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I want to make copies of six models that I've got and wondered about using InstantMold for them. I only want one copy of each of the figures, so I don't really want to spend ages playing with resin and making detailed molds, but does anyone know if the InstantMold would be able to do a whole figure? Would it be able to cope with all of the detail and peculiar shapes made by recesses? I was thinking of making the figures out of green stuff - will this be rigid enough as a whole figure?

Thanks in advance for your help!

You mean six models that you sculpted yourself, right?

And no, I doubt Instantmold can do it without breaking the models up into parts.

MasterSlowPoke wrote:You mean six models that you sculpted yourself, right?

And no, I doubt Instantmold can do it without breaking the models up into parts.

Yes, models I've sculpted myself AND will only be used by me!

What makes you think InstantMold wouldn't be able to do it. I have no reason to doubt you, I'm just trying to work it all out!

I want to know too, I am very interested in casting copies of spesific bitz, in no way making models tho, soley for personal use of course.

It'll depend on the minis. If you can show us some pics we can tell you if its possible or not.

I tried it with some of my own figures and they did not come out very well. The Instantmold work PERFECTLY for making the molds, but the Green stuff to copy the figures did not flow well enough to fill in the cavities of detailed models.

I think with another type of liquid casting material, it'd work great, but I can't think of any that doesn't generate heat as it sets. Maybe a cold resin?

You molds it produces are quite good but a two sided object is a true pain to get right. I also don't think it can replicate details as well as silicone rubber but this might be due to the stuff I tried for the cast (GS/Milliput combos) I'll try it with procreate in a bit. I really think so far that it's only decent for one sided molds. Sucks as the whole resin thing is quite dificult to pull off as a newbie like me.

Resin is not as difficult as you might think. The best way to get a descent silicone mould is to put it in an airtight container and vacuum all the air out of it. If you have a dedicated Rubbermaid tub for this, it's easy. It's not a vacuum chamber, sure, but it does get the bubbles out.

It's unlikely to work on whole models unless you cut them up, and even then recasting something with a non-liquid medium is unreliable at best.

I did have great success with one-sided molds (armour plates, vents, missile tips) and acceptable results with two-part molds of organic parts (ork arms and heads.)

I have been using J-B WELD to make my casts. Aside from the odd tiny air bubble in some of the small details it works really well. And the instant mold is decent for a two part mold.

This is how I do it:

I have been making one side by forming the IM around the object, let it cool, then remove the object, trim the IM so it has a flat or at least uniform surface, and then replace the object in the mold. for the second side just form the IM over the first side, make sure the IM is formed over the edge of the first side (this allows you to re-align the mold very easily as it will only fit one way), let cool and peel apart and remove object. I then cut a small over flow hole to allow excess J-B WELD to escape when I squish the mold back together. The J-B WELD doesn't really flow well so I just apply it both sides of the mold, filling in all the small details first, then filling the rest of the cavity. Press both sides together and the little hole you cut will allow the excess to over flow. I wrap it up in a few rubber bands and then wait for it to cure (takes about 24hrs for a good cure). When its done peel it apart remove your newly formed object and trim the little bit of thin flash away. AND DONE.

Colep715 wrote:I have been using J-B WELD to make my casts. Aside from the odd tiny air bubble in some of the small details it works really well. And the instant mold is decent for a two part mold.

This is how I do it:

I have been making one side by forming the IM around the object, let it cool, then remove the object, trim the IM so it has a flat or at least uniform surface, and then replace the object in the mold. for the second side just form the IM over the first side, make sure the IM is formed over the edge of the first side (this allows you to re-align the mold very easily as it will only fit one way), let cool and peel apart and remove object. I then cut a small over flow hole to allow excess J-B WELD to escape when I squish the mold back together. The J-B WELD doesn't really flow well so I just apply it both sides of the mold, filling in all the small details first, then filling the rest of the cavity. Press both sides together and the little hole you cut will allow the excess to over flow. I wrap it up in a few rubber bands and then wait for it to cure (takes about 24hrs for a good cure). When its done peel it apart remove your newly formed object and trim the little bit of thin flash away. AND DONE.

Thanks for the nice JB Weld tip, i'll try that as it sounds very promising!

OK, well it looks like it's not going to do what I wanted, which is a shame as it looked very easy to use. I guess I'm going to have to go down the silicon and rubber route. Ho hum.

Thanks for the help and advice anyway though!

for a small run of figures you should try Alumiltes casting starter kit. It was my first try at casting using two part molds. I was able to make a very good copy of the old space elf scout walker and weapons. I did replace them with new plastic models later and use the resin ones as battle damaged terrain. Alumilite has a very helpful webpage and i was able to make good 2 part molds after reading about it.

Instant mold can make good 2 part molds but making the mold is difficult b/c of the speed at which IM sets up, Procreate seems to be a good ridgid material to cast with, more ridgid than GS

Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin are my recommendations. $20 for each gives you quite a bit of material to play with. I've been using it lately to cast doors and emblems for marine vehicles as well as custom bases that I sculpted from plasticard and sculpey.

While these are single-sided castings, it's easy enough to use the same stuff to make 2-sided molds. There's a tutorial on how to use it to make 2-sided molds in the P&M Tutorial forum that's excellent.