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I am going to be casting a model for later resale. It is a model that i have sculpted entirely so i will not be recasting any other IP. I have never cast before and i have a few questions.

1. What is a good basic casting kit. do you have any experience with good vendors. What brand do you use etc.
2. If you are casting a multi piece model, how do you sculpt the pieces out of GS and make sure they fit together without them adhering to each other.
3. Any general advice will be very appreciated.

I'm still a beginner in that regard myself but i can share my experiences.

 sennacherib wrote:
1. What is a good basic casting kit. do you have any experience with good vendors. What brand do you use etc.

I've started with the Resin starter set from Smooth on. It has nearly everything you need including release agent. What you need in addition is some containers to mix it all in and some plastilin or similar to create two part molds. Don't know how you plan on getting the resin into the molds but i use syringes both for getting equal amounts of the resin components meassured and injecting the mixed resin into the mold. But keep some onesided molds ready (custom bases for example) to inject the remaining resin from the syringe and the mixing bowl before you pull water into it to make cleaning easier.
With vendors i can't help you. I found a industry supplier here in germany that also sells to private persons. Maybe look on the Smooth On website for other distributors. I think they have a list of them.

2. If you are casting a multi piece model, how do you sculpt the pieces out of GS and make sure they fit together without them adhering to each other.

This is something i'm still working on. One thing you could do is build a master joint shape and pressmold it with instant mold - both positive and negative. It won't always be perfect but it requires only a bit of touchup to fit. Another thing i did is build one joint side (Drill a hole in or sculpt the positive shape.) Then i glued the other piece into place and sculpted around it. Then if you are carefull you can break the glued area apart. But depending on the shape you might have to reglue/fix a few areas afterwards. But the most times it worked for me.

3. Any general advice will be very appreciated.

How professional you you plan on casting? Because you probably need a pressure casting setup for the resin and a vacuum setup for the molds if you want great results. I don't have those yet so i can't help you with that. But what i can say is that without those you will have air bubble problems. Good designed ari vents can help a bit as well as tapping the mold after pouring. But you will still have air bubbles here and there. Most of the time in those areas you don't want them to be.

What i do with complicated details is add a bit of mixed resin into the molds when they still are separated. Especially on edges and extending details. Add a bit of resin and use a thin needle to get the air bubbles out. Wait for this resin to cure before assembling both sides and start the actual resin pouring. But be carefull to not clog up air vents during this and leave enough room for the resin to flow.

Also one thing i liked for my basic setup with syringes injecting is adding a recess in the mold going all over the air vents. This way you can overfill the mold and the resin in the recess will help at least filling a few air bubbles as it can flow down into the air vents should one onf the internal vents clog up for some reason. This way you'll get at least some parts out. Also you can see where air/resin is pressed and if you still have to inject more resin to fill the mold if it isn't filling equally. (In this case the recess also serves to prevent total resin overspilling and running all over the mold. )


Also wear protective eyewear especially if you use syringes and one piece molds. If the syringe doesn't run smooth it can create scattering drops. I had this happen to myself once but i was fast enough and washed the eye clean. (The eye hurt like hell from all the washing for a few days but no permanent damage. Lucky me)

Thanks for the reply btldoomhammer.

I am planning on casting a nurgle soulgrinder with the intent of making the parts available for sale so i would really like a nice finished product. It may be that i end up having to GS some areas in order to make a workable product that i can sell on ebay. we shall see.

2. with respect to sculpting two seperate pieces together and then seperating them so that i can cast them individually. I was thinking about using white glue as a barrier between the two parts of the model. I would paint the glue onto part A. allow it to dry. Then sculpt part B onto part A. When the whole conglomeration was hard i was thinking that seperating them would be fairly easy with either just a bit of force or by soaking in water. Have you ever tried this.

Thanks for the reply. I am totally new to this and i would appreciate any advice or help you have in the future.

 sennacherib wrote:

2. If you are casting a multi piece model, how do you sculpt the pieces out of GS and make sure they fit together without them adhering to each other.

You've lost me here: am I to assume you mean to sculpt it all as one model, then 'cut' it into the separate pieces you will cast? Bad idea - treat each component as a separate sculpt. There's no reason you cant dry-fit the pieces once the greenstuff is dry - just having a good eye and planning how you will divide the model up before you start will do. If you really are determined to do it as one piece then use a very sharp, very fine saw to cut it up - but pre plan your armature with this in mind. I've done large castings in both ways.

General advice: If you aren't pressure casting, and the thing has any sort of detail or shape to it, you WILL get loads of air bubbles. Vibration tables do not work for warhammer scale resin casting - they get some air bubbles out but its really only good for large open topped moulds with mediums like plaster or concrete. The most detailed thing I managed to ambient cast (i.e. unpressurised) in resin was a Rogue Trader era ork body - and that was in that wierd point between 2nd and 3rd when you couldn't buy ork infantry other than as metals. Back then models had a lot more smooth surfaces - any rivets etc would have been lost as air bubbles. If your going to ambient cast/use syringes - be sure to design some run-offs for the air to be forced out into. This will give your finished model flash that needs to be removed, but mould lines and flash are unavoidable, the trick is to have them where you want them.

Thanks Mecha.

The model i am going to be casting is on my blog about mid way down the 15th page. its not really warhammer scale casting, a bit bigger but still on the small side.

As for the second point, where i lost you, i am thinking about coating the shoulders of the chest of the model with white glue, allowing it to dry and then attatching the finished arms to the chest with GS. when the GS hardens my plan was to peel them off of the body because the GS does not bond well to white glue and white glue does not bond well to GS. I experimented with this last night. It seems to work in practice. Have you ever tried something like this Mecha.?

P.s. thanks for the advice. None of this is lost on me. I am taking careful notes of everything that people are telling me. The more advice the better.

I agree that having a solid one piece scuplt is the way to go then cut it up with a jeweller's saw - also called a coping saw.

Do a trial run with a smaller object first to get used to what you're doing.

You might consider hollowing out your pieces once you've cut them up to save how much resin you use.

Keep scrap resin and even sprues too for filler. If you're casting larger items you can save the resin you're using by throwing scrap bits into the mould and it's a nice way to recycle some of the junk you probably have from failed casts and kits you've bought.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Resin here is quite expensive, maybe it's cheaper for you but reducing waste is a good idea anyway.

@ Cabren. Thanks for the suggestion. I have watched a few videos on casting and one person made a point of doing this. Totally a good suggestion.

cadbren wrote:
I agree that having a solid one piece scuplt is the way to go then cut it up with a jeweller's saw - also called a coping saw.

A Jeweler's saw is NOT the same thing as a coping saw. They are similar in shape and somewhat in look, but different in principle.

Coping saws have static frames and just have pins that you fit the blades into and the blades have rather coarse teeth.
Coping saw: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Larson-540-2000-Coping-Saw/dp/B000CCXHM4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383108418&sr=8-1&keywords=coping+saw

Jeweler's saws have a length adjustment in the frame, clamps that hold the blade and very very fine tooth blades. Also, Jeweler's saws work best when you tune the blade with tension. When properly tensioned a jeweler's saw will go through white metal like butter.
Jeweler's Saw: http://www.amazon.com/Eurotool-German-Style-Sawframe-Blades/dp/B00416300Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1383108090&sr=8-4&keywords=jewelers+saw



As to casting, if you're going for production models, you'll be outside of my expertise. But, I've gotten decent results with ambient cure resin pours (always gonna have air bubbles). The best thing you can get is 1:1 mix resin with a 5-7 minute pot life. The longer pot life will give the air bubbles a chance to dissipate a bit more than the short pot life stuff. And the 1:1 mix is easy to manage consistently. Aside from that. Mold design is the most critical factor in getting a good product.

Also, there's a really fine (and long) thread started by BLACKHAND in the tutorials forum all about casting. There's a number of walkthroughs and different people discussing best practices, etc...

 JWMarines wrote:


A Jeweler's saw is NOT the same thing as a coping saw. They are similar in shape and somewhat in look, but different in principle.

Yeah it is the same thing. Okay, the coping saw is generally taken as being capable of taking heavier blades but that is the only difference. Jewellers saws do not have to be length adjustible and many are not, I own one myself as I used to make jewellery. You put tension on the blade on a solid frame by pushing the frame into something like a table ledge while you tightenen the nut that holds the blade in place.

Although British, you may still fine some info on this site useful:
http://www.tiranti.co.uk/

Personally I've just sculpted one part, let it dry, then sculpted the other part to fit it after - all the methods here seem sound though.

[Edit] Just read your blog so the suggestion I had made was redundant.

I have been building my own pressure casting chamber to do my flyer models and will be running my first test casts this weekend, so anything I learn will be shared with the forum.

Awesome. Can you post a link up here for me so i can find your thread. Sometimes things get a bit buried in the heap.

Also, i just have to say thankyou to everyone who has posted here in an effort to share what they know or their opinion on something. IT really is appreciated. When i learned to fish it took me about 6 months to catch a fish because i knew nothing and had no one helping me. One day some dude helped and i have been catching fish since. Thanks.