Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I get the principle; cover the item in green stuff you want to make a mould for and let it harden.

How do you remove the mould without damaging the original item or breaking the mould wrong?

You can use some sort of release agent (oil or buy some specifically designed for the task).

But it's best not to use greenstuff. Greenstuff is better designed for sculpting than it is for moulding. To make press moulds, use something like instant mould or look for "oyumaru". For something even better, look for silicone mould making supplies, but that gets a lot more expensive and complicated (though sometimes necessary depending on what you want to achieve).

GS has a little flex to it, so a small flat mould should pop right off if you lubricated the piece. Faces, shoulder pads, small emblems etc.
Much bigger and you ideally want instant mould like AllSeeingSkink said.

If it is just a small bit you are wanting to reproduce try some modelling wax.Anything bigger just take a direct copy from using silicone rubber kits.

to be honest, I wouldnt use Green Stuff for mold making, the main reason people use it is just convenience (most gamers who would need molds will have Green Stuff)

My choice for single-sided molds is Liquid Blu Stuff ( www.blu-stuff.com ). It's fantastic for quick molds of small parts (I normally do multiple parts at once)

Aaaand omuwotsit ordered. roll on 2-4 weeks from japan.

Oyumaru?
Should be on amazon for same week delivery

But it is good stuff

Solar Shock wrote:
Oyumaru?
Should be on amazon for same week delivery

But it is good stuff

Went off ebay. Forgot about amazon, tbh.

Well doesn't make much odds. Some tips;

If you have some lego kicking about you can create a easy 2 part mould. Build a box without a lid, push oyumaru into the bottom half along with your part. Then when its no longer soft you can put oyumaru on top - As oyumaru will not stick to itself when one part is hard and the other soft.

What are you trying to imprint? As different shapes will work better done certain ways.

Tip for putting GS in. Start from the smallest/lowest detail. use a long sausage that you push into itself and push away from that point, as what you are trying to do is not create air bubbles, bubbles are made when you seal side simultaneously. So by using the above method you should hopefully always leave a side of the detail open as you push in and across it.

Thanks for the Lego tip!

I'm going to do some wings off winged hussars, 28nm scale and metal. Pics later, when I'm home.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Yeh for that I would use a 2-part mould. Then you just need to practice getting the right amount in to not create too much flash.

Solar Shock wrote:
Yeh for that I would use a 2-part mould. Then you just need to practice getting the right amount in to not create too much flash.

Gotcha. I'm prepared to lose the first couple of pieces to experimention. May do a side by side mould and glue together... that could work? Mould lines on one side can be sanded off and on the other wouldn't be noticeable, I think.

 Amen Brick wrote:

Solar Shock wrote:
Yeh for that I would use a 2-part mould. Then you just need to practice getting the right amount in to not create too much flash.

Gotcha. I'm prepared to lose the first couple of pieces to experimention. May do a side by side mould and glue together... that could work? Mould lines on one side can be sanded off and on the other wouldn't be noticeable, I think.

There's a few tutorials you can find online, again google "instant mould" (which is the same stuff as oyumaru as far as I'm aware). You don't really want to glue 2 halves together because it's hard to get something perfectly flat on 1 side and it'll just end up being messy.

What I'd do for those things, do a lego box, half fill it with the hot/soft oyumaru, press the flat side of a wing in to it, let it cool so it goes hard, warm up some more orumaru, press it in to the other side, let it cool, pull apart the lego box and remove the metal wing you'll have a nice 2 part mould. I would then cut a few small "vents" in to your mould so that excess greenstuff has somewhere to go (you still want to aim for using as little greenstuff as possible, but having a few holes where the greenstuff can go helps a lot, put them in places where it'd be easy to trim them off once the greenstuff has cured). Mix up your greenstuff, I use water when kneading the greenstuff, you want to remove excess water before you push it in to the mould to avoid getting pockets of water between the mould and your greenstuff (you can use damp tools to press it in, but try and keep things dry). Roll the greenstuff up in to a few sausages and press them in to each side of the mould, when you think you've got the right amount in each side, press the two halves of the mould together, squash it a bit to try and squeeze out the excess greenstuff and get the 2 parts sitting together nicely. Wait for it to cure, demould it and you should be good!

You could probably do half a dozen or so before the mould starts getting damaged and you need to make a new one.

Yeah, that sounds better! Will let you know how I get on.

Lego acquired. Found a small bag for a pound. Will certainly do.