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are they any good? Whats the best use for them?

Instant Mold? Rockin'

Ok, say you have a custom shoulder pad you want to mass produce for your troops. Cast your pad, press some greenstuff in there, and you've got your pads.

Custom head? Get 5 more!

Custom Iconography? Done!

Can't track down that last meltagun? Viola!

Just don't be mass producing GW's stuff, they'll be a tad annoyed with you. And if you ever part with miniatures that have reproduced parts, inform the recipient.

Vid:

thanks for that!

also, would liquid greenstuff work instead of normal?

Interesting concept, the liquid greenstuff would indeed flow better into highly detailed items...

but im wondering whether or not it would keep its solidity?

No, you definately want to use the two-part stuff for casting. LGS is an acrylic medium like paint and not actual resin putty. Good for gap filling but not so good for anything sculpted.

I would experiment, coating detailed area's with with a thin layer of Liquid Green Stuff, then a make a Green Stuff with slighly more Yellow/Green than Blue (3/5 to 2/5 or 3:2 ratio) it will make it nicely pliable, it should bond nicely to the LGS that is drying in the mould.

Worth a shot to see if it works?

Where would one buy these marvelous little mold sticks and how much would they set you back?

Ebay, CMON, Amazon.
13-8 US $

You can also go to your local sporting goods store.

Its available there in the form of "make your own mouthguard" kits for about $5.

mwnciboo wrote:I would experiment, coating detailed area's with with a thin layer of Liquid Green Stuff, then a make a Green Stuff with slighly more Yellow/Green than Blue (3/5 to 2/5 or 3:2 ratio) it will make it nicely pliable, it should bond nicely to the LGS that is drying in the mould.

Worth a shot to see if it works?

I don't think that will work. Liquid Green stuff has zero properties of actual Green stuff ( Kneadatite epoxy putty) , it's nothing more than gap filling putty and doesn't contain any epoxy at all. It's a rather deceptive name.

To answer your questions:
Instamold is a very good product for creating one sided press molds. For two sided molds its a little trickier to do but is doable, say for a full shoulder pad or a head. For shoulder icons or patterns its pretty easy to use. I use it to duplicate things like skulls, GK armor details, insignias and purity seals.

Here's how i use it: I bought a small proctor silex electric water boiling pot for heating up water for tea. It cost me about 15 bucks and its perfect for this. When set to "warm" it heats the water to the right temp for softening instamold. I dorp the piece into the pot and when its soft I scoop it out with a sculpting tool. I like to flatten the piece out with a small square of clear acrylic. I then press the original into the mold and gently use the acrylic square to even it out.

Now for casting with green stuff , I use a stragiht 50/50 mix of blue/green. I take the greenstuff and figure out how much will fill the mold , then i put it into the mold evenly. NOW here's the trick, I use that same small square of acrylic I used to flatten out the mold, i take the square and press down onto the green stuff forcing it to spread in the mold. Instamold is pretty firm so there is almost no deforming. The acrylic square does two things at this point. It evenly forces the GS into the mold and the GS has now stuck to the acrylic. Since it doest stick to IM i then gently pull the acrylic square away from the IM and it takes the GS with it. Your casting is now stuck to the acrylic where you can sculpt or touch up little details that maybe dint come out all the way.I also cut away any flash gs and re-use it for another casting. I put it under a warm lamp light to set and then use a clay scraper to remove it from the acrylic. after its hardened I like to trim it some more with a hobby knife. If the bit is too thick i can usually use the clay scraper to actually cut away most of the thickness of the piece.

So far this technique has worked perfectly for me. I even use it in an assemply line fashion for casting bits like crosses, pressing gs into the mold repeately in differnt spots of the same acrylic square. i ended up with about 10 to 15 crosses in about a half hour.

There's a post on my blog ( click the sig) about how i first started using it to make bases. Check it out and see if it helps you. http://tinywarriors.blogspot.com/2011/03/instantmold-review-and-tests.html There are also many examples of different bits I've press molded on my conversions.

heavybolter wrote:

I don't think that will work. Liquid Green stuff has zero properties of actual Green stuff ( Kneadatite epoxy putty) , it's nothing more than gap filling putty and doesn't contain any epoxy at all. It's a rather deceptive name.

To answer your questions:
Instamold is a very good product for creating one sided press molds. For two sided molds its a little trickier to do but is doable, say for a full shoulder pad or a head. For shoulder icons or patterns its pretty easy to use. I use it to duplicate things like skulls, GK armor details, insignias and purity seals.

Here's how i use it: I bought a small proctor silex electric water boiling pot for heating up water for tea. It cost me about 15 bucks and its perfect for this. When set to "warm" it heats the water to the right temp for softening instamold. I dorp the piece into the pot and when its soft I scoop it out with a sculpting tool. I like to flatten the piece out with a small square of clear acrylic. I then press the original into the mold and gently use the acrylic square to even it out.

Now for casting with green stuff , I use a stragiht 50/50 mix of blue/green. I take the greenstuff and figure out how much will fill the mold , then i put it into the mold evenly. NOW here's the trick, I use that same small square of acrylic I used to flatten out the mold, i take the square and press down onto the green stuff forcing it to spread in the mold. Instamold is pretty firm so there is almost no deforming. The acrylic square does two things at this point. It evenly forces the GS into the mold and the GS has now stuck to the acrylic. Since it doest stick to IM i then gently pull the acrylic square away from the IM and it takes the GS with it. Your casting is now stuck to the acrylic where you can sculpt or touch up little details that maybe dint come out all the way.I also cut away any flash gs and re-use it for another casting. I put it under a warm lamp light to set and then use a clay scraper to remove it from the acrylic. after its hardened I like to trim it some more with a hobby knife. If the bit is too thick i can usually use the clay scraper to actually cut away most of the thickness of the piece.

So far this technique has worked perfectly for me. I even use it in an assemply line fashion for casting bits like crosses, pressing gs into the mold repeately in differnt spots of the same acrylic square. i ended up with about 10 to 15 crosses in about a half hour.

There's a post on my blog ( click the sig) about how i first started using it to make bases. Check it out and see if it helps you. http://tinywarriors.blogspot.com/2011/03/instantmold-review-and-tests.html There are also many examples of different bits I've press molded on my conversions.

To add to your post just a tad, because the stuff is so amazing:
I typically leave my GS in the Instamold, because after it hardens, it doesn't stick to the molding material (it's awesome that way). You can use GS, Miliput, 2-part epoxy putty, whatever, as long as the hardening of the material is not exothermic (releases heat). If the stuff gets hot while hardening, it wil deform your instamold (remember the step with the hot water? Yeah...) Just note that it's better to have a finer material, that can capture the details of the original piece.

For 2-Part Molds:

Grab yourself a stick or 2 of your instamold. Get it nice and soft with your warm-hot water, flatten it out a tad, and put your piece in the middle.

Wrap the instamold around it, taking care to press it into all the details and into any corners and such. Gotta have a good mold to have good casts, ya know?
--Word to those that just had the thought, b/c somebody will ask even though I just mentioned it: NO HEAT. No, you can't use a clay that you have to bake, because you'll be baking the instamold as well, deforming the mold to a puddle in your oven...

After the instamold has cooled (run under cool water if you're impatient like me), grab your hobby knife. CAREFULLY cut the instamold around what will be the "mold line" of the reproduction (look at the original for this). Don't cut too deeply or you will injure your original piece. Cut all the way around, and pull apart. Instamold is still somewhat flexible, so don't worry too much. You now have 2 halves, in 2 seperate pieces.

Grab some GS (or whatever else) and mix up enough for the new piece. (I personally use a 1:1 ratio for my GS) Kinda pre-form it to the mold, lay it into 1 side, and set the other on top.

Press your instamold-greenstuff sandwich together good and proper. (press HARD, don't worry, it's getting the details for ya).

Let set (I let it go overnight for safety). When set, pull apart and you have a brandy-new piece!

I can post a picture of the whip I cast from my Venomthrope, so that I can make custom whips for my warriors, tyrants, etc.

id like to see a pic please lol.