Cast Work

[Falcone]

Updated Post #11 and 13

It's been a few years but it's time to fire back up the workshop and begin casting again. I have all the equipment, might as well use it. I'm not planning on selling anything right now, at least not in any type of large scale. There's plenty of casters out there already.

A quick background. I've been casting off and on for 10 years. I first learned how in high school in '03 when my art teacher taught me how. It was part of a project where I sculpted a completely original figure. It was the first time I had ever sculpted anything in my life so it's quality was poor to say the least. The casting came out good though considering they were done in the most basic of ways.

I am planning on mainly doing Star Wars heads. It's something many people won't touch because of how strict the license is on their products. For me Star Wars is a gold mine of human male head fodder for GI Joe. It's a great way to diversify the Joe team when making customs.

These are the first few items I've cast. I'll have a few more as the weekend progresses and beyond. The small guns are GI Joe obviously and the others are from Halo and are not Joe sized. I did the Halo guns for Sgt Humpty.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Would you be interested in doing commision work?...simple stuff?

 

[Falcone]

This post was stickied? I guess I'm going to need to add content now! It will take about 2 weeks for my new equipment to arrive. After that I have big plans. So stay tuned.

I've also loaded up on over a dozen Star Wars male human heads to add variety to customs. I've has this thing about not using the same head for different characters, but you can't do anything about it if just limited to Joe heads. It opens up a lot of variety, and also increase the chances of finding a face sculpt that matches what a character is supposed to look like.

 

[Falcone]

New equipment scheduled to arrive today. Here is a picture of the first items to be cast. I hope to have the first completed parts tomorrow with pictures. And all of these items should be completed before the weekend. I also won't be putting my wave 2 weapon pack into production because of costs, so I will be casting them instead. Here is the first machined part to act as the prototype. I will have the SKS and L96 in a few weeks. 3D pictures of those items can be seen on the Legion XIV Facebook. The AK does need a light sanding.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Sooooo....where's the new pics?

 

[Falcone]

Sooooo....where's the new pics?

I don't want to talk about it.


Seriously though, I've gone through 4 major setbacks.

 

[Falcone]

All I made this weekend was one mold that has 3 guns on it. I had nothing but issues. Here is a test shot of one of the guns. My tests are in a translucent material so detail is hard to see. I also don't know what all the little specs came from.

 

[Falcone]

Here's a few more. Sorry for the string of posts. The rifle is getting some flashing and I can't figure out why.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Well those at least look good...

 

[darthdre758]

They do look great. If you made a small run of them, even with flashing, I would buy.

 

[Falcone]

I've been saying it for a while, but big things are coming. This new method had a big learning curve and I tested many different things. More importantly I learned many things. The only problem was I used all the material I had in doing this. I have another order of material coming in a few days and I have all of next week off from work.

I've settled on what should be high quality material. It's is really strong so there is no threat of breaking, but still has a little bit of a flex to it. It's also hard enough that you can't dent it. The last material I was using, the clear stuff, you could leave in indent with your finger nail.

These are some final castings of the Tec 9. The little bubbles in the barrel will be gone after I clean the mold out. I was doing some work with the mold and dust got into it. I thought it was all out, but it's not so I have to go back and wash the rest out. If you are interested in any of this gun, PM me. They will be .75 each plus shipping. If you want some, I will make them first and then send you pictures of them, then if you still want them you can pay for them then. I don't want money up front right now, since the only picture I have right now has the bubbles. This is the only I color I can do right now.

I'm working on the two rifles right now, but I might need new molds for them.

 

[fogger1138]

Woo!

 

[Falcone]

I was seriously starting to get pissed off (see attachment 1). Until I figured out why the air vent was not working and got the parts right. (see attachment 2). I've also gotten rid of the flash issue. There's some minor spots of it on the guns that you can see. I didn't clean these parts up at all. This is how they look straight from the mold.

 

[darthdre758]

That's...beautiful, man.

 

[Monkeywrench]

Nice!!

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Looking good!...curious, why can't you cast them in black?...does the resin you're using not come in that color?

 

[Falcone]

I'll have black available soon, I just had to order some. Once I get everything going the cast heads will be in light grey and accessories will be in black.

 

[Giga Bread]

New equipment scheduled to arrive today. Here is a picture of the first items to be cast. I hope to have the first completed parts tomorrow with pictures. And all of these items should be completed before the weekend. I also won't be putting my wave 2 weapon pack into production because of costs, so I will be casting them instead. Here is the first machined part to act as the prototype. I will have the SKS and L96 in a few weeks. 3D pictures of those items can be seen on the Legion XIV Facebook. The AK does need a light sanding.

How's the AK look in a figure's hand?

 

[Falcone]

All my casting equipment got packed away for the move into the new house. It was sort of a sudden thing, but it's shelved casting for a while.

How's the AK look in a figure's hand?

Better late than never. It looks pretty good. The 3D printed one I did was before the modified handle so it was a little small. The 3D printing didn't capture the finer detail either. I won't be 3D printing and casting these anyway. I'm working on getting the funding to build a tool for injection molding.