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Here are some shots of my hollow models.
Why hollow? Because sometimes when a model makes a particularly poorly timed fail, it is nice to relieve stress by punching your fist down onto the model and leave an actual blood smear.
I cast up bits in a two part mold out of hot glue. Yes, hot glue. It costs me about $0.20 worth of glue to make each full model. Value. And the detail is not too shabby.

To make them hollow, I squirted the glue into both halves of my 2 part mold, and let it harden, leveling it off with the side of the glue gun. I then took the tip and carved a channel into both halves of the glue, then sealed the two halves together.
I fill them with water washable non toxic costume blood. It is super fun to rip them apart, chew them up, hit them with a hammer, etc. Since they are hollow, they actually flex quite a bit before tearing, allowing for matrix bends and other crazy posing. I plan to put a wire skeleton in some so that they can be re-posed on the fly.

Enjoy the pictures, and I welcome your comments.

But why? So I can smash a model and have realistic blood come oozing out of the model.

Beyond that, the reason why is up to you. Style points? Stress relief? Extra painting score? Psychological warfare? All great uses.

Not to sound crass, but I did add a second paragraph there...

Absolutely correct, doctor.
I manage my anger by making minis that I can yell "Hulk Smaaash!" at, and then actually smash, without damaging it, over and over.
They are actually also surprisingly fast and easy to make. 5 minutes per model, faster if I cool the glue with water, but then it gets a little cloudy and I prefer the see through version.

What do you do to relieve your anger? Oh wait..

Tell me these ideas so that I can stea..use them!
I want to try and make a demon out of that stuff that grows 600% in water, and stuff a demon inside that is actually able to rip itself out of my chaos champ when water is added.

I'm also going to try baking soda and vinegar, and pole a bunch of pinholes in one. Yay Bill Nye marines.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I'd love to see you playing a game against some random and rolling, I dunno, double 6 for a leadership test and just yelling out "HULK SMASH!" and pounding one of your models and splattering blood everywhere

Pretty much exactly how I use these!

@Deathshead420 - Lol what?
@CT GAMER - Ghost Busters? That's who I was told to call.
@Johnny Strange - Where did you go to college? Do they have a masters program I can get a brochure on? Doesn't real red paint leave stains?
@Oakenshield - No you wouldn't. "Water washable costume blood" is corn starch and mild pigment. It wont stain, and easily cleans up.
@n0t_u - Why creepy and childish? I prefer flavorful and unique. Are my thumbs in danger? Do Dakka mods break your thumbs for innovation? Which other guy, I'd love to see something similar to this.
@DijnsK - Again, this is washable corn starch blood. It comes out of the green felt used at GTs by dabbing at it with my shirt, which I can then wash clean. Dr Pepper has a higher chance of staining a table. I'm not sure hot glue causes splinters of any kind. Plastic or metal model, yes, this would be a concern.

Thanks for all the great responses, internet folk. Full gamut of praise to haters hating. Love it.
Oh! and @winterdyne - Thank you! The detail actually does hold up surprisingly well. Here is another shot with only a thin wash applied to part of the model, so you can see that hot glue actually does an insanely faithful reproduction of 28mm models. Finely cast indeed! still has a little bit of glue flashing to be melted off (can your models be de-mold lined with a lighter?), but the detail, especially on the leg, came out juuuuust right.

@Chaoticredneck - Thank you. I may have to do a video after all. Perhaps a WTF compilation.
@n0t_U - Awesome link, thank you. I was worried you were referencing taking my thumbs, now wholly abated. I was also worried that someone had already specifically made hollow models. Deathshead's comment also makes more sense now, thank you.
@Ifalna - It doesnt have to just be smashed apart violently, that just seemed the best suggestion to appeal to 18-35 year old males. You could fill it with sweetener and rip it apart over your coffee, if you prefer. You could make a facsimile of one of your opponent's models and fill it with catnip, dooming him to feline destruction. It is a hollow model, and really what is done with it past that is none of my concern!

Or Tyranids, though apparently that has been done to death.

I seem to be getting that a lot, but no.

I think I could pull off some.. Uh... Leaky Slaanesh.

That's.. not... what she said?

Anyway, I need ideas for what to call this chapter other than the Glue Marines or Loaner Army, as well as ideas for other hollow models.

That all sounds very official.
I was actually pretty impressed with it myself. That 'doom' on the leg is (no, I am not) really small lettering, and something competing resins brag about being able to capture.

I actually discovered the process while trying to find a lazy way to heat up my molds to aid the exothermic reaction of the resin. The mold material suggested use is to prime it in an oven for an hour beforehand, but the heat from two hot glue casts gets the same result, faster, and actually makes a decent product in the process. Super win.

Turns out that making melta and acid damaged models is pretty easy with this method as well. Curiouser and curiouser.

Also have a dread with a model suspended in goo visible inside in the works, pics tonight. I'm seeing how deep this rabbit hole goes.

I tried the hole poking thing- not as great as I hoped.
It leaves a pockmark in the glue, and there isn't really enough liquid inside or give in the glue to squeeze it out. Just can't get the pressure up on so small a model.
Glue dread is suffering from support issues. Hoping cocktail straws (of course filled with hot glue) will add some rigidity along the outside and back edges.

Well, thanks for that. Now I have to find the worlds smallest pump, and load $100 of tech into a 50 cent model.
I'm not sure it will ever be GD worthy for two reasons:
First, I hear they like painting that includes wet blending, OSL and such. I cannot do this.
Second, I hear they are REALLY into the models being GW produced. If I tell them I want to enter my hot glue model into their showcase , I think there is a good chance that they would smash it... oh shiz, thats the marketing video right there: GW rep smashing my fig and having blood squirt out. It would be too pure, I think. Overdoses of awesome. Thanks for tickling my brain meats.

That said, I'm toying around with a new find from Hobby Lobby: glow in the dark glue sticks. I think a hollow model, washed ghostly green, with a UV LED worked into it would just about be the final word in ghostly models.

I believe the punishment for that is upside down crucifixion, but I'll see what I can do.

I really have no desire to make offensive models.
Is that another Doomthumbs jab though? It was pretty general, but I've been getting that a lot so it was easy for me to piece together. Kinda wish I could meet the guy, since I've been told enough that our styles are similar. Did you ever meet him? No, since you joined about 3 months after his last post. So what exactly is your problem with the guy? And why are you posting about it here?
You also kinda seem one to talk about being offensive though, with the whole... everything about your sig, pic, and demeanor.
Back to the bridge with ye!

And please, folks. No, I am not this Doomthumbs person.
Again, I am not Doomthumbs.
No. I assure you that you are mistaken.

After about 4 fails, I've managed a dread. My secret recipe mold material got the job done for $4, and a whole 50 cents of glue. That isn't even 5 bucks. I can still buy a can of soda in civilized parts of the world.

I did have to waste a few sticks of glue before I realized that I had to reinforce certain parts to keep the whole shebang from sagging.
It is still able to be made hollow, but there's no way a whole marine is getting in there, not with the reinforcements. He'd have to be bendy like he was ma d e o f g l you e... I'm an idiot.

I was able to put a LED fingerlight in there. It glows like the noonday sun.

That is a pretty strong glow coming off this bad boy. Even if I covered most of it with paint, light would still come just absolutely pouring out.
How do I turn it on and off? I squeeze the dread until i can hit the button hidden inside.
Hollow dreads can also hold 2-3 ounces of liquid just in the main body, so that they squish extra sloppy.

And per request, here is a shot with a wash of Createx Transparent green applied so that you can see the detail. The little champagne bubbles are harder to purge from the glue on parts this size, but as you can see, hot glue still does a better job than some other casting materials that shall remain unnamed. It looks good backlit with LEDS too, nice green glow that I'll post later.

Under five dollars total production cost for one dread. $4.50. If I wanted to make ten dreads it would only cost me $9 total.
Acceptable loss of detail/ time spent fixing it with LGS (or more glue)? I'd say so.

The point isn't to make it easy, Charax. The point is to make something unique and challenging, with a cool result.

Hot glue is a challenge. It is soft, hard to paint, melts, and when you cast with it, you are squirting hundreds of bubbles in with the glue as you force air and glue into the cone of the gun. it raises many interesting problems. It is harsh on the mold, so how can I adjust the eleven herbs and spices in my mold material to adjust for that? Adding gesso instead of water to the paint allows it to stick better since it stretches.. Finding new ways to use materials that are so abundant and cheap that most hobbyists are comfortable wasting them, and turning those into something cool is what I'm after. Not just a recast. Sure I could cast it in dental stone, plaster, resin, metal, foam, epoxy, or any other conventional product as well. But I don't. I understand why GW prices are high, and its because the detail is amazing. Mine is pretty good, but would I still prefer to buy GW? Almost every time.

Are we not looking at the same glowing dread? Thats not cool for you? I challenge you to paint or convert any model you currently own to achieve that same effect. You can't. I can't. So... this. What about if I want to cast the main body of dreadnoughts in ice, mix a drink, and serve it to my opponent as we play? Chocolate dreadnought, sir? Hollow chocolate with raspberry blood filling around a infantry shaped truffle, a different prize inside each one. Would you enjoy that game? You betcha. If you watched that game would you want to play next? That is what I'm after.

Interesting models, each totally unique, for cheap.
Models that bleed, glow, move, and re position as you play with them. Models that play sound. Models that a noise marine would play with.

Charax wrote:

it might be an idea to do this with things like Tyranids

Lol. It might, but most likely not. I hear there is a stigma.

There are different grades of plaster.
Plaster of paris? Yeah, that thing just shattered if you dropped it.
Dental stone? Check the floor for dings and scratches.

You can take a thin coat of resin and coat the mold light enough to make is really hollow, then backfill it with cheap plaster to support the resin. Or you could use hot glue.

You mean food dye?

and YOUR perfect idea?

Talk about a waste of time, when I hit the glue marine with a hammer, blood comes out, the glue is still there. I can re-fill it and patch it.
The time and effort behind making sure I had enough candy prepped so that I could eat some every game and replace the models...

Yeah, that brings new meaning to wobbly model syndrome though. Would you show up already piss drunk enough to eat a vodka jelly with some flock on it from where it fell over?

I could just serve it on the side as a novelty. I like the idea of edibles. I like to eat and drink just as much as the next guy. But for use in gaming? Pass.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Aerethan wrote:
Dakka has made it quite clear to not post pictures of IP violations and recasts.
Those of us who have been here a while that recast don't show pics of it, as much as we might like to.
Sorry to be the stick in the mud on this one. If it was less obvious I wouldn't have said anything.

You have a link in your sig where you plug yourself as a caster! That's selling the IP, which crosses the line into actually illegal. If it was less obvious...
Posting pics of recasts is not illegal. Its against Dakka policy, but I did kinda clear it with a mod. I'm not going into how or being super blatant about it, and say multiple times to buy GW.
Using pics of recasts to sell my own casts of my original sculpts would be illegal since I would be ripping off GW's established product to show the detail of my molds. I'm not.
Making recasts for my own use, in my own home, selling nothing and teaching no one how? Sorry, Jack, I'm pretty sure that has fair use all over it.

GW's terms of use are draconian BS that won't, and doesn't, hold up in any court. Under their rules, you can't post pictures of their products without written clearance.
I see you've... we all have.... been doing a bit of that as well. Shame shame.

It would be vastly different if I were saying something along the lines of "Wooooooo recasts! Screw the man!"
Instead, I am saying "Here is an idea of how to use your models in a new way, isn't this cool?" The answer from most is a resounding yes.

Edit: Reading back over my posts, there is a SLIGHT flavor of "I made this for 5 bucks total production value. What the eff, Finecast?" I'll admit that. It's still pretty innocuous, and not at all illegal. Dakka can (will!) go ahead and throw me directly under the bus if they get so much as a cough from GW about this. Since it's not illegal, only morally debatable, it is a judgement call for the mods, not you. And again, I did kinda clear this. So as long as we can all remain civil, things should be cool here, and I'll continue to post crazy new techniques for you to enjoy.

Hell, I'll most likely even apply them across legit GW models.
Again though, this could all be photoshopped, or just me posting figs I bought on Ebay, or whatever you need to tell yourself to let me keep legally doing my thing.

1. Sure sure. You're still a documented caster trying to shame me.
2. Its on page two.
3. Bring a suit. Or have GW do it. PM me for my lawyer's address. Recasting and SELLING is a no no.
4. I'm making NEW models with properties not held by the original, and advertising THOSE properties. Fair use.
5. Again, step to it in court, everyone but you will have a great laugh.

No, they really aren't. I clicked the same agree button you did that says I'm a big boy and take care of my own messes. I further state that any legal burdens that Dakka has from this, I will pick up out of my own pocket. Because it's never going to happen, since there's no broken laws. There has to be a financial wrong done. I have to sell them, or teach others to do it and by so doing pull money that would have been spent on GW product. That would hold up in court. What money have I taken from them by doing this? Not a penny. What money would they spend to bring suit and see it through against a third graders legal defense? Lots of pennies.

So it's just never going to happen, man. I'm toeing the line, sure, but I'm still on the "cant touch this" side of the line.