Another metal casting tutorial

Best wishes to everyone for the Holidays.  I am back to my core mission - primarily - creating chaos in the kitchen with my white metal casting experiments.  This is the 28 mm knight I sculpted a while back.  Unlike my first 28mm figure, I decided to go for it and make his sword and scabbard integral to the main cast and not separate pieces.  I gave myself a very slim chance of success with this in a drop cast figure, but it worked!  This is revolutionary for Knight Craft.  I can see myself moving forward with all sorts of figures now - I still need to add the shield as a separately cast object.

You are all familiar with these steps.

I have actually started casting dolls for myself so I can start producing figures more efficiently, making multiple figures from a base cast.  This is actually a doll for a 54 mm figure.  That is why I made the mould of him in the buff. Armor, helmet, clothes and weapons all get added in different ways to this figure.  You can see I have long rectangular drop holes in the top of the mould.  I've discovered that having this large void to pour into at the top of the mould provides material that forces the white metal through the entire mould.

 This is one 54mm doll and the 28mm knight cooling after I have removed half of the mould.  If I am too impatient and try to remove the cast from the mould before it has sufficiently cooled, I end up breaking delicate features like the sword and scabbard.

Here are two dolls I've cast to use to make multiple figures at 54mm.  One is standing and one is running.

Heads, yes I sculpted and cast a number of different heads at 28mm and 54mm to swap on the dolls that I've created.

This is a 28mm doll that I will use to make multiple figures.  I decided to do this doll without a head.  The stance is intended for an archer, but I think it can be made into a few interesting figures.

Here is another image of my final cast knight coming out of the mould.  The base is a bit thick.  That wierd little bubble between his legs wasn't in the original sculpt.  I think it was from an air bubble that got stuck in the silicon when I was making the mould.  The little bubble under his arm pit pops right off, but the bulge between his legs is sort of permanent.

Thanks for dropping by.

White Metal Madness

Can the average guy create his own mini army from scratch?  Sculpt, mould, cast and paint all in the kitchen sink?  Well ...

Sort of.   This is that 28mm knight I carved - cloned so he's got buddies, armed and painted.  There are lots of tutorials about white metal casting and mould making - and you all probably have your own techniques, but I will post mine just for the fun of it.

The first step is that I prep my figure with wooden dowels for the pour and vent holes at the base of the mould.  Then my sculpt takes the goo bath.

Some people pack one side of their original with clay and pull the clay off to get the half of the mould.  I prefer to completely cover the figure and dig it out.

The second half of the goo bath.

The first casting reproduces my original sculpt nicely.  I am guessing that most commercial mini figures are cast in centrifugal casting machines to get all the fine detail.  I was not sure if a mini figure could be home cast with regular drop casting - but this seems to work.

Not only did my first cast work out well, but every cast afterward is consistent and reproduces the original nicely.

Weapons...  what to do about weapons?  I am too much of a chicken to try to have weapons integral to my figure - so I create one sided press mould.

To my surprise, the press mould works... sort of.

My first three 28mm reproduced figures -  armed, painted up and set on bases.

You all are probably laughing at my paint job.  I will be the first to admit - painting has just not made it into my skill set.  If I start producing some nice mini figures, I think I want to commission one of you painting wizards to make my figures look presentable.

There is a serious leak coming through the rear stairs in our house that needs attention.  For my spare time activities, I need to put away my exacto knife, silicon, and melting pot and work with my skill saw and roof patch for a while.  Suffice it to say that Ms. Bigglesworth is not amused by the water pouring in.  Signing off for a while....
Mr. B.