The above picture seems to be raw green stuff sculpts, right? That's not really a great example for metal vs plastic, to be fair.
Also, the new plastics have detail comparable to this, especially on units like Scions.
The above picture seems to be raw green stuff sculpts, right? That's not really a great example for metal vs plastic, to be fair.
Also, the new plastics have detail comparable to this, especially on units like Scions.
Whoops. I was scanning for a good pic and linked the wrong one! Here's a better sample.Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeGrunt
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UswgY5zhO9...le+Drummer.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tWDxhoF0Ly...Carpenters.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NnhhAAMBF-...+Civilians.jpg
And most new kits like Scions do have really good detail. But the trade off with plastic is significant assembly.
http://giftsforgeeks.org.uk/uploads/...ns%20sprue.JPG
And as good as they are the Scions still fall short of the resin Death Korps/Elysian models and are roughly on par with the metal Cadian Kasrkin offering.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhcOrC3GLw...in_445x319.jpg
And one of the best examples of what metal can do comes from the talented folks at Infinity. Their products are totally ace but do require increased assembly time.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3NSHStCIAAIOPK.jpg:large
DWest saidIn actual fact the metal does melt at low temperatures and there are moulding kits out there. When I was a youth I bought a kit that had a clay sand that was used to create a mould of anything you put in it. You used small wood dowels to create the pouring point and air vent and the kit had a steel crucible to melt white metal which I did on my stove. I created low grade copies of field guns and infantry for my Napolionics. I dont have it anymore because I could not be bothered to buy a new one. I lost the old one when the kids hit two and three and started getting into my stuff. The wife and the outlaw double teamed me and insisted molten metal was not appropriate in a house full of curious boys.Quote:
That's a very double standard, and doesn't take into account custom sculpting or scratch-build additions. Also, who has a forge and casting tools sitting around handy? And plastic scrap is not wasted; put it in a small glass jar, dissolve it in plastic cement, and it makes an excellent gap-filler putty.
These days I use the metal cast offs for weighted bases for some models. Handy tip about the plastic cast offs though. What volume of glue to plastic do you recommend?
doing metal casting isnt hard, most model stores (trains planes. etc) ive been to used to carry a kit for making lil- lead/tin/whatever soldiers. only thing is the kits they give you to make the harder molds dont last as long. a few years ago i dated a girl deep into a crafts degree and i got to see a kiln and forge at work dealing with brass and the tougher metals. **** is scary. Me and my girlfriend have 5 rather rowdy cats, needless to say I never give this a try.
Da Gargoyle-
I believe it was 2:1 glue to plastic. I foolishly discarded my jar of the stuff when the Liquid Green Stuff came out, now I'll have to start another one.
As for the metal casting, I'd be more worried about the vaporized mould release fumes than the actual molten metal. In either case, there is (in my opinion) a much better solution: [URL="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/instant-mold.html"]Instant Mold[/URL]. It only takes water hot enough for tea to make the sticks work and green stuff or fine miliput for casting, and you can mould fairly large pieces (I've successfully done a Carnifex Devourer arm, for reference).
Two benefits over metal casting, from my experience:
1) instant feedback: the mould dries mostly clear, so you can see if all the details are being filled properly when you cast, rather than having to wait until it cools/cures to open it up and check.
2) stick-on casting: I'm not sure what the proper term for this would be, but basically what I mean is this: let's say you want to duplicate a specific arm for a Space Marine. You can tack the arm in place on a power armour torso, and catch a bit of the torso in the mould when you make it. Then when it comes time to make your casting, you can attach a wire armature to the torso of the model that will be receiving the arm, and snug the torso into the mould when you cast, ensuring a tight fit and also ensuring the moulded piece won't break off or break apart as easily.
Hope this helps.
I'm actually trying to source a finecast warp spider exarch over a metal one because of the fact I want to do a bunch of conversion work and the thoughts of sawing through pewter makes me sadpants.
Prince August (IIRC) used to do moulds and ingots and stuff to make metal soldiers, mostly 1815 era, bgut they did some fantasy and roman stuff as well, still got a few of their moulds....Quote:
Originally Posted by Da Gargoyle