Right before going camping last weekend, I had got the 3 Neil Thomas wargames books I had ordered. The long weekend of camping gave me time to go through the books. While I am not necessarily going to use the rules, his army lists are going to be of big use. With the different war-game rules I use, such as BATTLE CRY, C&C; NAPOLEONICS, BATTLELORE, and MEMOIR OF BATTLE, his 8 unit armies are just right for these games. With 4 man infantry units, 3 man cavalry units, and 1 gun with 2 men crews, using his army lists it would only take 34 figures to make a ECW Royalist Army, and the New Model Army would take 43 figures. Of course not all the figures would be used but that many figures are not beyond my painting skills.
I received my new rubber for making molds. After some thought I decided that the first mold would be Minifigs 1st generation woodland Indian and Hessian grenadier. I tried some new ideas making the mold, which I think made better figures.
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| Two samples from the new mold. Only one figure went back into the pot. Hopefully the new method will work as well with Peter Laing figures. |
The figures look good. I need to get back to making some molds. What is the new rubber you are using and would you share your technique?
ReplyDeleteRoss, The rubber I have been using is Aeromarine 125. It is a 50-50 mix, which makes it easy for me. But it can't take high temperatures, I believe it can handle about 500 degrees F. With these figures I used solder to make the air vents; you can always melt it down when you are done with it. Someplace I read to "paint" the figures with the rubber to eliminate air bubbles. I still haven't found cheap brushes to do this but I use the hobby sticks to work the rubber into the figures. I put only enough to coat the figure. After about two minutes I put another slightly thicker layer on and wait another couple of minutes. I then pour the rest. With this rubber you must work fast after mixing, it only has about 15 minutes before it starts setting. But it cures in 8 hours. I started this mold at night, got up before work to pour the second half, and casted these figures after work; from start to finish under 24 hours! Looking at your home casts, my system is antiquated. But for my needs it does fine.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it sounds similar to the various liquid rtv that I have tried. My 2 big problems, apart from bubbles which I have pretty much overcome, is finding a source and that I make a HUGE mess.
DeleteThe solder vents are a good idea and so are the washer bases!
By the way, you might notice the figures are mounted on washers. I glue the washers on before I make the mold. I started doing this with the Peter Laing figures; PL figures have very small bases. As I usually put the pouring spouts at the base of the figure, the washer helps the flow of metal.
ReplyDelete