The French and Indian war figures I tried to cast in with a master mold didn’t work, so they will not be available for at least another month. The Iroquois had registration problems, probably because of the mixed weight of figures around it, only a few were acceptable and I never did get a good casting of the French officer. In the one pictured you can see the left lapel of his coat did not fill properly. The ranger worked pretty well but I’ll wait till the bugs in the others are fixed to release him.

The picture is product with a rather heavy coat of spray primer, this is what they will look like except for the French Officers coat.

Also pictured, my sculpting tools. These are what I do nearly everything with on figures 54mm and below. The only other tools I have are some circle punches, a sharp hobby scalpel and some pliers and clippers.

This entry was posted by Tom Meier on Tuesday, January 23. 2007 at 09:26. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own blog.

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  1. minimaker says:
    #1 2007-01-23 15:00 (Reply)

    Are these figures multipart? Those jackets look like they cause a lot of undercuts.

    Did you do the spraying for the picture? Or to check how much painting will affect the detail level?

    Excellent pose and expression on the native American by the way.

    Bye, Ming-Hua

  2. Tom says:
    #2 2007-01-23 15:58 (Reply)

    The only separate part is the Iroquois' musket, it breaks at the bracelet. I sprayed the figures outside to avoid fumes and it was rather too cold so the primer pooled. I generally prime metal figures for photos, otherwise they are too shiny to see details. The Iroquois' face is a bit out of focus, in the casting you can see the separate teeth.

    Undercuts were not so much of a problem as fill and registration. The master mold I put these in had some much larger objects in it which probably threw it off.

    I'm pleased with how well the detail held up, these are product, meaning they are castings from a casting off the original all stages in metal not bad considering the figures were designed for resin.

  3. minimaker says:
    #2.1 2007-01-24 07:54 (Reply)

    Thanks for the reply.

    You say these were actually for resin. So in what way is designing for resin different from designing for metal?

  4. Tom says:
    #2.1.1 2007-01-24 10:51 (Reply)

    Wide thin sections like the lapels on the French Officer’s coat, or the gunstrap of the Ranger cast better because of the lower viscosity of resin. Detail is perfectly sharp even in very fine sections like eyelashes. Thin projections like the Officer’s sword or the Iroquois’ musket are more durable if you use a resin with a bit of flexibility.

  5. Minimaker says:
    #2.1.1.1 2007-01-24 16:54 (Reply)

    Thanks, it's interesting to see that pointed out on the figures. It's similar to what I've noticed on the French resin fantasy figures.

  6. Rob W. says:
    #3 2007-01-23 18:41 (Reply)

    Tom,

    What is "registration" ? Is it the alignment of two mold halves ?

    Thanks,
    Rob

  7. Tom says:
    #4 2007-01-23 21:15 (Reply)

    It's more than alignment but that's part of it. A mold can have the best alignment possible and still misregister because it warps.

  8. Rob W. says:
    #5 2007-01-24 07:46 (Reply)

    Tom,

    Thanks for the reply. It seems like registration is alignment and warp from the mold, or one could perhaps call it proportional variances from molding.

    Do you plan a February release of any elves or goblins ?

    Rob

  9. Tom says:
    #5.1 2007-01-24 10:56 (Reply)

    I hope to get a command pack for the Goblins done in the next couple weeks but we’ve all had terrible colds here as well as being without water for three days (we have a well and it decided to give out just before a snowstorm) and I’ve lost about a week of work time.

  10. Terri says:
    #6 2007-08-06 04:05 (Reply)

    Do you also make the molds for your miniatures? Some of the figures look very complex for a mold, with undercuts and twists, even if the figure be cast in separate parts. How would one go about making a mold from different levels of twisted forms with air in between, like branches of a tree and layered sheets of leaves?

  11. Tom says:
    #6.1 2007-08-07 11:44 (Reply)

    Well you could make a mold with multiple parts, but generally you break the figure into multiple parts.

    I usually make the mold from the original for my figures, the problems generally have less to do with undercut and more with fill and registration.

  12. Terri says:
    #7 2007-08-13 06:01 (Reply)

    My experience is that urethane rubber and silicon make fine registration of details if brushed on in the first layer.

    I don't know about urethane, but I think there are silicons that can handle the heat of molten pewter.

  13. minimaker says:
    #7.1 2007-08-13 08:11 (Reply)

    You're correct. There are silicone rbbers suited for pewter. Be sure to check this before getting the rubber.

  14. gary says:
    #8 2010-04-11 08:22 (Reply)

    I'm looking to change the sculptor who does my stuff. I pay 100 dollars for mounted and fifty for infntry.Are you interested?


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