Mold Making and Casting

If you landed here inadvertently, but like toy soldiers and vehicles, check out the following links:

Click here to check out US Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out British Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Soviet Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out German Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Japanese Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out US Vehicles

Click here to check out British Vehicles

Click here to check out Soviet Vehicles

Click here to check out German Vehicles

Click here to check out Japanese Vehicles

Else, go on and find out how to make your own toy soldiers!

 

Some years back I got the itch to learn how to cast figures on my own. What prompted me to try this was the fact that I was having trouble finding more Airfix Italian guys. These figures have been out of production for many years and they are really hard to come by. At the time I had not really discovered eBay's scheduled searches, so this seemed like a good alternative. I had a handful of original figures which I had purchased at a local toy soldier show which could be used to seed my army. Out of principle I would never copy a figure that is still in production, and certainly never with the intent of reselling, regardless of whether it is still in production or not. The best way to keep the hobby going is to support the manufacturers that continue to produce figures today. Having said that, if you ever need to clone a figure that you can't get some other way, this is one way it can be done. Note that I have only attempted this once (it is a good amount of work), so I am by no means an expert. I am just passing on the knowledge I acquired. And I should also give credit, where it is due: Sheperd Paine's book 'How to Build Dioramas'. It is a great resource. 

Part I - Making the Mold

The first thing you need to do is make a 'bed' of modeling clay into which you will insert the figures you want to copy. The picture here shows the one I used (the original figures would also be present). I cut it into three parts when I put it away, but in reality it would be one whole piece. You will need to be careful to insert the figures in a way that none of the resulting mold will be trapped under the figure. This means that figures are sunk into the clay at different depths. While the natural inclination might be to leave half of the figure above the clay, in reality sometimes more and sometimes less than half the figure sticks out of the clay, and sometimes a part of a figure needs to be deeper than the rest of the body and viceversa. The original figure usually has a fine line showing where the two halves of the original mold met, so that will give you an idea of how to set the figures in the clay. You will also need to make a few indentations that will serve to lock the two halves of your mold in place (see vertical arrow). The other thing that you will need, is a strip of plastic or clay (not shown in the picture) to place where the horizontal arrow is, which will create the necessary space for the 'pouring sprue'.

The next thing you need is to build a box around the clay with enough elevation to hold the liquid rubber that will be poured on top of it. There are several ways of building such a box. This worked well for me since I was making a long mold. BTW, I should probably mention here that in retrospective it might be better to make individual molds for each figure. I initially thought that it would be more efficient to make a big one for the whole set. While it is true that making individual molds will use up more time and material, it will also be easier/cheaper to make a second mold of one figure if the first one does not turn out 100% to your satisfaction, which is likely be the case with your first tries.

To keep the box in place you can use a set of clamps. You really want to keep it all stable and tight.

Then you need your liquid rubber.  I used a product made by Smooth-On. They used to have a great starter kit that they would mail you for free with all the substances that you need and lots of instruction material. This box contained enough liquid rubber to make one half of the mold, so I still had to purchase a second box.

The liquid rubber comes in two bottles that will turn into solid when you mix them. The curing time for the rubber was fairly long that you do not need to worry about pouring it super quickly. The liquid plastic is another story, but we will get to that further below.

As I said, the Smooth-On products come with plenty of instructions. From a simple high-level summary in the back of the box to more detailed printed materials that guide you through the process.

Before you pour the liquid rubber on top of the clay/figures, you will want to coat then with the Sealing Agent (also from the Smooth-On starter kit), which makes sure that the rubber won't stick to the clay or the figures.

After pouring you will let it cure for several hours (see rubber instructions for precise time). This is how the first half looks after you flip it upside down and remove the layer of clay. Note that you should leave the figures in there. If you remove them it will be hard to set them back exactly as they were. Also the plastic or clay for the pouring sprue should remain in place.

Next you will want to assemble your super box around the first half of the mold in preparation for pouring another batch of liquid rubber to make the second half of the mold.

This time you will want to cover the lower half of the mold with the Mold Release Agent (bottle on the right). BTW, they both come with a spray cap.

After pouring the second batch of liquid rubber and letting it cure, you can then remove the figures and the plastic or clay for the pouring sprue and you should have two halves that match each other nicely. The  pegs that stick out on one of them fit into the holes on the other one and keep it all well in place.

Then comes a scary part. You will need to cut pouring channels into your mold, joining the figure cavity to the pouring sprue. As you can see, I cut two per figure. One of them is to pour in the liquid plastic. The second one is to let the air escape. I cut them large to allow the plastic to go in quickly. What I later realized is that it wasted quite a bit of plastic and also made it hard to cut them off from the final figure. So perhaps shorter  (setting the figures closer to the pouring sprue) and thinner might have worked out better.

It was after I cast my first figures that I ran into the real challenges. I kept getting air bubbles in my cast figures. The liquid plastic that I was pouring was quickly blocking both ducts, preventing the air from escaping. So I had to cut additional air escape ducts from where the air was getting trapped, usually the lowest points in the figures, or places where the plastic has to flow back up. If I were to do it all over again, I might have cut the air escape ducts in a better way. It got a bit messy and complicated, but hey, I was learning on the fly and I was really scared of ruining the molds.

Part II - Casting the Figures

OK, so next comes the step about pouring the liquid plastic. You will need to assemble your two halves into one, and hold it tight in place. To do that I made another wooden box that was held in place with a bigger set of clamps. Remember to coat both halves of your mold with the Release Agent. This will not only make it easy to remove the figures, but it will also preserve your mold, otherwise it starts to get little tears each time you remove a figure and those marks will show on the next figures you cast.

Then you are ready to pour. You will want to do so through one of the holes that you made on each figure. The liquid plastic also comes with the Smooth-On starter kit in two separate bottles that harden when you mix them. Note that they react within minutes, so you really need to work very fast. BTW, when you mix the liquid plastic that is also when you add a few drops of the color that you want for your figures. The plastic is some shade of white, so I added a handful of black drops into the mix which resulted in a light grey.  

So here is another mistake I made. The first time I poured the plastic I just emptied my mixing container on top of the pouring sprue. This was a bad idea. The first problem is that it blocked the air escape ducts, so the plastic never made it in. The second problem is that it created this block of wasted plastic the size of the pouring sprue.

Then I switched to injecting the plastic. I had to get a bigger syringe to hold enough plastic for all the figures. This was not without complications. If I was not fast enough and the plastic hardened within the syringe it was very difficult to clean up and after a while the tip of the rubber plunger stopped working properly (it would remain inside when I pulled the plunger out). But if you work quickly and can replace the syringe a few times, then this method worked OK. I would also recommend getting a plastic type with a longer curing time, even it it means waiting longer between each batch of figures that you cast (had I known better at the time!). Anyhow, after you pour the plastic, then you just wait the prescribed time, disassemble your box/mold and remove your figures. You will then need to cut off any plastic that remains attached to them from the injection/air ducts.

Part III - The Result

The clone is on the right. All the casts I made of this figure have that bubble on the chin. I think that was a defect on the mold, rather than an actual air bubble. After I took the picture I noticed that the house on the background (which is made of injected foam) also has similar defects on its stones.

It would be misleading to only show the pictures of the figures that turned out well. For every one that turned out acceptable, there were two or three that had some unacceptable defect. I believe I could get the success rate higher with a few adjustments, but for now I have the figures I wanted so no need to keep experimenting. And about casting other hard-to-find sets, if I can find them on eBay I'll gladly spare myself all this effort!

This is just another type of box that you can use to make your mold. It is too deep and too big for an individual figure, but the concept of how the parts fit with each other works well.

Here is a closer look at how it is built.

Click here to check out US Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out British Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Soviet Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out German Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Japanese Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out US Vehicles

Click here to check out British Vehicles

Click here to check out Soviet Vehicles

Click here to check out German Vehicles

Click here to check out Japanese Vehicles

Click here to see a post about Clones and Recasts

Click here to see a post with the original Italian Infantry figures

Painting Toy Soldiers

This is probably one of the most common questions that folks in the hobby have, and there are many good answers out there. I certainly spent my share of time looking for answers and I learned and benefited a lot from the experience of others and the knowledge that they have generously shared. This post is my attempt to 'pay it forward' by documenting and compiling a list of the tips and techniques that have worked the best for me.

1) Remove any excess plastic from the figures. Sometimes there's extra plastic at the seams where the two halves of the mold met, or at the points where the plastic was injected.

A snap-off knife like the one below works fairly well for this purpose.

2) Use an old toothbrush and a cup filled with dish detergent to wash the figures. Rinse well, and let dry completely. I usually let them dry overnight. Washing the figures well is probably the most important step to ensure that the paint will adhere to the figures. This is because during the manufacturing process, the mold is coated with a non-adhesive release agent so that the plastic does not stick to the mold, and some of the release agent gets transferred to the figures.

3) Apply a good coat of primer. I've read that it allows the paint to bond better, but for me the main reason to do it is that it lets me get away with doing only one coat of paint. Otherwise, depending on the color of the plastic and the color of the paint, you would need to apply a couple coats.

You want apply the primer homogeneously to the entire figure. Sometimes that can be tricky. I use a primer in spray form, like the one below, and what I do is a line up about 100 guys at a time on top of a 2x2 plywood board. I line them up in the standing position close enough to each other that I won't be wasting too much primer spraying the board, but far apart enough so that one guy does not block the primer meant for guys around it. Once I have sprayed them from above, front, behind, left and right and the primer has dried, I then place them on the board lying down so I can spray them from 'below' and reach between their legs, underneath their arms, beneath their weapons and packs, etc.

4) Now you are almost ready to paint. But before you apply the paint, you want to make sure you have a few brushes in good condition. I would say that you want about 3: One large brush for painting broad sections fast without attention to detail, like painting the base uniform color, or the ground color. A small brush for painting small things like shoes, backpacks, weapons, etc. This brush can also be used to 'cut' the edges/boundaries between colors. Lastly, a fine brush to paint thin things like straps and the fine detail on the figures. The smaller the brush the more important that it is still in good condition. One or two hairs sticking out can deposit paint where you don't really want it, and cause unnecessary touch up work. Rinse them as needed while you work and clean them well when you are done painting for the day.

Sample brushes. I actually have quite a few more, but you can really get by with 2-4.

5) A word about the paint. I use water-soluble/acrylic paints as they are easier to clean up and don't require to work in a well ventilated area as oil-based paints do, which is good during the winter. Now, here is the important point. You want to make sure that the consistency of the paint is adequate. By that I mean that it has not thickened to the point that it starts to clump on your brush. Otherwise, it makes the tip of your brush fat and ends up putting paint where you don't want it. Sticky/clumpy paint, can also remove paint from the figure from places where you just wanted to touch up. Stirring them at the beginning of your session and whenever you notice that the surface starts to thicken usually takes care of it, but at some point you will need to thin the paint. Some paints can be thinned with plain water, some paints require their own brand of water-based thinner, like the one below. Do what is called for by your specific brand of paint.

BTW, I have found that it is not a good idea to shake the paint containers as that leaves the inner part of the lid covered in paint, and when you close the container again, and that paint dries, sometimes it makes it really hard to open the container again, plus every time you do that, you'd be wasting the paint that covers the lid. Instead, you can use a thin wooden sticks (see picture below) to stir the paint. This takes care of mixing the paint well with minimum waste and no tight lid problems.

6) Now you are ready to paint. Many fellow figure painters recommend the tried-and-true technique of painting from the inside towards the outside. This means that you start with the hands, face and any exposed skin, then you move on to the uniform, and then the things on top of that. I also find this a good approach, but besides the order in which to paint things, I've discovered that giving consideration to the type of brush that you can use and the amount of cutting/edges that you need to paint can save you a good amount of work. So I generally do the following:
-use large brush to paint skin fast, without regard for painting beyond the actual skin surface
-use large brush to paint uniform pants and blouse fast, without regard for anything at the bottom of the pants, but making sure not to get any uniform color on the skin.
-use large brush to paint ground fast without regard for shoes, but avoiding any legs on the ground.
-use medium brush to cut uniform neck, cuffs, and the pant's leg openings.
-use medium brush to paint and cut shoes.
From here on it's a matter of painting weapons, equipment and the finer details, but in general, you try to use as big a brush as you can to paint as much surface quickly enough, and then you use the smaller brush to cut the transition lines. A good rule of thumb is to paint only as much detail as you can see when you hold the figure at arm's length, which is what you will normally be able to appreciate when you look at them in the course of playing or putting together a diorama. It's also the amount of detail that you would see if a real man were standing about 50 ft (15m) away. Then again, if you are planning to shoot pictures close up, like the ones I have been making for these posts, you might want to paint a bit more detail than I usually do.

7) After you are done painting you have a good looking figure, but you might not be able to do much with it besides looking at it or else the paint might chip off. If you want to use them for gaming or you don't want to have to worry about how to store them or transport them, then you want to apply some kind of protective finish. What I have found the best solution so far is to cover them in a coat or two of liquid rubber. I do two coats, just to be on the safe side. Since the rubber is elastic, it allows things like rifles to bend, without the paint cracking and coming off. There is a great product to do this called 'Plasti Dip'. It comes in spray and liquid formats and in multiple colors. Buy the clear color, in liquid form. The spray version does not work as it comes out too thick and creates big clumps on the figure.

To apply the Plasti Dip you will need to thin it with Turpentine, so you will want to do this in a very well ventilated area. Use an empty yogurt cup. Fill it up about a third of the way with Plasti Dip and another third with Turpentine. Stir well. Make sure the consistency is such that any excess will slide off the figure. If needed add more Turpentine. If the coat is too thick, you won't appreciate the figure's details. Hold the figure by the base and dip it into the cup. As you take it out, shake off the excess and let the figure drip back into the cup for a few seconds. Once you let the figure stand on its base, can wipe off any big droplets that might accumulate on the figure's chin, elbows, etc, where gravity pools the liquid rubber. You can use an old paint brush for this purpose. Let the figures dry overnight. The next day you can do the base. To let the base dry set the figures on their sides on a cutting board or something similar that will allow the base to hang over the side. Make sure you have protected your table surface with newspaper as the base might continue to drip. You can use this same technique to deal with figures without a base, doing one half first, letting the wet half hang over the cutting board while it dries and then doing the other half the next day. Once you get the hang of it, you can work on several figures at the same time (i.e. in between dipping guys you can go remove the excess drops from guys that you dipped earlier).

8) The only problem with the Plasti Dip is that well, it feels rubbery, so to give it a smooth finish I follow the Plasti Dip with a coat of liquid lacquer, the kind used to finish wood. I use Minwax water-based polycrylic protective finish.

The same dipping/drying techniques apply as described in the Plasti Dip point. BTW, you can use the satin finish for a shinier appearance or a matte finish for a more realistic look. These two steps do take a good amount of extra time, but IMHO they are well worth the effort as they do protect the investment you have made into painting your figures. I have not had a single paint chip in about five years, since I started using this finishing technique.

9) Lastly, depending on whether I want the figures to have a clean look or a rough/combat look, I might apply a coat of blackwash. To do this I use highly-watered-down black acrylic paint.

Make sure the paint is thin enough that it won't cover entire areas of the figure. The idea is to make it so thin that it will only accumulate in areas of the figure where there are folds or create the appearance of a random patch of dirt. Again, I use the yogurt cup dipping approach, with the cutting boards to aid with the drying. Note that you could probably perform this step before the Plasti Dip, but I usually do it at the end because it helps me remove the satin look of the liquid lacquer that I have.

Here's how the blackwash looks on an unpainted figure. BTW, this will be the rare time in which you will see me posting a non-WWII figure. The reason for this is that when I was experimenting with this technique, I actually tried it on a guy who I did not care that much about :-)

Well, this post turned out to be quite a bit longer than the bullet point list that I initially conceived, but I think it contains most of what you might need. Good luck with your projects!

Click here to check out US Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out British Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Soviet Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out German Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Japanese Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out US Vehicles

Click here to check out British Vehicles

Click here to check out Soviet Vehicles

Click here to check out German Vehicles

Click here to check out Japanese Vehicles

Click here to see some painted US infantry figures.

Here you can see some painted German Infantry figures.

Here are some pictures of British Infantry half-way painted.

Here's a post of painted British and Waffen SS figures in action.

Trench System

By now, the trench system used as the backdrop of some of the pictures from previous posts might be starting to look familiar, so today I'd like to share with you how that looks in its entirety and how it was built. How it looks really depends on how you want to set it up and how much space you have. The system is modular, with each piece measuring 1 square ft. The entrances to each trench piece are always located in the same place so that they can connect with any other piece as seen below.

I have built 18 pieces so far, and that allows me to build quite a few scenarios. There are corner pieces at a 90 degree angle, corner pieces at 45 degree angles, straight sections, semi-straight sections with a bend in the middle, a 4-way intersection, 3 way-intersections, a command bunker, a firing bay for a tank, an end section, a couple of firing bays for artillery pieces, and a couple of filler sections with craters on them.  Below are a couple of assembled configurations from past setups.

A setup in depth

A stretched out setup

In terms of how it was built, each piece is made with a plywood base. The trench itself is made with little wooden pieces from twigs and branches, glued with hot glue, using a 'glue gun'.

The slopes of the trenches are made using styrofoam, cutting away and scraping off what you don't need in order to give it some realistic profile. Note that the slope always has to be at the same angle if you want to ensure that it will align with any neighboring section.

The styrofoam is then covered with paper mache. The paper mache I use is called Celluclay. You just mix it with water and add some Elmer's glue to it and you are good to go.

Inserted into the paper mache you can add little rocks, logs (more little branches) and vegetation (decorative moss). When the paper mache dries it can painted over with acrylic paint.

Another configuration of the assembled trench system. This is as compact as it can get.

Click here to explore the many different configurations that can be built with the Trench System.

Here are some pictures of a company of German Infantry fighting in the trenches.