Tuesday 16 February 2021

Conversion Casting Craziness


Oyumaru reusable thermoplastic, the blue stuff, is a pretty useful tool for those who want to replicate parts that are no longer available. Strictly speaking, my casting old RAFM parts skirts perilously close to piracy, except for the whole not available for 20+ years thing of a long defunct product.

BTW: If the owner of the RAFM original masters wants me to pay, or can supply me with castings, then I'd be happy to oblige.

So I cast a few bits & pieces, more as a way to experiment with the thermoplastic. It's a yes, no, and maybe on the results.

The tiny antennae, above left, were mostly unusable. The canvas rolls were fine. I'm going to experiment more with the mixture of the putty. Pure Kneadite is too flexible. Milliput seems okay, so far. A mixture of both is a bit hit and miss.

It's a toughness versus detail choice.

Anyway, I cast a sole from another model for the reposed leg of one of my work's in progress, because the bottom of the foot is noticeably bare of detail. You can clearly see where I am with the repose.

I'm having to build the joint and beef up detail on the casting that was worn/damaged/miscast.

And I had to go back and redo the exhaust on the other conversion I'm working on.

And I really pulled the boat out on the feet by taking the time to articulate the ankle, which will allow me to make an otherwise static pose look a bit more dynamic with the foot adjusting to irregularities in the ground.

That's all for now, because it's my birthday, and I have things to do...

12 comments:

  1. If it's for your own entertainment it's probably not illegal.
    Been trying multiple things with Oyumaru myself but haven't found the right formula yet.
    A great way to spend your birthday though, doing what you love.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably not illegal. Better not tell anyone what I'm doing then. ;-)

      Delete
  2. Happy Birthday! And good luck with the press casting. My only successes were with pieces that had no detail (i.e. Flat side) in one dimension like flat icons. You came to my rescue though with the heads thankfully. I didn't have easy availability for Oyumaru at the time so my technique was admittedly substandard on top of my inexperience.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I see you've been very quiet on your blog, so I hope things are okay?

      The castings here are still a WIP as I'm not totally satisfied. But there again I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

      Delete
    2. Well, at least you can always fall back on your sculpting that is also better than mine! :) Thanks and, yeah, it's been quiet. I haven't been motivated much to do things digitally and it's too cold to print anything new out either. Local gaming is still out for me as its digital only and even that's been at best sputtering. I'm hoping the warm weather will improve some of the above so that I'll endeavor to be up to half as productive as you. :)

      Delete
    3. Oh, it's that bad, huh!? Only half joking, but you know what I mean.

      Delete
  3. Does anyone know who happens to own the original masters? If I had the funds I've jokingly considered approaching Dream Pod 9.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honestly don't know, but it has to be either Robert or RAFM. It's unlikely said masters still exist though.

      Delete
  4. Happy Birthday. Hopefully your efforts will come to a good fruition when the pieces are finally assembled.
    Stephen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you.

      All I'm going to say now is, you betcha! ;-)

      Delete