Duplicating small figures with "Blue Stuff"

[Lanthanotus]

Just thought I`d share this.... recently bought a package of BluStuff, a mold making material for non professional users.
It comes in comparably small quantities as it is supposed to duplicate Warhammer figures and the likes, which are quite
small. However, if you get two or three packages, you could duplicate bigger figures. Now, after duplicating several MotU
weapons for my son`s figures and duplicating HQ figures to paint them and have the original unpainted, I thought I`d give
a "dinosaur" a try. I wanted the Starlux Diatryma/Gastornis to be painted for quite a while, but did not want to "loose" the
original... so here we go..... SPOILER: The result is not as great as I wanted it to be, but there may be another trial later,
nevertheless, here we go....


First off, BluStuff needs to be warmed in scalding hot water, so you need a pot and stove or an electric kettle.
These are the tools I use, toothbrush to clean the used BluStuff from old casting material and paint, spoon to get the BluStuff
out of the hot water, plastic bricks to build a general  form (I find that easier and results better, but you could use BluStuff
without these "boundaries"), customized/sanded skewer to press the Stuff tight to the figure, q-tip to use with vegetable oil
(explain later) and scissors to cut off surplus BluStuff.




Get the figure you want to duplicate ready and build a generalized form for it. As BluStuff comes in small quantities and you
need at least two parts for a molding mask, you need to consider the size of the figure. The Starlux Diatryma in fact was 
already almost too big for the amount of BluStuff I had. So I tried to build the brick form as close to the figure as possible.

Boil water and heat the Blustuff in it. Get half of the BluStuff out of the water and press it into the form. Now carefully press the
figure into the form. You need to work fairly quick while the BluStuff cools as you need to define the figures halves (you can take
the original casting line as guide) and get the BluStuff to fit tight to the figure with the help of the skewer. After you`re done, let
the whole thing cool down properly. I personally cool the form in the freezer. Once it is cooled down get the form out (15 minutes
or so) and use the q-tip to distribute vegetable oil (sunflower or any other) over the cooled BluStuff. This is to allow the BluStuff
part that comes next to be separated easier from the first part.




Heat the rest of your BluStuff and then press it tightly over the figure`s upper half. Use the skewer to really get it into every crevice.
Let the whole thing cool down completly, you can use the freezer, but do not need to.



After cooling, build down the brick form and get the whole BluStuff/figure package out. Now carefully seperate the two forms and get
the figure out. Wash figure and both parts of the mold with water and a bit of dish soap to tget rid of the oil.

Prepare your casting material - I used Apoxie Sculpt or Fixit Sculpt, but you may use Miliput, GreenStuff or any other other self hardening
material that allows fine detailing. Fill both forms with the casting material carefully and try to use as little as possible, but as much as
necessary. For the legs in the Diatryma I layed in a wire for stability. Once the forms are filled, press the two halves together and
make sure they align corretly (here also helps the use of the brick form before) and do not seperate (I use rubberbands).






Apoxie Sculpt requires roughly a day to fully cure, but I found it possible and for very delicate figure better to seperate the forms after
8 to 12 hours. Be very carefull in any way, not to break your new figure. As you can see my attempt on the Starlux figure was not perfect,
as the figure was too big for the amount of BluStuff, the 2nd part of BluStuff to cover the figure was very thin and flexible and therefor also
some parts did not have enough casting material in them.




Anyway.... what comes next is cleaning the figure of seams and surpluss material. I use a scalple blade 10 for that (be careful, it cuts deep  )




Last step is painting.... yeah, that is what you get when you use what is sold as "clear coat matt" in German hardware stores... as I said before,
the result needs to be reconsidered

[Crackington]

My first thought on seeing this was that it could be a bit naughty!.

I guess if it's just used on old figures no longer produced then there's no harm in it and it would be pretty obvious in hand that it's a copy because of the material.

Very clever and looks very good for a first attempt. Thanks for showing us the process.

[Lanthanotus]

Well, yeah, the stuff was developed to duplicate Warhammer figures and the like, hence the small amounts the packages contain. However, considering the time,
effort and costs for casting material you`d need quite an amount of casts to make a profit from them.

As for private use, I`d have no problem with making me a copy of any figure, discontinued or not, after all I need to have the original to make that copy. But let`s
say I`d like to replicate the WWD Coelophysis scene with the Kaiyodo model (okay, bad example since it is discontinued), I`d rather make a half dozen
duplicates than buying those six originals. Especially since the duplicate allow for breaking them and repositioning them to have some variation in the scene.
On larger figures a permanent silicone mold would be required anyway (and probably be cheaper than the amount of BluStuff required) and the cost for casting
material (resin) would be higher than the price for your usual toy figure.

However, it also allows to make casts from fossils (used it on a trilobite to make a small, painted figure from) or just cast a part of a figure, for example the head,
if you`d like to use this part in a diorma where not the whole figure is seen....

[Crackington]

Yes, it does sound like a lot of effort when you put it like that! Bootleggers would need a speedier process I imagine!

I like what you say about using it for fossils too. Looks like very useful stuff altogether.

My wife wondered if it was similar material to that used by dentists when making teeth casts, bridge work etc?

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

That looks a lot better than the instant mold I used for Lord of the Rings models. Is it easy to buy internationally fo you know?

[Lanthanotus]

@Crackington The stuff I know used  by dentists is mixed and then hardens permanently, BluStuff is like a waxy plastic, you heat it up and can use it over
and over, just need to clean the molds before melting them again, so no particles of the casting material etc. soils the mass and makes future casts lesser detailed.

@Gothmog the Baryonyx I got it via ebay from Spain, but you can also get it via Amazon. This is the company page: https://www.greenstuffworld.com

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Thank you @Lanthanotus I will check them out. Might be worth a try.

[Lanthanotus]

Just recognized, the product is called "Blue Stuff" rather than "BluStuff" as I wrote all the time,... must have remembered
that incorrectly, that comes when first thing you do after unpacking, trashing all those things that come with it