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I've done some really cool broken pavement bases for city fight.  I have about 20 of them all in the same sort of style as the space marine dread base.  The quality of the bases is really high, however, and they're much more detailed then the dread base.  Ten of the bases are designed to link together within a unit.  For example- 4 of the rear 5 bases have a line of paving along the back half with a "curb" type deal separating it, this follows along between the bases with the ends chipped and broken where it ends on the individual bases.  The rest of the bases have broken concrete that matches each other.  I put about 5 hours into each base.  All of the bases have been constructed using plastistruct and evergreen plasticard, so there are no proprietary bits that would lead to copyright issues.  I have one problem though- I've never cast a model in resin.   I'd love to cast up my bases so I can use them in my other armies, but I don't want to risk ruining them or waste money repeatedly attempting to cast them.  The level of detail is too high for a press mould using a cheap "block of clay" style casting system, so I'm pretty much stuck having to use a high quality resin.  Also- some of the bases have had some sand added between cracks or in craters to simulate dirt and shattered pieces of concrete.  I'm not sure how to treat that but I assume I'll have to add a few coats of watered down white glue or gloss varnish.  Any advice there?

Can anyone here cast these bases up for me?  Here's what I'd like to try in terms of the agreement between the caster and myself:

I get:

A few (maybe a dozen or so) copies of each of my base designs

A set of moulds so I can cast more in the future

The original bases (unless they're damaged in the moulding process)

 

You get:

As many copies of the bases as you want

Permission to keep one or more sets of the moulds so you can cast more in the future

Permission to sell the bases according to some agreement we set out (I'm not looking to make a profit, but I'd also not appreciate getting screwed over either  :p )

Does this sound fair?  I'm not sure how much time and money it would take for someone to do their side of this plan, so I don't know whether I'm offering a fair deal.  In the end I just want to avoid making a custom base for every model I own

I'll post pictures of the bases when I get home from work today and hopefully my photography skills (or lack-there-of) will be able to do them justice.  

Feel free to leave comments, regardless of whether or not you can help me cast them!

I just ordered this kit last night, so I might be able.  Let me get this in, and then see if it is something I'm interested in.

Dear Emperor-of-Man, $76 for a casting kit! That's a lot of cash but, in reality, it could save you money in other ways....

Does anyone know where there's a good tutorial on miniature casting? I've been interested for a while but every one I've come across requires some type of lead smelting, which is completely impractical for apartment living.

Posted By ancientsociety on 05/02/2006 11:26 AM
Dear Emperor-of-Man, $76 for a casting kit! That's a lot of cash but, in reality, it could save you money in other ways....

Does anyone know where there's a good tutorial on miniature casting? I've been interested for a while but every one I've come across requires some type of lead smelting, which is completely impractical for apartment living.

Yeah, the cost was what hindered me, but I've been wanting to try for quite a while.  I'm a terrain junky, and I love the Hirst Arts stuff, so I figured I'd give it a go.  In addition to terrain, the resin will be used to replicate things like custom Hand to Hand weapon arms for my Guard.  And since Forgeworld doesn't give you 2 of each of their specially designed weapon with their Battlesuits......

I figured that rather then buy the stuff individually I'd start out with a kit, then figure out what is useless and what is useful.  This contains 32 OZ of Rubber compound and 32 OZ of Resin, so I'm sure I can make quite a bit of rubber molds from there. 

Plenty of small figure companies start with resin figs.  Here's a few articles for casting metal and resin:

http://www.micromark.com/html_pages/instructions/82708mrrresinart.pdf

http://members.tripod.com/RBWindle/title.htm

http://members.tripod.com/RBWindle/title.htm

56 Page booklet for sale from Miniature Molds:

http://www.miniaturemolds.com/hints___.htm

I bought that same kit, but haven't experimented with it (I believe they had it on sale for about $55 at the time).  I'd volunteer to help with the base casting, but like I said, I have zero experience (but lots of 'theory' about how it should work). 

I'd be interested if you'd post the pics, and Kodiak, if you'd talk more about the process of casting (especially two-part molds), which I expect you'd need for the bases.

Looking forward to hearing more about this.

I'll have to do a tutorial on my casting project. I'm thinking it can be done with a single part cast leaving the bases filled in. I'm actually thinking that the quick clay would be enough to make a cast of bases that don't have too many undercuts.

I'm also working on a tutorial for Tau Pirahnas (build 4 in a day, got real good) since if you don't put them together in a certain order not explained in the instructions, they don't fit.

PM sent sir.

PM sent. I couldn't send one while I was at school today

i learned to cast my own things with the smooth-on silicone super sampler

its a full kit for only 25$ and the website has plenty of tutorials.

www.armsmodelit.com.au

I recommend Pinky and Easycast resin, this supplier does mail order and the web site has tutorials.

I am not an expert but i do produce a large volume of resin product, and everyone i deal with thinks that the quality of final pieces is equal if not better than Forge World.

 

 

I took some pictures and posted them on a new pbase account.  Here they are:

< a href = " http://www.pbase.com/drake__marcus="" ="">Drake Marcus' Custom Bases

Should be pretty easy to build a dump mold for the IG & Pathfinder bases. The holes you've drilled may or may not be a problem- it would be too easy for an air bubble to get caught in there when the mold is made. And if the hole did transfer to the mold, it would not be long before the RTV give way on such a small part.

The CSM base & about half of the tau bases are not suitable for casting. The jagged pieces would make for some nasty undercuts on a 1 piece mold.

Yeah- I figured that. It's too bad though, I love the tilted look on broken concrete slabs. I'd definetly fill those pin holes anyway since they're only useful for the models the original bases were made for.

I'm sure it can be done, it just depends on what kind of mold material you use.
If you use the over the counter mold material (alumulite) you're going to get 3 maybe 4 pulls before you break it to the point of no return.
If you use some of the more flexible molding materials out there and pull sideways while removing the model from the mold you will be fine!

Interesting... well I've had an offer from Flanderboss 2.0 to cast up my bases, and I think I'm going to take his offer to cast them up for me, but I'm not sure what terms I'd let people sell them under (I don't really know if I should be getting something more... etc).