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Hey guys and gals I just wanted to ask for some help regarding casting resin. I'm looking for a suitable resin to use for casting bases. As I'm in the UK it would need to be available here at a good price. This will be my first attempt at using resin so obviously something without a steep learning curve would be best. Finally if anyone has any tips, tricks or things I need to look out for please feel free to post it here.

Many Thanks for the help.

Check out the alumilite web as it has tutorials. I recommend the starter kits.

If you're after something without a steep learning curve, perhaps resin casting isn't for you.

There is no ctrl-z, no 'undo' and no 'takeback'.

If you stuff up a mold, you have to redo it.
If you stuff up a casting, you have to redo it. You can't just melt it down, you need more resin.

All of these will happen at first. This is part of the learning curve. Studying tutorials will help to minimise this - but not eliminate it.

Yeah when I said a steep learning curve I meant are there easier resins to use, longer cure times for instance or are they all very similar. Just because I was thinking a longer cure would allow me to correct more of the problems. I know its just one of those things that I may only get a few sucesses to start with but thats fine.

Resin is also "not cheap". Just saying.

There are fast cure and slow cure - both resins and the rubbers needed.

Research - lots of it - is needed before starting.

Look up "casting" on youtube, there are tons of vids out there to help.

Use some cheap putty for your first molds, and fill with plaster to get used to the process, there is quite an art to it.

This will let you know if you are interested in the method.

Then graduate to silicone for your molds (smoothone, alumalite, etc - again, tons of vids), and then either use resin or plaster bases (merlin's magic is strong and cheaper than resin).

You will want to cast a LARGE number at a time, as resin mixing ratios become more important when in small quantities, which means more molds, which is more silicone which gets more expensive.

Here is one vid of a guy specifically making bases....while his bases are not the best looking, his technique is good, he explains well, and his camera angles are good as well (compared to a lot of how to vids).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc5h-mNmPD4

best of luck!

A big thank you too all of you for your help here. As chromedog says there is a staggering amount of research to do. I am currently working through a number of different sites to see if there is a viable method for bases for my new space marine army. Nothing yet but I shall update as and when I discover a suitable method.

Lennysmash, if you don't mind spending a little money to learn the Alumalite starter kits are great. If you want to do bases you can get away with one part molds which are incidentally the easiest to do. Start with smaller molds and you won't waste all your RTV on one project and then try casting some bases.

Basically what you want to do is make the master models for the bases you want to duplicate, put them in a shallow box right side up and then pour the rubber to cover them. I use Elmers glue to keep the bases from floating or moving but you can also use small spots of super glue to hold them down.

Once set you pull the box from around the rubber, flip the whole thing over and then remove your masters. The mold is now ready to pour.

A thing to note is that some RTVs may have a 'use by' date once you open them (they go off a certain time after opening).

The Green Git has a few good points there also.

I started with a "starter kit" (from my local suplier/manufacturer) and a Tutorial from HirstArts.

Single sided moulds are the easy way to start. Two-part (and more) require more work and keyholing/locating bits to make the parts line up.