can lock into.

Of course this can be useful for any kind of casting where you need detail on more than one side but air pocket issues have made the simpler method fail.

So yeah by far the easiest use of this stuff is making 1 part "push" moulds for detailing, but as Roebeast shows in great detail that is only the tip of what you can do.

[Grimmnar]

As i recall when the Instamold hit and the uproar started there was mention of a US based product that you can get in art stores. Now of course i cant locate the name cause i want to. Maybe someone else can help out. The Oyumaru i see online for cheap but the $15 shipping aint helping none. LOL The stuff does look promising indeed and has caught my attention. Looks good and useful for many many reasons. :-)

Grimm

[Viper]

I just had a look myself Grimm and it is very strange indeed that US suppliers are so hard to find, 3 UK ones come up just by searching "Oyumaru UK" in google.

The person selling them on ebay with the $15 shipping is somewhat laughable for the smaller packs but the 24 pack is pretty good.

$12.50 for the pack, $15 for the shipping, $27.50 for 24 pieces compared to $25.98 for 12 pieces of Instant Mold, I don't know if Cool-Mini have shipping charges within the US which would add to that.

Just found what seems to be an okay priced US one for the smaller packs, though I don't know the shipping costs inside the US.
http://www.artclayworld.com/cartgenie/prod-696.htm

Thought I might as well add the 3 UK webstores I found too:
http://www.fredaldous.co.uk (this site also sells through amazon.co.uk)
www.metalclay.co.uk
www.creativeglassshop.co.uk

All 3 come in at about £5 for a pack of 6 or 7 sticks, postage does vary between them though, I think I remember noticing that the one with the cheapest packs had the most expensive postage, only a couple of quid more but still worth taking into account.

[The Dozing Dragon]

Excellent thread. I'll check it all out on days off. Have just noticed that the knife set I get from the local pound shop is available at £4.45 plus postage 

http://www.creativeglassshop.co.uk/480205-cutter-set-with-3-knives-p-4342.html

[Roebeast45]

Shipping from CMoN was 6.00 but I also ordered some other minis with the Instant Mold. The Art Clay World site seems to be a good price so if I ever order more of the stuff I might go with them. Although I'm expecting to keep some of the molds that I make for future use I will be reusing this as I need to. It doesn't take much to replicate most miniature pieces so I have plenty of it now.

If I wanted to cast whole miniatures I would just take the time to make RTV molds. Using Legos and such for casting Instant Mold seems useful but the reason that I like this product is that is gives good results quickly with very little hassle. And it's far easier and safer to use in my apartment than RTV molds and resin.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

[Viper]

Haha, yeah there are better ways to do a full two part mould, was just throwing it out there as another potential use for this stuff. Perhaps if it was just a single piece model you only needed 1 copy of it would be worth making a small two part mould with this stuff but RTV is certainly better for any multiple production.
 

[maxxev]

Excellent thread. I'll check it all out on days off. Have just noticed that the knife set I get from the local pound shop is available at £4.45 plus postage 

http://www.creativeglassshop.co.uk/480205-cutter-set-with-3-knives-p-4342.html

Not sure if it's anything like the knofe I use, but you can get a knife in the £1 type places that has a plastic inner section that holds the blades which will snap VERY easily, or you can get the identical knives with metal inserts which are actually some use, so be aware of that when looking at these types of craft knives, i've gone trough a LOT of the plastic ones, where I could probably still be using a metal one purchased for just a few quid more (I didn't actually BUY the plastic ones though they were gifts).

[Rick]

Is this the same stuff that's available from mould-making suppliers as Polymorph Thermoplastic? Not as catchy a title, it comes in granules not sticks - but I think it's cheaper to buy in this country?

http://www.tomps.com/shop/polymorph-thermoplastic-100g-p-206.html

 

[Roebeast45]

Is this the same stuff that's available from mould-making suppliers as Polymorph Thermoplastic? Not as catchy a title, it comes in granules not sticks - but I think it's cheaper to buy in this country?

I think that it's different. The Polymorph is more like a styrene once it cools, Instant Mold is a silicon so it remains very non-stick. I think you can paint Polymorph, or Friendly Plastic as it's known around here, whereas Instant Mold would not hold paint at all.

You have given me the idea to try a combination of the two though. If the Polymorph paints up okay it might be a much faster way of casting parts than two part putty which takes several hours.

Time to put in an order! 

[Ulu Elsomalien]

  Cool-Mini are just making easy money because they're too lazy to have ideas. 

It is said to be (in France) 5,41€ for 7 sticks and 17€ for 12 sticks  but postage is between 3,5€ and 6€.

On ebay
-(from Japan), 21€ postage included here for 24 sticks.
-(from Hong Kong), 19€ postage included here for 24 sticks

But 24 sticks is a bit much for most of our miniatures projects.

[Commander Vyper]

Does Commander Dante not realise he's giving GW legal perfect evidence to slap him upside the head!

[Viper]

Giving them evidence of breathing air near a GW model without paying them is bad enough.

[supervike]

I think the price at CMoN is completely fair.  They've taken a product that was lesser known, and shown plenty of applications for 'our hobby', and made it easy to get.  It's not like the GW 'file set' or whatever other ridiculous and ubiquitious items GW stamps their name on and sells for double or triple of what it can be found for elsewhere.

Besides, the stuff is reusable.  12 bucks isn't going to break anyone, but if someone can save three dollars buy buying in bulk, then by all means.

[Viper]

Instant Mould is hardly some kind of big name so I don't think Oyumaru would be "lesser known", and just because the original product is lesser known is no reason for the price variance.

On the use front, people have been making push moulds out of various things for a long time, both in out hobby and in other art and crafting. Again I don't see how anything cool-mini have done warrants the price difference.

At the end of the day it is a free market and you can buy from whoever you want, but to say that a pack containing 7 pieces as opposed to 3 is "buying in bulk" is nonsense. You can buy twice the product for half the price if you go with Oyumaru on basic packs, the savings if you did buy in bulk would be higher.