Questions about molding and casting ARAH

[zombieinthehat]

Ok, so I guess this is the section I'm supposed to ask these questions. I'm new to the community. I've been trolling around the 1:18th sites for a few years, collecting little bits and pieces for customs during that time. Now it's time to start working on the customs that I have been thinking of for so long, but... I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW!! I believe I have a firm grasp on painting. I'm still working on sculpting. Kinda understand molding and casting, but not enough. So I am coming out of the shadows and asking my questions to the whole community. First and foremost, let me say that ALL of these questions pertain to the ARAH line. I love the detail on the modern figs, but I don't like to handle them. I was so excited when I purchased my first few figures from the 25th ANV line, they looked amazing and could hold a rifle correctly, it was great. But every time I try to pose one of them I feel like I'm going to break it. So I'm sticking with the ARAH stuff. That being said, I'm going to have to do a lot of sculpting and molding and casting to get the figures I want. And I suck at that. So here goes nothing...

SCULPTING
1: Does anybody have any suggested techniques for sculpting with green stuff so that it looks like cloth? I have tried several of my own ideas, and it always ends up looking like chewed sour apple gum smeared all over a figure. Gross. What I'm needing to make are some fatigue blouses and fragmentation vests, just for a referance.

MOLDING
1: When you make 2 part molds of the 2 halves of the torso, how do you accommodate for the screw hole in both parts? And when you make the mold of the front half, will you need to re-tap the hole for the screw in your cast, or will the mold actually pick up that detail as well?

2: How on God's green earth do you make a mold of the waist?! I can see the seam lines on the hips. I always thought that was where 2 halves were glued together. After further inspection, I noticed the inside of the waist has no seam. So it's a solid piece? I have no idea what to do at this point. I need a ton of figures that are almost identical, and I have no desire to sculpt every single one of them.

Any help at all will be greatly appreciated. Not to mention that it will have a positive effect on my mental health.

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Falcone]

Like I said before, I'm pretty poor at casting, someone else will have to help you or point you to a tutorial. But I can show you how I cast the torsos and waist piece. I'll take some pictures this weekend to show you.

 

[Cloud Strife]

SCULPTING
1: Does anybody have any suggested techniques for sculpting with green stuff so that it looks like cloth? I have tried several of my own ideas, and it always ends up looking like chewed sour apple gum smeared all over a figure. Gross. What I'm needing to make are some fatigue blouses and fragmentation vests, just for a referance.

I've been told that if you get real fine burlap and press it against the material your sculpting, you can transfer the texture. Seeing as how you're working with green stuff, make sure it's wet before you press the burlap against so that there's less risk of it sticking to the Green Stuff and messing it up when you pull it away.

Hope that helps!

 

[Pickelhaube]

Green stuff sets too fast in order to get any imprint like clothe. You could probably get the same effect if you use bondo. You would need a very course cloth to get your desired effect. You also will have to work in some vaseline to the cloth will not become part of the mould.

But doing anything in 1/18 scale there would be no way to see an actual cloth weave pattern. So you may want to rethink that.

As far as casting goes I know a thing or two.

I will try to answer your question if you can make them specific.

As far as casting a hole with screw threads is concerned. It can me done but you will probably get one pour out of your mould. When you pull the mould apart you will probably rip out the threading.

So rather than make a whole with threads in it consider making a smooth hole big enough to except the threaded part.

If I need to make a deep hole in a part I usually will use a brass tube that I casted into the mould. It is a good idea to smear a little vaseline on the tube to make sure it comes out.

Hope this helps.

 

[Monkeywrench]

Some awesome talent and advice in this thread!

 

[zombieinthehat]

Thanks for the help guys! After reading my post today, I see where I could have been a little more specific. With sculpting cloth, I was referring to the wrinkles in the cloth. Since posting that question, I believe I have found the answer on here. For the molding of the torsos, my question is this... For the back piece, do you suggest masking off the very end of the screw hole for the first half of the mold? I'm assuming you do this so the silicone doesn't pass through to the other side of the buck. Do you just put a piece of tape on the hole from the inside and then pour the first half of the mold, then remove the tape when pouring the second part?

The front half of the torso where the screw is threaded in, I figured that the threading would screw up the mold, but I wasn't sure. I think I know what you mean by putting a piece of tubing in the hole... you mean so the hole is there, just a little under sized, and then you can use a handheld screw tap to rethread the hole, right?

Falcon, I would love to see pics of how to do the molding process, especially the waist. That piece has got me stumped. Thanks again guys.

 

[Pickelhaube]

Yes you are right about the tube. But does the parts need to be threaded ?

I have made some parts that needed to stay together . I just made to little stubs on the male part that king of snapped into the female part and it held just fine. But caution should be taken taking the parts apart time and again. the little stubs will ware down quick in resin.

As far as sculpting goes, for years modelers have been using Milliput.

It is a 2 part moulding putty that is fairly easy to use. I have used it twice with great results.( I used it to make some tarps for a up and coming project )

In that project I was able to make wrinkles in my " fabric " .

http://www.milliput.com/how.htm

 

[Falcone]

I've attached a picture below. The picture shows both halves of the mold. Half is laying down with the parts still in it, and the other half is in the background leaning up against something. I'll try to explain, so bear (bare?) with me.

First, I'm not sure the method you use in mold making, but for me I build a box and line the bottom of it with kleen clay. I then push my parts half way into it and pour my rubber over the top. When it sets I turn the box over, pull off the clay, and pour the rubber where the clay was to make the second half of the mold. Actually I used a more advanced method to make this particular mold, but the results are similar, so it works for this tutorial.

Assuming you make your molds the same way you can follow this step for how to do the torsos and waist. When you push the waist into the clay, make sure the clay fills in the opening in the middle. In the attached picture, pretend the mold that the parts are on is the clay. You can see where the mold line is in the center of the waist. This method leaves a really bad undercut, but if you use enough mold release, it is not a problem.

For the torso, just lightly press it into the clay so only the edges are in contact with the clay. And then fill in the neck, bottom, and arm openings with clay so that when you pour the rubber over the top it does not seep underneath the part through these openings. When you pour the second half of the mold (which will be poured on the side with the small holes) lightly drizzle some rubber on top of the small holes (the 2 torso alignment holes and the screw hole) and take a toothpick or small point and push the rubber into the holes. An alternative is to simply fill the screw hole in with clay so that there is no hole in the castings. All you need to do is screw in a sharp point screw in to create the hole with each casting.

Please note, this tutorial is missing details in the mold making process like cutting air vents, creating mold alignments, etc. I just assume you know all those things. Also, please ignore that all my parts are in the same mold, it's best to have separate molds for each part when getting started.

 

[zombieinthehat]

Thank you for the picture and description of what you did Falcon, it will be very helpful. I think the thing about the waist that got me was no matter how I looked at it, it was just one big undercut.

I thank all of you guys again! You guys really helped a new guy out! I still have some sculpting to do on my buck before I make a mold, but I will post the results here when I finally pull a cast, and I wouldn't have been able to do that without the help of you guys!