Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Yeah, I think I'm going to do all my sanding in water from here on out.

In the case of soft cures, I keep one example to see what would happen over time. For educational purposes only.

I've found soft cures to be a result of an improper mix. I had this issue with a batch of what I assure you were NOT illegal combi meltas.

I'd be fine with sanding in water, but as my main source of casting these days is bases, it doesn't come up often.

And I also tend to use an xacto knife for some 99% of my mold line cleaning. The only thing recently that kicked up some dust was adding slots to some bases for my phoenix guard.

Ok AesSedai, Ok! I will start sanding underwater already!

Honestly I hate masks because they always seem to fog up my glasses but sanding a bowl of water is not too much of a hassle so I will endeavor to do it in the future.

And yeah man I really can't imagine having to put up with fumes during casting, I would look for new products as there are definitely ones out there that don't have such a nasty byproduct.

This will help me in my casting of parts. I was going to make some custom race models, so makeing a few of them won't cost me $100 in greenstuff. thanks alot!!!



More cheese for you!

THANK YOU ALL MIGHTY SAGE!!

Thanks guys, I think I speak for all the tipmasters who have posted advice on this thread when I say "just glad to help!"

A little late to the talc-talk, but using Smooth-On in an Ooo-Moo mould, I found that although it's not necessary, it does help to get into smaller areas, especially pointy bits like noses. You also have to be very careful to get all the excess talc out of said area before pouring though, or it will only make things worse by blocking the resin from filling in.

This thread is easily my favorite here on Dakka. The possibilities for what you can do are endless. With minimal sculpting I've made custom bases for my High Elves that I'm able to mass produce and with enough variation so that every model appears unique in it's own unit. This is only the tip of the iceberg however, as once you have the basics down you can move on to producing things like custom torsos, weapons, upgrades etc. This is the only thread beside airbrush advice where I'm not a negative person in some way. IMO every person in the hobby should have the capacity for casting and an airbrush. Glad to be of help in this thread.

@Hungryp - Never too late to add a comment bud, and yes Talc has been the singlemost important tip I have ever come across, it saves sooooo much time in filling voids and bubbles with GS.

@Aerethan - Glad to see you are still watching! I have to say it's been good to have more than one caster contributing advice and suggestions to the thread, wouldn't have been the same without you bud!

I totally agree with you Aerethan. Casting and airbrushing definately add another dimension to this hobby that we all enjoy. Eventually, when my sculpting skills progress enough, I'll be able to produce whole custom armies. I am so psyched to begin airbrushing later this month too.

More to the point, I think every hobbyist of average ability and means can cast resin bases for every figure they have. Airbrushing as a skill can eventually develop into something jaw dropping, however I think that the abovementioned average hobbyist can learn to lay nice thin, smooth basecoats and prime models without really too much of a struggle.

thanks for this/ It will make my shoulder pads much easier to put on the Shadow Legion symbol

How would you do something like a helmet or torso?

@Nightfall - Thanks and good luck!

@the Quanz -I cut the neck of a helmet/head flat and glue it to a base plate, I then pour the silicone over it and once it sets pul it off. You will then have a mould where you pour the resin into the necks of the helmets/heads.

For torsos I would do a front and a back as separate pieces in the mould and glue them together after casting.

Generally 2 part molds are used for torsos as you generally need to fully envelope the piece to get all the detail properly. Keep in mind that creating and casting from a 2 part mold is easily 3-4 times harder than doing single side mold pieces.

If the torsos are relatively cylindrical in shape then they can be molded and cast in the same manner as single mold heads, where the resin is poured into the bottom of the torso.

My secret to pouring resin in precise amounts is to use 10ml syringes. This works wonders on 2 part molds as it adds some pressure to the pour, and for single side molds it allows you to precisely add or subtract resin so that you get flush bases every time.

Syringes run maybe $.10 a piece and if you are using a longer pot life resin like Smooth Cast 305 then you can get alot of casts done with the same syringe before it's no longer useable.

Syringes to add, I knew about. I hadn't considered syringes to subtract. Could save some sanding time. I wish I had access to the breadth of products you all have.

Ebay my good man. That is where I got the syringes at least. I'm sure there is some Japanese site that sells them.

So what's this about Talc keeping bubbles from forming? I've got a custom base with a few spires in it, worried about the bubbles.

Dusting the mould has helped immensely with bubbles in my experience, it may alter the finish by adding a slight grain to the resin but this is immediatley hidden by paint.

Just shake a small amount of talc into the mould, swish it around and blow it out, make sure to get it out of the recess completely and you should find an immediate improvement

AesSedai wrote:Syringes to add, I knew about. I hadn't considered syringes to subtract. Could save some sanding time. I wish I had access to the breadth of products you all have.

Sometimes you can get oral syringes for free from the pharmacy. They give them out with prescriptions for younger children so they have a lot on hand. The CVS by me is staffed by a very homely girl who always caves to a little flirting. Be creative.

Nice Tut, Thanks very much!

Several posts have been deleted from this blog. Users are reminded that whilst showing casts of ones own models and sculpts is fine, we do not allow or support the illegal casting of the works of others on this site. Such posts will be removed and persistent offenders will lose their posting privileges on this site.

Hey Reds8n, could you go into more detail regarding dakka's policy? I hadn't considered that posting a picture of what appeared to be recasts, which someone else had taken a picture of for another site, was a violation of dakka rules.

To be fair, I have seen very detailed guides on dakka (with pictures no less) on how to recast GW parts. Some of which I can still access on this site easily. Whatever the policy, it seems that there are some telling inconsistencies in how it is enforced. Please excuse my confusion. In another ongoing thread, you have people saying things like "I recast GW products and I know it's wrong, but I don't care". How is allowing such posts to remain uncensored not contrary to your position. I don't like grey areas when bans are being threatened. I will of course remove myself from any discussion on the topic of casting to remain on the safe side.

Blackhand, please forgive me for bringing the heat into your thread.

AesSedai wrote:

To be fair, I have seen very detailed guides on dakka (with pictures no less) on how to recast GW parts. Some of which I can still access on this site easily.

Please flag/report them and if they breach the rules and they'll go.

Whatever the policy, it seems that there are some telling inconsistencies in how it is enforced. Please excuse my confusion. In another ongoing thread, you have people saying things like "I recast GW products and I know it's wrong, but I don't care". How is allowing such posts to remain uncensored not contrary to your position.

I don't see how allowing people to express their opinions or beliefs on a subject is contrary to us not allowing how-to guides and the like on this site. To this end, pictures of illegally cat models shown for the purposes of " look how cool this is" and the like aren't appropriate.

What if the (re)caster lives in Korea, China,Thailand, Taiwan, or Singapore for example?

Illegally cast models? Whose laws?

To this end, pictures of illegally cat models shown for the purposes of " look how cool this is" and the like aren't appropriate.

If I posted pictures of some recasts, slamming them for being of shoddy quality, would that be okay?

AesSedai wrote:What if the (re)caster lives in Korea, China,Thailand, Taiwan, or Singapore for example?

Illegally cast models? Whose laws?

To this end, pictures of illegally cat models shown for the purposes of " look how cool this is" and the like aren't appropriate.

If I posted pictures of some recasts, slamming them for being of shoddy quality, would that be okay?

In general, recasting of copyrighted models is illegal and therefore we frown upon the posting of content that would help guide others towards breaking the law.

The posting of information and guides on how to recast your own works is perfectly fine and acceptable, but the moment you bring copyrighted works into the mix then it becomes unacceptable.

Not only would allowing such material to remain on Dakka place us in potential legal hot water that we are not interested in being in, but it also goes against what the owners of the site (myself and Legoburner) personally believe to be morally acceptable, and therefore is not something we want on Dakka.


If you are unsure of whether or not something you are interested in posting on the subject will be acceptable or unacceptable, please feel free to PM any mod before posting it and they can give you some guidance on the matter.

That is crystal clear. I get an inordinate amount of enjoyment from this site, so I'm not interested in rocking the boat. The topic of casting is full of snags, I'll just err on the side of caution and stick to less muddy waters.

Thanks for the clarification guys.

@AesSedai - No worries at all bud, your post was not malicious and I know you just sharing something you had seen and getting some feedback. TBH Me or some of the experienced casters should have thought about it more and suggested that it be removed, my bad

@reds8n & Yakface - Sorry fellas! Had no intention of advocating recasting GW parts, no matter how I feel about them as a company ( I live in NZ ) I will endeavor to be more vigilant with the pics that are posted on the blog.


This does help explain people, why I don't have a large amount of actual pics or a tutorial for a two sided mould up on here. While I am happy enough to cast a shoulder pad that I need 60 copies of or a bunch of custom bases that I designed I rarely have a use for two sided moulds except for making copies of a whole model or a weapon.

I have had this question asked of me dozens of times, "Do you have any tips for casting a Melta/splinter cannon/shoota etc?"

And my answer is the same every time. The amount of time (and your time is worth something!) and money for materials spent on casting a weapon is far better utilized on a bitz site or ebay. You will end up with a far nicer product, a cleaner workspace and a happier wife/girlfriend/mother/alternate life partner!

Casting in resin is really only cost/time effective for custom built, hand sculpted parts that are mindnumbingly boring or hideously intricate to produce again by hand.

Trust me, I have tried casting everything under the sun and even I now scrounge the internet for bits before I turn to resin.


Rant over, continue with the questions!

I agree 100% with Blackhand. Resin casting is tricky work and there is a steep learning curve that costs time and money to overcome. Certainly not worth doing if you are just trying to save $50 on a certain bit.

For every one of my casting projects I look at cost of time and materials versus just buying said item. My High Elves bases for example. The mold was very simple, and casting them would be easy and virtually free of miscasts. So I sculpted 3 unique bases(giving me 12 total facing options) and made the mold. This was worth the time as I needed about 100 of them which IF I had found ones I liked that were already made would have cost me about $140 from a site like Micro Art Studios. My total investment since I know what I'm doing was only about $15 after rubber, resin and casting costs(cups, syringes etc.).

Now keep in mind that the learning curve for 2 part molds to do things like 40k weapons properly is easily 3-4 times harder than single side molds and you watch your cost of learning go up dramatically over wasted resin and rubber.

Yes, I admit to recasting, BUT I do not post public pics of that work, nor do I outline how to do it, which is why I haven't posted here about how to do 2 part molds as I don't have any personally sculpted stuff to demonstrate this with. And trust me when I say that if I could simply find some 6th edition Empire infantry for sale that I'd much rather buy them than recast them as making 100 decent full body casts is a daunting task when they are multi part models.

Hopefully I will pick up this Mangler Squig commission for casting an original sculpt and if so I will post a 2 part mold tutorial then.

Firstly, great thread guys. I'm hoping to put together some custom bases in the next few weeks once I order in a bunch of supplies.

aerethan wrote:Ebay my good man. That is where I got the syringes at least. I'm sure there is some Japanese site that sells them.

Where on eBay? I've just had a look and under syringe there's lots for like $2 a pop, or novelty syringe-shaped pens. Can you PM me a link to your seller?

thanks!