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I wanted to cast a sculpt of mine as a birthday commission for a friend, I believe the general consensus is to use resin. My local hobby store has latex mould-making equipment I just want to know
1) Is this the right type of mold?
2) Where can I obtain some Resin?

The aforementioned Hobby store is a Hobbycraft, if it helps

try these guys

http://www.tiranti.co.uk/

They also do white metal casting kits which are excellent.

Pourable Resin can be fun to use, remember the stuff heats up as it cures and can get damn hot in big pieces!

Also these guys have lots a really nice stuff http://www.hobby.uk.com/

at http://www.hobby.uk.com/catalogue/0428-resin-n-accessories.html

Give them a look

Thank you so much Druidic, I will take a look at them (good to see they're UK based)

My pleasure, if there is any generic advice I can give I'd be happy to do so, I've been casting bits in white metal for a few years now.

Its a bit expensive to get the starting bits and takes a load of time up front to make moulds and stuff but its the ONLY way to do loads of things the same and for an army of 40+ figures it can make alot of sense!

I've done several things for my own armies, as an example I have a Ravenguard Shoulder pad and a Tau IG Conversion kit. I also do the odd commission like some new Snow Wear IG bodies I did for one of the guys at GW and some Crested Helmets for another guy at Warhammer World.

Not worth doing for money, but I like a challenge! :-)

Legal Note, technically ANY casting of items from or conversion components for GW figures is an infringement of GW IP, however so long as you only do things for your own army and they are sculpts rather then just casting something GW already do they are unlikey to bring a civil suit, but they HAVE and they WILL if you take the piss I've run foul of their legal department in the past and while they are suprisingly nice and helpfull generally, take the mick and they will rip you a new one..... Be warned.

Edited, that better?

Druidic wrote:Legal Note, technically ANY casting is an infringement of GW IP, however so long as you only do things for your own army and they are sculpts rather then just casting something GW already do they are unlikey to bring a civil suit, but they HAVE and they WILL if you take the piss I've run foul of their legal department in the past and while they are suprisingly nice and helpfull generally, take the mick and they will rip you a new one..... Be warned.

I would note that your first sentence ot this paragraph needs something like "any casting using GW pieces" as I beleive casting stuff is legal, just not casting other people's stuff. Unless GW's been buying a lot of senators.

I edited.

For general advise read the GW legal site which explains in exacting legalease their stand point. Even the conversion kits I do for my figures are a direct IP infringement, casting is a BIG NO NO to GW, and I've gotten away with it so far as I don't sell anything and only really do it for fun and a challenge on my own figures with the odd "Favour for a mate" oddity.

Do something daft like put something up on Ebay and from experience you WILL get a phone call which can quickly turn less then polite if don't follow the correct legal line.

I did hear tell some time ago of a guy who was daft enough to cast up in resin a whole thousand sons army then take it to a GW event..... they confiscated the whole thing on the spot and he was lucky not to face court time!

Sorry, Druidic. Just in a weird mood today and didn't want someone to think there was a Ministry of Game Piece Modeling that would come after anyone casting who hasn't taken the 12 week safety course, filled out 144 pages of forms, and paid the license fee.

Not a problem for a moment, know the feeling, I'm normally the one filling out the forms!

All this legal mumbo-jumbo (always wanted to type that BTW) is irrelevant as I am going to be casting a complete GS model, not based on any GW material

eh can we see this model????

Balance wrote:Sorry, Druidic. Just in a weird mood today and didn't want someone to think there was a Ministry of Game Piece Modeling that would come after anyone casting who hasn't taken the 12 week safety course, filled out 144 pages of forms, and paid the license fee.

Mmmmmm...sounds like a Monty Python skit!

Probably managed by the same people in the Dept of Silly Walks.

For the record, according to IP lawyers that the BTown administration has contacted for their own needs, a cast part that fits onto GW models is NOT an IP violation. If the piece is 30% different, it's legal.

We have a seller on the site who sells resin casts that were made off of greenstuff scrulpting on Rhino doors and windshield bits but, since he changed them more than 30%, they're legal. this was also confirmed by his own legal team.

Remember that GW likes to strongarm. if they can bully their way into making you stop making stuff SIMILAR to theirs, they will. A strong stand against them has made them back down more than once before (at least one of those was documented here on Dakka before).


Back on topic, however... You can get casting supplies - and resin, IIRC- from www.micromark.com.

Eric

typhus wrote:eh can we see this model????

I second that....

Druidic wrote:I edited.

For general advise read the GW legal site which explains in exacting legalease their stand point. Even the conversion kits I do for my figures are a direct IP infringement, casting is a BIG NO NO to GW, and I've gotten away with it so far as I don't sell anything and only really do it for fun and a challenge on my own figures with the odd "Favour for a mate" oddity.

Do something daft like put something up on Ebay and from experience you WILL get a phone call which can quickly turn less then polite if don't follow the correct legal line.

I did hear tell some time ago of a guy who was daft enough to cast up in resin a whole thousand sons army then take it to a GW event..... they confiscated the whole thing on the spot and he was lucky not to face court time!

Although the laws vary in different parts of the world, in the the United States they have no authority to confiscate an army like that, even if it is illegally casted. In fact, unless you signed a contract allowing it, doing so would itself be illegal and GW employees who "confiscated" (ie stole) the army could be arrested and the company could have charges filed against it. The most that they could do is call the police, demand that you leave the event and/or bring charges against you.

In addition, if you were to design and sculpt a little model or conversion kit that was designed to fit into or onto their models, as long as you weren't casting any part of their models or infringing their copyright by using their logos or symbols or things like that, than there is nothing they can do, even if you were selling them for profit. After all if it is your design and your creation than they have no legal claim to make against you (key words being your design and your creation). The only thing that they could really do is to not allow your items or people using them into their stores, tournaments or conventions (since they have no obligation to provide service to you).

Something similar applies to websites not being able to sell GW products online and you have to call in to buy them. There is no legal reason for this it is simply a business agreement. It is perfectly legal for anyone to sell GW products on their website. The fact is that it is also perfectly legal for GW to stop doing business with anyone who does so, so in this case it's somewhat of a "follow our rules or we won't do business with you at wholesale prices" sort of thing.

Anyways... you should not break the law but you SHOULD know the law and what your rights are under it.

I wont speak to the morality or legality of resin casting, as I believe that has been covered already (and in numerous other threads).

I can say I am rather partial to the Alumilite "white" casting resin, it's extremely thin and sets up slow so you can pressurize during the curing process.

LOL how do you define 30%? In civil court the burden of proof is, preponderance of evidence. Fancy for 51% and the accusing party must prove this. Therefore they couldget you for probably even making a kit to put on a model for even your own private use. Especially if it's one they make. But if you scratch build it or GS it they can't do squat. The. Courts would probably throw the case out anyways. If your buying GW stuff you obvioulsyhave no money because you already gave to to them.

IMO cast whatever you want, call it practice.

Well I take the view personally that I have a nice well paid job that I could never match with casting bits of metal, so I'd rather not take the risk any more and just stick to doing my own stuff, purely for the fun of it.

Your right of course that GW will strongarm, but as I said the legal team are actually quite friendly, I got on the with their guy quite well and it just seamed more grief to continue then it was to stop

I would encourage anyone how considers themselves a serious modeller to atleast have a go at some form of casting however, its a real joy and does open the mind to what is and is not possible and gives a good sense of appreciation for the model makers art!

FLAME FLAME FLAME FLAME
TALK ABOUT!!!!!!! A GIANT FLAME!!!!!1
FLAME FLAME FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!!!!
seriously people..... I almost forgot what the OP was about.

typhus wrote:eh can we see this model????

it's not done yet, all this casting malarkey is going to be a fairly long time coming...

Maybe I should've waited before starting this thread but WTH

Well could you tell us what its gonna be? I just wanna know what is worth all the hassle of castin over.

OK< it's can only be summed up as a Swamp Thing

Sweet, should have an engulfed space marine arm pokin out of it somewhere lol. Keep us updated i wanna see pics.

No SM arm I'm afraid (NO GW MATERIAL!)

KingCracker wrote: FLAME FLAME FLAME FLAME
TALK ABOUT!!!!!!! A GIANT FLAME!!!!!1
FLAME FLAME FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!!!!
seriously people..... I almost forgot what the OP was about.

I haven't seen any flaming. I just see people letting him know that casting can potentially be a slippery slope and wanted the OPer to be forewarned that's all.

I also forogt to mention, post some WIP of your sculpt dakka is full of brilliant people who could suggest things to make your sculpt shine. Also if you look for "heroic" sculppting dummies you can pick up metal cast peipole to build off of. I knoow they sell em at thewarstore

We dont mind seen unfinished WIP stuff pancake D:

we are as curiouse on the raw casts as the finished product :"P

Hello,
I used to work for a resin based manufacturer,so heres some
tips.
1)Make sure that you get heat resistant silicone.Water based
silicone will not survive the heat resin generates.
2)Resin and silicone are damned expensive!From Hobbys(the shop)
you'll get a small tin of silicone for about £18.00 and resin
for a bit more.
3)Unless you have a vacuum chamber you are going to get a lot
of air bubbles,in the mould and the casting.The more detail
the more bubbles.
4)Resin loves everything.So much so that it will stick to
anything and not let go!
5)There is an alternative to resin.It's a casting plastic
called alumilite.Costs about £33.00.Sets in 3 minutes,no
undercoat needed.Gets hot when it sets.
6)Resin is flammable.Even worse if you put too much catalyst
in.I once blew up a wheelie bin (not on purpose)when I did just that!

Having been casting for about the last 20 years, I can say that Modern casting RTVs are a lot more forgiving than they used to be.

It used to be that they absolutely loved PVA glues (and would stick like crap to a baby blanket). These days, you can even get heat resistant rubbers that don't care. There are still some that will bond, just make sure any exposed glue is sealed under a polyurethane varnish.

Resin curing ("going off") doesn't generate that much in the way of heat (compared to metal casting). Of course, it's all about how fast it goes off. The faster, the hotter. I primarily cast in bronze, but I use the same for resin (demos are resin) - the heat-resistant stuff is a great dual purpose rubber.