Quick-and-dirty one-sided molding and resin casting

[JeffTibbetts]

Hey guys and gals. I wrote up a little guide for doing very basic molds and resin casts. These are the kind you do with only one side, so they're much simpler than what I usually see in YouTube tutorials and whatnot. In this case, I show you how I duplicated a bit for my Land Raider interior. This will NOT work if you want to copy miniatures or anything like that, so move along if that's what you're shooting for. If you've never worked with resin before, projects like these are a great place to start. Hit me up with questions, comments or suggestions if you have a smarter way to do this.

 

Check it out on my blog right here (fair warning: I do have ads on the site. Don't click them if they bother you). 

 

http://tibbsforge.com/duplicate-bits-resin/

Edited March 2, 2015 by JeffTibbetts

[paulJam]

quick and easy... the way i like... just about everything.

great article !

[JeffTibbetts]

quick and easy... the way i like... just about everything.

great article !

 

Thanks, man! Let me know if you try it out and have any questions. 

[marine7312000]

Looks like I just found a simple way to re-base my army without spending a ton or waiting for bases to come back in stock.

[JeffTibbetts]

Looks like I just found a simple way to re-base my army without spending a ton or waiting for bases to come back in stock.

 

I think it would absolutely work for bases, yeah. That said, 32mm bases were back in stock momentarily on the US web store. My local shop got 3 packs so I bought all three of them. I MIGHT try casting some myself, but what I prefer to do is cast little base add-ons (in my case, I have a burned village theme so bits of flame, dead bodies, and then things like broken jars and furniture) and then glue them to reglular bases. It might be more cost-effective to make your own and you'll have lots of creative control, but the official bases are about $5 for 10 of them so it's not all that expensive. If you do your own bases, you should totally post pics and tell us how it works out for you. 

[marine7312000]

Quick question, would adding a little paint affect the casting process? I'm thinking that I could add some to the resin while mixing to achieve some color variation.

[JeffTibbetts]

That's a legit question. I suspect it's not water soluble, and might not mix properly. If you had some pigments, I think that might work. I've not tried it, and I'm not sure why I'd really want to do that if I'm just going to paint it, but I suspect some kind of pigment is how they dye the plastic when they make the real deal so it must be possible. The other thing is that, with a short working time, adding another component might reduce your mixing time so much that it could start to cure before you pour it. Maybe if you add pigment before you even combine them it could mix in just fine. Who knows? Might be worth a shot.

 

We're you just hoping to get black plastic or what's the idea behind coloring it? Surely you'd want to paint it still, yeah?

[JGeils81]

Quick question, would adding a little paint affect the casting process? I'm thinking that I could add some to the resin while mixing to achieve some color variation.

something like this?

 

http://www.micromark.com/set-of-7-opaque-pigments-1-oz-each,8332.html

[JeffTibbetts]

There you go! That's awesome. I had no idea they made pigments just for resin. Thanks, JGeils!