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Interesting casting.
- Thread starter jknaus
- Start date
ausf
Master at Arms
It's a wax based molding compound. They have been around for a long time. Silicone replaced those because it's much more accurate. They're might be some tweaking of formulas, there's a great thermo wax/clay hybrid out now that you can heat and pour, then sculpt, etc.
If you really want to mold like that, there are 1:1 silicones out there that would give you better results and set in as little as 45 seconds, demold in 7 minutes. You can get a generic version at Michaels, but Smooth-On makes professional grade. You mix what you need with your fingers and mold away.
I use that stuff all the time for quick things, like taking an impression of a sculpted button or epaulette, then basically making a stamp to reproduce throughout the sculpture. Silicone isn't reusable, both wax degrades quickly and deforms with the slightest heat.
Theres a reusable casting material that dates back to hundreds of years called moulage. You melt it, pour it on your subject and you'll get amazing detail. Alginate and silicone replaced it in the mainstream because it's just easier than heating/melting, especially with live subjects (I've done full head life casts with all three).
In terms of using the mold like he does in his video. It's extremely hard to get the surface clean of imperfections, it's much harder than resin, trust me. I use the same technique about 5-6 times a week, but it's for masters, never for any production type. Epoxy putty is amazing, but it doesn't bend, only snap. You can't get a gun barrel like he shows that will hold up to anything. It's fine if you plan on using it as a master to make copies, but no way would you use it as a piece on it's own.
On a typical day I mix about 8-10 batches of epoxy putty. Over the years I've used it for everything, even house repair, musical instrument repair as well as in RC and models and professionally as a sculpting medium. All that said, he's misrepresenting it's capabilities in that video. fill a seam, wing root, make some zimmerit, sculpt a figure it's the best in the world. Make a war game rifle, not so much. He's also cleaning the flash after three hours. Epoxy putty isn't completely set for about 18-24 hours (unless heated). If you tried to cut a thin pieces once set, it'll crack.
I'm not writing all of this to discourage anyone. I just want you guys to know there are alternates probably much easier to find if you want to go to try to mold something with this method, but also to understand it's limits. It's useful in certain circumstances, but certainly not the best way and absolutely not the way to go if you plan on making a number of anything.
If you really want to mold like that, there are 1:1 silicones out there that would give you better results and set in as little as 45 seconds, demold in 7 minutes. You can get a generic version at Michaels, but Smooth-On makes professional grade. You mix what you need with your fingers and mold away.
I use that stuff all the time for quick things, like taking an impression of a sculpted button or epaulette, then basically making a stamp to reproduce throughout the sculpture. Silicone isn't reusable, both wax degrades quickly and deforms with the slightest heat.
Theres a reusable casting material that dates back to hundreds of years called moulage. You melt it, pour it on your subject and you'll get amazing detail. Alginate and silicone replaced it in the mainstream because it's just easier than heating/melting, especially with live subjects (I've done full head life casts with all three).
In terms of using the mold like he does in his video. It's extremely hard to get the surface clean of imperfections, it's much harder than resin, trust me. I use the same technique about 5-6 times a week, but it's for masters, never for any production type. Epoxy putty is amazing, but it doesn't bend, only snap. You can't get a gun barrel like he shows that will hold up to anything. It's fine if you plan on using it as a master to make copies, but no way would you use it as a piece on it's own.
On a typical day I mix about 8-10 batches of epoxy putty. Over the years I've used it for everything, even house repair, musical instrument repair as well as in RC and models and professionally as a sculpting medium. All that said, he's misrepresenting it's capabilities in that video. fill a seam, wing root, make some zimmerit, sculpt a figure it's the best in the world. Make a war game rifle, not so much. He's also cleaning the flash after three hours. Epoxy putty isn't completely set for about 18-24 hours (unless heated). If you tried to cut a thin pieces once set, it'll crack.
I'm not writing all of this to discourage anyone. I just want you guys to know there are alternates probably much easier to find if you want to go to try to mold something with this method, but also to understand it's limits. It's useful in certain circumstances, but certainly not the best way and absolutely not the way to go if you plan on making a number of anything.
Thanks James and Jeff, interesting stuff. That's something that has plumb evaded me over the years, I tried some resin stuff with water a long time ago, it didn't turn out well. Might have to try it again at some point.
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