Baking resin

Becky,
Not sure what you m ean, but here are my steps:
1. Make a naked figure in the pose you want using Chris's method.
2. Get the sculpty figures face in step 1 as close as you can get, as well as any details of the body that will show up though the clothin or are not covered by the clothing.
3. Make a mold of the finish sculpty piece
4. Cast a couple of resin figures from the mold made in step 3
5. Use liquid sculpty, sculpty, cloth, paper, paint or even plasticine, to add the clothing and additional details you need to the naked casted resin piece from step 4.
(NOTE: If you use sculpty you will have to bake that before you use any of the other materials You will be baking the sculpty right to the resin piece)
6. Make a new mold of the piece finished in step 5 if you want to make multiples, or if you want, just paint and varnish and use the other blanks to make new characters.

Becky,
Once I create the resin blank in step 4. I add the fine facial detail using liquid sculpty, or paint, or plastincine, depending on the roughness or delicacy of the features being added. You can repeat this mold making process several times if need be to come out the texture and detail you want.
For smooth skin, I follow this method.
during steps 1 and 2 I smooth the unbaked sculpty with a curved dental probe dipped in rubbing alchol till it is shiny. I bake the piece and with a triple 0 pad I knock down any burs or roughness. I thin paint the baked sculpty with acrylic paints to seal the sculpty and to add fine detail before casting. This is only necessary for smooth skin. Rough skin with prominant features like Cy are best left un sealed and un painted, and the features are better handled with sculpty and liquid sculpty after step 4 is completed. I still use the curved dental probes, but no rubbing alchol.
Some other tools I use for adding details are already listed in Chris's article. At times, I will make up a special tool from different guages of wire to add a detail or feature that the standard tools aren't configured to do.
This type of on the spot tool making would take volumes to share. You have to sort of just go McGuiver on the project and come up with something that works. I've even made temp tools out of sculpty before, pieces of card stock, styrene, and even used nail sets from my carpenters tool bag aling with bent nails and shredded screws /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif


In the picture below, I actually made Dick's trench coat out of construction paper that I drapped over the cast resin figure.


 





The buckles on the sleaves and the belt are made of wire.


You go with the flow and use what works and you can't go wrong.

I bake my Sculpy figures in an old toaster oven. I traded my wife a new one for the old one. I place the figure in a throwaway aluminum-baking pan. The kind you might bake a small meat loaf in. I cover this with a sheet of aluminum foil with a couple of slits in to relieve any pressure that might develop from a tight seal. This helps to equalize the temperature variations that the toaster oven may develop from the heating elements being close to the figure. I use an oven thermometer to set the temperature, as the scale on the dial is not accurate. I usually make a saddle of crumpled up foil to keep the figure still and add a block of crumpled foil here or there to maintain a pose.

I have a set of scissor action tongs to remove the hot baking pan. It cools quickly so that I don’t burn my fingers on the pan.
The figure, however, is another matter. I am as impatient as the next guy. Also, I have used the slight pliability of the warm (hot) /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/cry.gif figure to adjust the angle of an arm or leg.

This has worked well for me and as Chris has noted the Sculpy is PVC. The buildup of a resedue from the Scuply in your kitchen oven is not recommended for health and spousal happiness.

My first figure, Red, head of the track gang. He's a little bug eyed, but if you had to work with layabouts on his track gang you would be too.



Regards,

Posted By rkapuaala on 01/03/2008 3:02 PM


I wanted to wait at least a year to share this info to confirm that it was even possible much less safe.



A lot of you folks have asked, how I make my figures and get the type of detail I get. The secret is in the resin.



 I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I am very impressed with your figures. I looked at your website and identified several that I intend to eventually add to my Phase III layout.  In fact you have one or two proposed ones I am very interested in. Great work. Absolutely first-class--and unique as well, especially since you're using Native prototype people for some of the figures. I really like that.

My regards,
Ron in Alaska

Thanks Ron,
I try to do people that have a real history. It makes model railroading more interesting to me. I just finished one today that might interest some. He is a character from my past, on the road days. He called himself Hobo Joe and claimed to be the last of the rail riders. He was trying his hand at hitch hiking because (according to him) the rails weren't as reliable as they use to be. This was in 1973. He was a character all right. He wore this beat up old hat with the front of the brim folded up and pined to the crown with a McGovern campaign pin. His dress shirt looked like it double as a napkin and a face towel. His tweed suit was a mismatch sports coat and cuff less paints. He always kept a bottle of something in his right sports coat pocket; called it his medicine allways followed with a wink. He had a leathery wrinkled face with tuffs of stringy white hair bursting out from his face and hat and finally a toothless grin, showing only molars.
I've just finished the sculpty prototype and will start the mold next week. I'll get some images up in a separate topic sometime around Tuesday as I am finishing up the mold for the seated princess now.