www.heresyminiatures.com (Go To: Heresy Homepage) > Random Chat

Spincasting resin- what's the worst thing about it?

(1/7) > >>

Big Boris:
OK, keep it under control, no flaming GW here, I'm just interested in the number one issues with Finecast-style spincast resin as it's something I'm going to have to try to learn how to do successfully in order to get these dragons out.

So, here are the issues i'm aware of, excluding price as that doesn't come into it.
1) Airbubbles (and miscasts due to trapped air)
2) ripped out chunks of mould (GW were using the softer silicon moulds, I'm going to be using something with higher tear strength but which will still not be as good as black rubber in my opinion based on previous experience.Same moulds that WG may be switching to)
3) Mould slip?
4) Extreme amounts of spare venting, flash, etc.

Are these the main issues or is there something else plaguing those finecast things?

I'm not interested in scathing opinions of GW policy etc, I just want cold hard technical assessments of the castings that have been produced as spincast resin so I can be very much aware of what to look out for and try to eliminate it from the outset.

Mr Marshall:
The other big issues that people seem to have with it are

a) softness, its a very very soft resin, modeling knives will cut it like butter.  This leads to things like staffs, sword blades etc being very bendy - not quite mageknight bendy but close

b) price - the normal complaint, switch to a cheaper material and charge more for it.

Also a lot of people had never experienced resin models before, so a lot of backlash was because it was different.

caerban:
I'm basically backing up the comments of Mr Marshall here but:

Resin choice - I don't know enough about the technical issues invloved so perhaps the type of resin used was forced upon them by cost restrictions or by the nature of spincasting with resin or whatever but the quality of the resin seems to be a big issue and it's the one thing I can comment on having handled good quality resin stuff (the Dragon, HF's resin casts, Fenris' stuff in general) and Finecast. It feels flimsy, it bends near as bad as vinyl with the mildest application of heat (a warm sunny day makes a flimsy cast feel even less substantial). It kinds feels cheap and nasty. I think that's part and parcel of the problem people have been having with miscasts and warping. With a figure as substantial as the dragon I think it would be a mistake to go with too flimsy a resin. I honestly think correct resin choise is probably a key factor.

I wonder too if a lack of technical experience (coupled with the pressure of somewhat precipitous release schedule) has also led to early demoulding leading to further problems of shape warping. I think correct duration in the mould is even more vital in resin casting.

Big Boris:
Well, price is not a factor here, I'll charge what I need to make a profit on it but not until down the line - primarily this is just a means of getting a few of the finicky dragon parts out quickly and saving Ian some of the nightmare workload he's currently facing from all the dragon heads, tails, etc. So the price in this particular instance has already been paid for by the people in the dragon queue, i just* need to develop a good spincasting method to get things moving. The parts in question aren't exactly thin - apart from the Dragon's teeth! (And if they piss about much more, they'll be done in metal. That'll learn 'em.)

To begin with, I'll be attempting to use the same resin Ian has used so far for the Dragon, once I can get hold of a sample amount, or get enough funds together to buy some in.


*Obviously there is more to it than the word 'just' can convey, or everyone would be doing it already.

zemjw:
There's a casting group over at yahoo that has been going for years - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/casting/. It might be worth asking the question over there as well.

My personal finecast experience is down to one figure - Malagor the Dark Omen(*). Five or six attempts in, I still haven't got a complete figure, and am now resigned to sculpting the fingers that have been missing on every model  :(

Vents are definitely something to watch. Malagor seems to have loads where they're not needed (big support structure around his staff), and none where they are - very fine fingers on his left hand, which is where the main problems have been

* This was bought just last week, as I decided to wait until the teething troubles were fixed. They ain't fixed yet :(

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page