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This is a review of the silicone products for replicating personal parts sold by Lamenter over at http://masteroftheforge.com/store/" The products Blu-Stuff and Liquid Blu-Stuff is silicone based, fast setting putty and regular rubber with a 1:1 mix ratio. They are ideal for a vast amount of casting techniques and are compatible with most epoxy putties, plaster and resin (with exception of Smooth-Cast 300 Series products as there seems to be a negative chemical reaction between the two products).

The following will be a small tutorial to how I've used the products in practical on a modelling project that benefits from both the products strengths. Then I'll summarize my experiences with the products and give them a rating in classic review style.

Enjoy! :D

The project is to duplicate my shoulder pad design for my cataphract armoured terminators for my pre-heresy army.

First step is to make a mould of the shoulder pad, I used the original and a replica cast with a previous mould to enable me to make new moulds containing a pair which can be cast up in one casting session. The shoulder pads are attached to a piece of plasticard to give an even surface for the top of the mould.

Then a frame/form is constructed out of LEGO blocks and lined with plasticine to reduce excess waste of silicone. as this was my first mould with Liquid Blu-Stuff I took a few precautions and strengthened and sealed the frame/form to make sure it was liquid proof. This turned out to be a waste of time as the curing time of the silicone prevents it from running much before it sets. The next phase is to measure up equal parts of the silicone and miw them. The silicone is supplied with 2 mixing cups, but for this particular project I opted for some smaller ones I had myself as they were a bit more handy. The silicone is stirred carefully to avoid too many bubbles being trapped and when the colour is even it is poured into the frame/form in the corner to avoid air from being trapped as much as possible. After working on other forms with this I have concluded that due to the fast curing time of the silicone, more detailed parts can benefit hugely from having the silicone applied with an old brush first before filling the frame/form up as this helps catch the urface detail better and prevent bubbles.

After 20 minutes curing time the silicone is completely set and ready to be removed, trimmed and used. I used Sika G26 Polyurethane Casting Resin from Sylmasta http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/copy_of_S...ing_Resins.html to cast the shoulder pads, and the only preperation I did to the moulds before casting was to dust them off with talcum powder which helps the resin flow and also to prevent too many bubbles.

I made two moulds, and they worked out brilliantly.

[img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2082copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2085copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2090copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2093copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2094copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2096copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2100copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2102copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2109copy.jpg[/img]

Then it was time to make my leather straps to cover the joints between the shoulder and the pads. I made a simple plasticard design and mounted it permanently on a piece of plasticard for an even surface for the final mould, I should have made it bigger so I could avoid getting an edge on the moulds which makes it harder to flatten the cast but I didn't want to redo it. Then I lined up equal measures of each part of the Blu-Stuff silicone putty and mixed them thoroughly til the colour was even, before pressing it onto the design. The putty cures very fast, and I found it hard to prevent bubbles from being trapped even though I rolled the putty up in a ball and pressed it out from the middle of the part, but it isn't a big problem on a cast like this and I'm sure practice makes perfect, I've definitely gotten better results with other press moulds with the putty afterwards.

Since I need to make a lot of these I made 4 more moulds and used some green stuff to cast them as this allowed me to get them flexible enough to pose them and give them a natural heavy leather strap look with the right curves. It takes some practice to smooth the green stuff out in the mould as there is absolutely no traction from the form, it won't hold the putty in place and releases very easily even when the putty is still soft. My solution was to use a bit of saliva to prevent my sculpting tool from sticking to the green stuff (petrolium jelly might work as well but it will take some cleaning to get the greasy film off after the green stuff have cured) and tearing it out of the mould, and I am sure a rubber clay shaper would have been a better choice than my metal one. [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2273copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2275copy.jpg[/img] [img]http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee354/SteffenSJensen/reviews/DSCN2290copy.jpg[/img]

Then the casts, both resin and green stuff, were trimmed and cleaned and ready to use on the terminators.

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Summary:

The products are extremely easy to use, they don't make a lot off mess as you can peal off any spills of silicone on your table and they speed up small mould making projects like rocket fuel :D All in all I am very pleased with the results I've gotten.

Liquid Blu-Stuff: Compared to the type of silicone I usually use which have a de-mould time of 24 hours according to the label (only 8 according to the specs on the website? but my personal experience is between 18-24 hours) this is super fast to use with a de-mould time of only 20 minutes!! This however makes it harder to get rid of bubbles and I'd personally recommend it for small/medium sized casting projects as I think it would be hard to cover parts properly without too much trapped air on larger parts as you really don't have a ot of time to work with it as the pot life is only around 2-3 minutes before it starts getting really thick. Price wise it is more expensive than the regular rubber I use which comes at £29.40 for 1kg as opposed to the £16.99 for 200 grams of liquid Blu-Stuff but the fact that it has a ridiculously short de-mould time ( again, only 20 minutes! :D ) makes it well worth the money as it saves you a lot of precious modeling time, a thing most of us already have too little off.

Based on the few disadvantages which is mainly the lack of time to prevent air bubbles and the slightly high pricetag I give it a 9/10 as the advantages of this rubber still far outweigh the disadvantages, and it really is a splendid tool for anyone who ventures in the realm of casting. Also check out the tutorial by Lamenter himself on using different epoxy putties with the product and others at http://masteroftheforge.com/category/4conv...ds-and-casting/

Blu-Stuff: I have played around with making press moulds for several years now, and have tried a few things like other putties for forms and latest the easymold re-usable sticks and based on my experience this product is in the top two of what I would recommend for making press moulds or resin casts without undercuts. The other one is instant mold. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. instant mold's strongest asset is the ability to re-use the material again and again and its flexibility, but the fact that you need to submerge it in hot water to soften it makes it hard to catch deep detail without trapping either air, water or both and that it hardens to a milky translucent colour makes it very hard to see if you actually captured the intended degree of detail. The Blu-Stuff silicone putty's biggest strengths are the weaknesses of instant mold, as it cures in a nice light blue colour where it is very easy to see if you got the desired degree of detail depth, and it doesn't need interference with water as it's a two component putty means that you only have to worry about trapping air and also the putty in uncured form is much softer than the instant mold gets even after being in boiling water. The downside is that it can't be reused and that makes it more suitable for press-moulds that is intended for use several times. it also lacks the flexibility of instant mold which means it restricts you to replicating things with very little or no undercuts. I personally thinks Blu-Stuff gives sharper and more defined edges than you get with instant mold which for some components like non organic objects is a big plus, and it renders softer curves just as well. It is neither better or worse than instant mold, as I would rate them the same and they are both invaluable tools for press-moulding and certainly the best on the market. The price is fair imo, you get a 100g for £9.99 and 200g for £15.99 which is okay.

My rating is a solid 8/10 based on the fact that it is one of two equally good products available today, neither of which can be rated as perfect due to their separate weaknesses but they are still the best available and it'll be hard to top them.

I hope you'll have enjoyed reading this review, I certainly had a fun time with these great products and will inevitably continue to :)

Products kindly supplied by Lamenter, thank you mate.

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