# Is resin casting worth it?



## 20draws10 (Jun 21, 2011)

Okay, so I've been out of the game for a few years now and am looking at picking it up again. All I have to say is HOLY F*#% models are expensive!!!

So, I've been doing some research and have come up with the idea of sculpting my own models and resin casting an entire army. The only thing is resin casting is also expensive and it's time consuming.

So I was wondering if anyone has tried resin casting and if it's actually cheaper to cast an entire army or to just buy the models?

Also, does anyone know about how many models you can make per x amount of resin? 
I found this starter kit that comes with 16oz of resin, but I have no idea how many models that will actually make.

Cheers!


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## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

given that if your casting the official models to recast them as resin, it would be frowned upon by most communities and you will probably not get a proper answer on these forums in any case. though no one would probably put it against someone if they decided to resin cast a few of the extra bits in order to not have to buy a box of units they will never use save for that one bit.


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## morfangdakka (Dec 31, 2006)

I have cast extra bits before that I needed lots of but never an entire army. It would be a very time consuming project to sculpt your own and then cast them. It could be really cool I saw an army a woman did that was all sculpted and cast in clear resin. So unless some has done an entire army it would be hard to give you a straight answer on that.


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## Zer0 (Jan 13, 2009)

There was an army posted on BoLS a while ago where someone had sculpted and cast his army in clear resin, coloured it and put lights inside them so the whole army glowed like they were made of fire. Having played around with resin casting, I'd have to say it's a little time consuming to use on a whole army so it's better sticking to the odd bit here or there, like Morefangdakka said.


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## TheSpore (Oct 15, 2009)

I agree your better off just sucking it up and paying for the models, hey there is always Ebay


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## Kitsunex (Mar 8, 2009)

i seem to remember a couple years back someone had a thread on here where he was casting his own IG army because they don't make the figs any longer, seemed rather time consuming and not really worth it IMO.


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## Silens (Dec 26, 2010)

I haven't got a clue how much it will cost, but I want to point out that once you've complete and painted the army then nobody's going to know that you resin cast them unless you tell them or they hold the models and notice they're lighter than normal (I don't really see that happening) and you could deny it.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

maybe you would just be better off not starting the hobby again, if your worried about the cost the cheapest way is not to bother, if you are asking about casting to save money i think its safe to say your not gonna be sculpting your own models,people dont decide to sculpt an army to "save money"


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

bitsandkits said:


> maybe you would just be better off not starting the hobby again, if your worried about the cost the cheapest way is not to bother, if you are asking about casting to save money i think its safe to say your not gonna be sculpting your own models,people dont decide to sculpt an army to "save money"


Not to offend, while it seems to be fairly true, coming out of your mouth considering your name and the site you're advertising for it sounds kinda suspicious.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Nicholas Hadrian said:


> Not to offend, while it seems to be fairly true, coming out of your mouth considering your name and the site you're advertising for it sounds kinda suspicious.


not exactly sure why my post reads suspicious, as your a newer member i will explain my thinking, we have lots of people who come to heresy who complain about the prices, but those people are already collecting and gaming, if however you are at the gate and the entry price is too much then sometimes its just better to turn around and get back in the car.

sculpting a viable army and casting it up for play is folly,firstly there is the time and expense not to mention needing the ability to do it, i have tried to sculpt and its hard and takes time and required skill and practice to produce anything remotely resembling a model,casting models is an expensive and time consuming pass time too,making moulds ,casting them etc.

and then assuming a person is capable enough to produce an army whos he gonna play? if the models are sculpts of GW models and are identifiable as such he might be ok at a private club but GW stores are gonna knock him back.

and as with any time anyone asks about "casting" to save money you have to ask, is this person genuinely talking about casting models they have sculpted or are we helping someone produce counterfeit models ?

hopefully this sheds some light on my thought process and puts your suspicious mind at ease, yes i sell bits and other things related to the hobby, (including casting resin if i choose to) but i was a 14 year old when i got into warhammer 40k 22 years ago, so please understand i wear two hats around the forum.


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

bitsandkits said:


> not exactly sure why my post reads suspicious, as your a newer member i will explain my thinking, we have lots of people who come to heresy who complain about the prices, but those people are already collecting and gaming, if however you are at the gate and the entry price is too much then sometimes its just better to turn around and get back in the car.
> 
> sculpting a viable army and casting it up for play is folly,firstly there is the time and expense not to mention needing the ability to do it, i have tried to sculpt and its hard and takes time and required skill and practice to produce anything remotely resembling a model,casting models is an expensive and time consuming pass time too,making moulds ,casting them etc.
> 
> ...


No worries, and yes I agree that sculpting would be rather impractical at best (though admittedly still potentially awesome) it had just struck me as kind of suspiciously self-intrested that a bits store owner was the one saying "Sculpting your own models is a bad idea", for making such an assumption, I apologize I've just been around too many self intrested get rich quick schemes I start to see them where they are not.

EDIT: Though it did occur to me, I have in the past seen a Tanith 1st trooper carved entirely out of greenstuff barring his lasgun, which was a standard GW bit, it leaves me wondering, would a GW store or competition object to that? Food for thought.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Nicholas Hadrian said:


> EDIT: Though it did occur to me, I have in the past seen a Tanith 1st trooper carved entirely out of greenstuff barring his lasgun, which was a standard GW bit, it leaves me wondering, would a GW store or competition object to that? Food for thought.


well in that case it would be down to the store manager, but in many ways a single model sculpted or heavily converted is a "good thing" as its encouraging people to think outside of the box( or range in this case) and use there own imagination and give life and character to an army, however rolling up to a GW store with an entire platoon of faux imperial guard you "sculpted" yourself and added some GW bits might not be met with the same praise, perticularly if the models were casted from a master sculpt that included GW bits before it was moulded.

but these are hypothetical situations, the reality is that casting to save money generally involves making a mould of something you want more of but dont want to pay for, which naturally leads to the thought of counterfeit models and some people get annoyed when you field an army that you didnt "pay for" so to speak,some people are ok with it some people are not.

i suppose it boils down to motivation, some of the very skilled modellers on this forum cast all sorts ( i know i have some of the amazing things they have produced) and if they said im gonna build a admech army and im gonna sculpt up some masters and cast up multiple heads or arms etc for uniformity then i would say " sounds good ,go for it", but when cost is the motivation....different story.


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5402436415/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5403033632/in/photostream

these would be the hypothetical model I was talking about.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

There are very few people who can sculpt to a high enough level to be able to put a worthwhile army together from scratch, unless you are one of those people I really wouldn't bother. When you do get them done and someone asks "where did you get them?" your answer will be "I sculpted them myself!" to which the best reply you could expect will be "Yeah, looks like it -snigger-".


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Nicholas Hadrian said:


> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5402436415/in/photostream
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5403033632/in/photostream
> 
> these would be the hypothetical model I was talking about.


thats one of svarts models(hes a member on heresy) and hes one of the people i was refering to, if he said im gonna sculpt an army i would wait with baited breath to see the results.


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

Oh! Well, that's serendipity for you.


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## Dusty's Corner (Aug 25, 2008)

If you just want an army - go buy the models.
Casting brings with it many many of the same figure. So unless you want an army of clones, you're better off either buying the models or just leaving the army as original sculpts. No way is it cheap. You got the mould as well as resin costs, tools, equipment, space, time, skill, and oh the original sculpts you are moulding. If you're thinking of perhaps selling your casts, then you will be setting yourself up as a business and will have all that goes with it.


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## Raptor_00 (Mar 17, 2008)

I have actually tried this. It is costly and time consuming.

First, getting a good mold is a bitch. 
I was using a high quality silicone that cost me about $30 to make 3-4 single model molds. A small container of resin could get me 100 models or so for $20. So that simple math seems to work but...I only got 1 good mold on my first tub of silicone. And only 2 on my second. So I had 3 different looking models for $80.

The hardest part were the faces. After the first side cured and I poured the second side, my model would move about half a millimeter. That small amount caused a double cast of the face along the mold line.:no:

Small thin items like spears were also very hard to cast because they had no depth and wouldn't seat well in the mold while pouring the second half.

Overall I found it fairly uneconomical. Besides a few special items such as a cool looking new torso and a weapon it was pretty much a bust.

If you wanted to replace a part of a model like modeling your own weapons and replacing them, that would be the only way I'd think it would make much sense.

Otherwise, doing resin casting only made me feel GW's prices were actually kind of...fair (gasp).

My recommendation: Use E-bay to get some cheap models. You may spend $300 to get enough practice at casting to get good enough to make your army, or spend the $300 on models and start paining/playing.

Just my 2 cents (warning 2 cents not actual value due to failing economy)


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

Dusty's Corner said:


> If you just want an army - go buy the models.
> Casting brings with it many many of the same figure. So unless you want an army of clones, you're better off either buying the models or just leaving the army as original sculpts. No way is it cheap. You got the mould as well as resin costs, tools, equipment, space, time, skill, and oh the original sculpts you are moulding. If you're thinking of perhaps selling your casts, then you will be setting yourself up as a business and will have all that goes with it.





Dusty's Corner said:


> So unless you want an army of clones, you're better off either buying the models or just leaving the army as original sculpts.





Dusty's Corner said:


> an army of clones,


Hmm, an army of clones, army of clones... Imperial Guardsmen, a regiment cloned from the best, hmm interesting fluff yes! Quick Robin! to the fictionmobile!


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## Dusty's Corner (Aug 25, 2008)

If you ignore the fact they look shite (IG), they at least have different poses and sometimes different gun.
If you want clones, just get a mirror. Get 2 mirrors and you could go crazy (infinite army). Mount it on wheels and now we're talking.
Maybe you could include them while you write the fluff Batman. They could use window cleaner for pistols.

btw - Steady with the quoting there. My words are not some mould block which casts out pearls of wisdom.

Perhaps sculpt yourself a figure, try the moulding/casting out, and see for yourself if it's worth while or not. Post pics of the stages so we all can see the progress.
If you want an example of how one thing leads to another - I was once asked to make a single plinth, and now after a couple of years, I have lots of designs and mock-ups etc (hundreds of plinths). I'm even looking atm to remould 2 sets. It's become a situation where the only way inwhich I can make it all seem viable is by getting further use out of them (not just for myself). So unless you produce to a standard where other people perhaps might want some, you really will be left stuck with lots of identical casts. So if this is just for yourself, then no, it's not value for money. If you start selling, then that's a different story. Either way, the chances of you yourself having time to build and paint the army in the end will probably be slim. If you want an army - get an army. If you want to get into moulding/casting, then say goodbye to you actually building the army and painting it yourself and say hello to management (you'll be too busy sculpting/moulding/casting to build/paint).
And yes I have many casts unused and things produced in such a rush that I don't even know why they were made, but I got lots of them. I'm yet to even mould a figure myself. I'm still busy sculpting skulls & heads and a zillion other things. I still haven't got my army yet. 
Have fun painting!

-Dustman


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

jeez man, it was a joke.


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## 20draws10 (Jun 21, 2011)

So from everything said here, I believe ebay is the winner!
Also, for those that don't know, Bartertown is a great site to pick up/sell some second hand models for cheap.

I would love to field an entire army of sculpted models, but, I also want to play in tournaments. As I found out through some searching, they have the stupid 'must be 50% GW' bogus, or was it 75%, whatever. 

As for sculpting, I am fairly decent at it. I'm not a pro, but good enough that it would look good on the field. I'm the type of person that would do one leg 50 times until it's perfect. So, it would be EXTREMELY time consuming. But would look bad a$$. Maybe I'll make some custom guns or something. Or some actual scaled space marines and fill the inside of em with chopped up GW sprues so I can use them in tournys.

Just for clarification. I was talking about casting my own sculpted figures. I realize that casting GW models is breaking copy write laws (which we all know GW is crazy about), is frowned upon by the community, and can lead to a law suit. Which, for me, a game is not worth that kind of risk.


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## Silens (Dec 26, 2010)

I can only see resin casting being worth it when you're making large quantities of the same model (for example, making a $40 silicone mould to make a sprue for a single space marine wouldn't be worth it. However, if you use the mould to make 100 space marines, the mould will have been well worth it)


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## Rakaziel (May 17, 2011)

Sorry for the thread necromancy but I plan to sculpt and sell my own models, and ask for your advice. 

My main question is which silicone and resin and which shop you would recommend.


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## Champion Alaric (Feb 17, 2011)

Yes, finally something I can actually contribute to. Alright dude I gotcha. I am currently casting full models and its goin great . I don't find it time consuming cuz I ain't in a hurry. Tedious tho. Im not going into detail on what I do in forum (I don't think Im allowed), pm me if u want the step by step. So here is some random advice:

1. Metal models make the best castings as they were made for it. If you wanna cast the plastics you basically have to cast them in the same bits that they come in. So if you were gonna do Model A and it was a 5 part model you will need to cast all 5 pieces and assemble as normal. Assembling then trying to cast is a dead end for 90 percent of plastic models. 

2. INSTANT MOLD! this shit is amazing for the casting part. Its reusable and easy to use. MCC brought it to light last year and I am SO glad he did. The detail you get is second to none. Ive had vets of games not be able to tell the diff.

3. Fuck Resin. Don't even go that way its just a pain. What I did thru a buddy was source out commercial grade "green stuff" Its actually black but its awesome. None of this resin fumes or mixing shit. Just like green stuff you grab the resin and the hardener and giver.

4. Get some LEGO. Yep LEGO. Its the shit. Again try to find MCC's instant mold utube video. I learned a ton from that guys video. Major props to teh MCC man. 

5. You only get what you put in. If you half ass it you get what you get. 

I am currently doin a list for my buddy and the results are awesome. The only drawback is the clean up. But u get a Dremel and a wee grinder (like a pencil lead point made of grit) and get the mold lines.

Hope this helped, I love casting and have saved my friend at least 200 bucks in the 30 some odd models I have done for him. 

Any of you can PM me on this, as you can tell im pretty psyched on it. Hopefully I didn't break any forum rules, sorry if I did.


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## aranelthemithra (Nov 1, 2011)

I think - since point 1 implies you are using GW miniatures as your original casting for the mold, you might want to carefully step away from the discussion and speak only about the actual materials and tools you used to carve your own miniatures and molded them. Just a suggestion.


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## Champion Alaric (Feb 17, 2011)

GW is not the only company to make metals nor multipart plastic kits


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## Rakaziel (May 17, 2011)

Admitting crimes in public is still a bad idea  What makes you pirates brag all the time, is it the rum?  

The instant mold sounds awesome and on some other aspects I have a few detail questions:

1. Where do I get this black stuff and what is the name? I wanna try it.

2. How do you determine the right amount of black stuff and how do you get it into the mold? Do you use some kind of liquifyer? 
And is the back stuff also hard enough for conversions and other exact work with saws, files, drills and green stuff? 

3. Given that you most likely embed the model in plasticine, pour the first half of the mold over it and let it dry, then remove the plasticine and pour the second half, how do you prevent chunks of plasticine from getting into the cavities of the model? I currently think about painting the first side of the model with latex before I put it in the plasticine but I am curious if there is a better and/or cheaper way. Is it possible to paint the first side in instant mold or does it take too long to dry?

4. How do you make sure the mold lines stay where you intend them? On a blind guess I would say carefully building up the plasticine along the lines but there seems too much that can go wrong, from messing it up to the mold material poured on it messing it up to accidentially scratching the model with the modelling tool.


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## Champion Alaric (Feb 17, 2011)

1. I prefer coolminisornot, its an online store and I had an easy time.Buy at least 2 packs. The more the better tho.

2. You knead the mold in your hands exactly like green stuff. Then you simply push it in the mold. Its that easy. The amount u use is a trial and error thing, u learn real fast it doesn't require much mold. Conversions are sweet. You make a mold of whatever you wanna convert, then convert THAT casting so you dont wreck the original. Then you re cast the one you converted  its that easy. You can make completely custom bits and simply cast them over and over.

3. Forget this whole paragraph, Ima PM you the exact way I do it.

4. Same as 3.

I have seen way more breaches of GW rules in other threads, I think some people just need to shove off if they aren't interested. They are prolly the same people who pirate movies lol.


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