In my last post I talked a bit about the product "Instant Mold". This post will cover some of the results of that initial investigation. With the pattern (aka mould) already made I grabbed and mixed some green stuff, I'm sure you could use any modelling putty.
It is a simple case of filling the pattern and, because this was a two part mould, pushing the two parts together. There is a great benefit to the "Instant Mold" being clear now, because you can see where the green stuff has, or has not filled the detail. In the images above you can see that a solid green colour indicates full detail, whilst clear air bubbles help point to places that either need more pressure or more greenstuff!
I then left the house for the day, and on my return pulled apart the two part pattern to reveal the new green stuff cast. Although the green stuff was "sticky" it did not actually STICK to the "Instant Mold", but it was clear that the putty was not properly cured. This is probably partly to do with the fact that it doesn't get air to help it along, but also just due to the sheer bulk of the component (I'mmuch more used to working with smaller quantities for fine details.
Here is the end result of my first test. As you can see, it needs a lot of cleaning up and there are some holes that will need filling too. But whilst that was going on I threw another batch of green stuff into the pattern to cure.
At first glance the results look great. But there are limitations, particularly on a part like this hammer head. The most troublesome thing I found in my initial casts was that despite bending the "Instant Mold" to help me line up the halves more easily, they just did not always meet properly... this resulted in hammer heads which were wider at the top than they should have been, as well as a double-moulded shaft head. I had to bin more than I could save!
Still, undeterred I set about trying a different component.
I was surprised to find that the Grey Knight Psycannons came out MUCH better! I was able to make two extra Psycannons out of Green Stuff which were pretty good matches and importantly, meant that I didn't have to head to a bits supplier who would have charged me well over the odds for them! Again, there was a slight issue with some fine detail but for the most part they look the part quite convincingly.
In summary, I think there is a great dealof mileage for using "Instant Mold" to create additional components. My initial experiments showed that it is a bit trickier than you might first think, but this is probably because I jumped in at the deep end to create a 2-part pattern. A simple press mould would be much easier but has limits on what can be created. Of course, there is always the option to create two (or more) separate press moulds and then glue the separate components together!
However, if this has taught me one thing... (other than I needed to buy more fresh green stuff) it is that you don't have to be limited by what you have...
