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avatar_Lanthanotus

A question to those molding and casting...

Started by Lanthanotus, March 14, 2016, 07:46:41 PM

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Lanthanotus

... I'm looking for a casting material that ideally would result into a figure with the flexible stability of a Schleich/Safari/CollectA/yougetmypoint. I am aware that the process of model casting in industrial standards is quiet different from what a hobbyist can do, but is there a material with characterics close to that of PVC (and those other plastics these companies use) which is available and manageable for a hobbyist?

Thanks in advance for your contributions?


Digibasherx

Smooth-on makes a lot of casting and molding materials.  I'll be trying out smoothcast 300 and Moldstar 15 soon. 

Papi-Anon

In my (limited) experience, I use a material called Plasticweld epoxy putty. Cheapest place to grab it is Walmart at about $6. The stuff is rather firm with some flex molecularly and at thin enough thicknesses (I work with custom articulated figures, so this helps with peg holes for ball joints) yet can be sanded with a very fine grain and can capture details in molds wonderfully. Compared to Safari and Schleich figures it's more brittle since it's meant to be a plastic epoxy rather than a plastic in itself, but that is just COMPARATIVELY speaking. It's a great material, honestly, and letting it sit in the mold for 20 minutes or so (when it starts to stiffen for the 2hr. curing process) will allow you to warp if you need to (I did this with the eye-sockets of the Newborn Alien figure from Alien Resurrection castings I made to give it angered and 'friendly' facial expressions).
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"They said I could be whatever I wanted to be when I evolved. So I decided to be a crocodile."
-Ambulocetus, 47.8–41.3mya

Lanthanotus

I almost forgot about this thread, thanks very much for replying here to both of you, Digibasherx and Crash.
Currently I'm working on a sculpture that I'd like to make a mold of for casting - at least if the sculpt will be a success :D




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