Adhesion Primer and casting question

[FashaTheDog]

It has been a rather long time since I have been here painting silly amounts of models in a short time. 

 

Now I am looking at my Sector Imperialis tiles and have two projects involving them.  The first is that I want to make a cast of a 160mm circle out of something I can sand cast into a permanent stamp made of pewter.  I have been using the GW plastic bases, but there are plenty of base sizes not covered by the line.  This way I can put greenstuff on those odd sized bases GW and just stamp the texture on those.  I am not entirely sure what material will work best for the initial casting that the pewter will melt and replace.  I am thinking a wax, but I have no experience with such a large object to remove without tearing details away.  As for playing with the molten metal, that I have experience and all the stuff I need to use safely.  Any suggestions?

 

The next question is the project that will follow the first project, painting the tiles.  I am looking at them and after seeing the wear and tear of store tiles I want to use adhesion primer, but I know some of them will eat plastic or ruin fine detail.  Does anyone know of a good adhesion primer to work with, preferably a clear one so I can layer coats of paint that I will varnish heavily when done; essentially I want to make the paint as durable as possible.

[Bung]

I think you can save yourself a lot of work.

I have seen those stamps Made from a more rigid silicone, which is hard enough to Work with Green Stuff etc.

You can even get some Here

https://directbasius.com/

The max ones should be big enough for you.

 

For Primer you should look into something that is sandable. Those primers tend to include a bit of solvent that will "bite" into the plastic.

As for durable varnish, i would recommend something used for cars. Those are more durable than Hobby primers.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Sounds like an interesting project, but outside my knowledge.  The only thing I can add that might possibly be helpful is that some time ago (7 years+) ago, I painted the gear stick cap trim on my dad's (stick-shift) car for him as the chroming had worn through - I used Vallejo Model Air Silver over Polyurethane Black primer, and coated it with about 5 coats of Polyurethane Gloss varnish (all through an airbrush). It's shown absolutely no sign of wearing in the intervening years - I don't know how that compares to the wear you're talking about.

[FashaTheDog]

I know from testing that some car primers, including adhesion primers, eat plastic like a hungry sports team at an all you can eat buffet.  I am hoping someone has knowledge of a good choice so I am not buying a variety and testing on empty sprues only to discover I wasted my money and now have a bunch of can sitting around. 

 

Your suggestion of polyurethane coats was exactly what I had in mind over several polycrylic coats, so I am with you there.  As a bit of a look into my experience of wear from use, the realm of battle tiles have the paint worn right off the corners from years of packing and unpacking in those bags so I am looking to go the extra mile here and really seal that paint at every step given the fact I intend to lug these to my local store on a semi-regular basis as they are a bit too great not to.  I also have a Castellum that needs work and a better carry case than the shipping box it came in, but that is a whole other kettle of fish.