Hi folks,

 

As CtA25 is coming, I started refraining my painting activity for anything related to 30/40k or associated universe. Target is to get enough material to gather them in a single faction and try to get them painting while competing for enough points. And, maybe, get a badge.

Yet getting painting on standby does not mean getting all other tasks associated with hobby on standby. After all I still have some models to build or kitbash. Plus some plasticard job awaiting. And all this amount of WFB of old minis in desperate search of love.

 

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And it is also the moment for experimenting. I have been trying some new colour schemes for example. And I am also looking to include some new technics. And this is our topic of the day as I have been sucked into the idea of trying myself to Blue Stuff.

 

 

This thermoresin that can be used to easily mold and recast some parts. I have zero experience (or almost) in molding. I have been trying in the past to copy some details such as IG armoured tracks rivets for my plasticard job but it has never been really successful. Will Blue Stuff bring a new dimension to these tasks, bringing an easy to use tool to reproduce some small stuff and improve kit bashes, unify home made or third party scenery with GW aesthetic???

 

I have decided to start with a testing camp that is related to my dwarves. I will not talk of dwarves as these are out of 40k setting, but it is an interesting testing field: I bought some decades ago flame cannons. But after some 8 moving I have lost serious amount of parts. Let’s see: one full pressure barrel and a hand pump. Conclusion: I can assemble only 1 model. Such a shame.

But Blue Stuff came and I've decided it was better to give it a try rather than paying for a 3D scan and reprint (as the budget quote offered for these parts was more expensive that ebaying a new model).

So, let’s see if it works.

 

Here are the serious issues in terms of inventory that I have - and the parts I have in single number while I should have 2 of each left (but it ain't the case...):

 

 

The molding results in producing some parts that still need some serious cleaning, a step that is another opportunity for breaking stuff (Have you seen that handle?)

 

 

Yet details can be OK but not necesarily freed of any type of deformation. I imagine I had an unbalance press molding or did not wait long enough for proper curing. Yet if I say that the back of this part is worse... Which plead in favour of very careful mold preparation step, with the proper aligment guides and even maybe a Lego Box to be foreseen as being compulsory. But I have no Legos and my kids neither...

 

Thus it can be tricky EVEN IF there are no real alignement issues with 2 parts of a mold. See for example the barrel on the right, unmolded too early (8 hours curing time was not enough apparently. It will be recycled as part for a potential unit filler or scenery, a home made Good Ale Cart maybe?). Can't field that, really...

Yet I did not redo the mold which was reused as it is for the (slightly) more successful top barrel obtained on left.

 

 

Final result is sufficient to get a second flame canon complete for the building step and being fielded in a probably close future along the other middle-aged squats. 

 

 

 

• First comment: Blue Stuff ain’t cheap, especially if bought from third party dealers. Go directly to GSW if you want to know my opinion.

 

• Second comment: 8 bars of Blue Stuff is barely enough for molding at the same time 2 small models (Ratling sized more or less). If you plan casting bigger parts, be advised that it is probably not the way to go.

 

• Third comment: the learning curve is not that short. It takes time to reach a correct result in a controlled and reproducible way.

 

• Fourth comment: Milliput and/or any other putty neither is cheap. Think about 1 cm of each bar for getting enough material for the forementioned ratling. Which means 12 to 14 footsloggers per box. But even like this, unless you are an expert molder, you will need extra sculpting skills to correct defects.

 

• Fifth comment: molding on painted miniature… Youtuber claim it is possible. I have my doubts as the Blue stuff, even if not really sticky, imprint some stress while being removed and as such paint may suffer. I have tried on a primed model only (unshown) and it looked OK for the paint survivability, but I would not try on one of my beloved fully painted model.

 

• Sixth comment: Details such as small claws, blades, pikes… are not Blue Stuff friendly. Neither are hafts or poles. If you do not break them while molding, you will break at casting. And poles are very very difficult to align properly. Brother Tyler poinetd me out that an old WD article was dealing with Green Stuff recasting to produce spare weapons for kit bashing: I guess it is a typical user case, but I hardly see this so convenient with Blue Stuff without a lot of practise. I cannot see, personnaly and in my own case, how I could for example mold some extra splinter guns or Shuriken Carabines for kitbashing Corsairs... 

 

• Seventh comment: details are globally OK, but a recasted model by this way may probably not stand at reviewing with a closer look more than 30" at 1 foot eye distance at max. You have the main details but if you have to work with 2 parts molds, it will be quite obvious that there is something rotten in the Realm of Denmark. See Comment 6. Additionnaly, molds in 2 parts are really touchy to produce and molding a full model is probably a good plot for the scenario of the next Mission Impossible: Ultimate Final Reckoning.

 

Are you disgusted? You shouldn’t. It is still a very useful technique for recasting some small stuff you lost, broke or miss for a conversion, as long as you do not expect a quality comparable to the one achieved by modern plastic molding of genuines kits. Beyond that safety wheel use and/or for larger items... I guess it is not the tool you may look for.

 

 

As a concluding remark I would say that it is a technique that neither is as catastrophic nor miraculous as many videos on Youtube may say. For me it has worked regular, but I did not train too much (1 week) and had limited expectations too. It is NOT a zero skill required technique really but it is quite a forgiving one. Yet one must be aware that its purpose is getting a nice option to correct or conceal parts making around other aspects of the hobby such as kit bashing and sculpting mainly. Barely more than that.

 

If your objective is to recast in series to avoid buying form GW, beyond the fact that it would be frankly borderline and probably fully illegal, pass your way. I will not even talk about this topic and field of use. I personnaly consider that, in most cases, it will not necessarily be cheaper than buying second hand stuff. And it will take so many time and efforts vs. simply Ebaying…

There are plenty of second hand models on Ebay, that only require a little bit of love and revamping and, at a point, it may even cost you LESS than pretending recasting many items with Blue Stuff.

BLue Stuff shall therefore be considered as a tool useful for specific tasks such as copying that small comm consol sculpted on a GW plastic ruins in order to use a copy to personalize your own ruin made of recycled cans. That or recast a lost part as I did.

 

I am personally quite happy with my barrel. The second one at least. It is OK for fielding a complete unit but it is certainly no piece of art. And fail cast from the learning path will end up as a part of future scenery or decoration or a large monster basing.

 

See you folks.