Shop Log - 6/28/22
Since my last update, I've been hard at work making fresh molds for my ongoing bootleg action figure projects and I think I finally have all that I’ll need for the foreseeable future (give or take a couple head molds). And while I’m still compiling a comprehensive article detailing my silicone mold making process, here’s a recap of my previous week of crafting.
I decided on what I want to do for
the very first figure in my Mr. Boneface figure series, namely a semi-translucent
green “Toxic Slime Pit” variant. Since I started pressure casting, I’ve been
wanting to do more with translucent figures since air bubbles are no longer a
major concern and I was thrilled when I was able to crack the code for what I
think is a really stunning green pigment for my Flex-It 90 resin. That is, two
drops of Special Resin and Chemical (SRC) brand Yellow pigment, six drops of
generic transparent green dye (this particular stuff is for epoxy resins and
Flex-It 90 is polyurethane resin, but it still worked out okay), and one TINY
droplet of SRC Green pigment on the end of my wooden stir stick. Like all the
figures in the line, the final pieces will have additional paint apps on the
head, trunks, boots, and wrist bands with this figure in particular sporting a
color palette heavily inspired by the Toxic Crusader/Avenger (hence why I went
with the banana skull head sculpt for this one). I’m also kicking around the
idea of including a little display stand with each figure but don’t hold me to
that one just yet.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWFcoTz6eewI2CY_2F310jiG-C5n1S5ABVvKZPd_WwuISCQtaBjdpJM-AMswbsswT36WSLLeITPt9yVYWz4aF5EhKZR2Tp7gMKQOMiY7voeqDzhMMxLFk2NzyF80Q8wpnmR5H3QKGV37IeHM9nJskAdsqhX1RcdOdbO0uuhcLKPJts5SuPAqGdB1o-jA/s320/1.%20Toxic%20Slime%20Pit%20Mr.%20Boneface%20(current%20crop).jpg)
Since I’d already completed a set
of molds for my Mr. Boneface/Basic MOTU KO body pattern the weekend prior, I
got to work casting the base figures so that I would have the entire run of
five pieces ready by the time I was ready to move on to the next stage. Though
I should probably note that I hadn’t decided yet if the next phase would be to
start prepping the five Toxic Slime Pit Mr. Boneface copies for their paint
apps or casting all the parts for the next figure in the wave (which I’ll keep
as a surprise for now, and much like the Toxic Slime Pit variant, it’s not one
of the potential designs that I “previewed” in my earlier Shop Log).
But before I was finished casting
the last piece, I did a bit of thinking as decided that the mold lines on the
arms stood out way too much and Flex-It 90 resin being as abrasion resistant as
it is, I knew that sanding them down would be no easy task and would probably
leave behind artifacts on the surface that would be every bit as obvious as the
mold lines themselves. You see, I did the initial molds for these arms the same
way I always have for action figure arms: using a two-part clay-up mold since I
was paranoid about the little socket in each of arms that connects them to the
ball joints on the torso not filling up properly with silicone. That’s when I
made the call to hit pause on the resin casting, put my fears aside, and re-do
the arms as a one part cut mold. This was a bit disappointing for me, since I’d
recently spent so much time making/remaking the molds for these (and other)
figures in my new SRC brand Cast-A-Mold silicone that I was beyond ready to
move on. But alas, this was not to be…
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-c15go5YeusCJgL_GpoT_fVOwhrO_Lwtnkjno3tE86QoxxaxbPbpDc5-k-dONtO4PPULxuSrK3pr2naOtlaRfbjc-rF0-Omsr5AjnVkDv62_yexZn1ucYvuhfvDm62ZnfmQneT-Fga4n8ok6stsr21j1zHkFHJ2oAOgaHxBENcbRMgTEEGzn9E1fBg/s320/2.%20Toxic%20Slime%20Pit%20Mr.%20Boneface.jpg)
In my experience, as well as the
experience of other hobbyists who are into this kind of thing, parts that are
casted from a one-part molds have considerably less flash (that’s excess
material that you have to peel, cut, or sand off when you first take a casted
piece out of its mold) and less pronounced mold lines than ones for a two-part
mold. So, along with a batch of other molds (which I’ll get to later), I once
again disassembled the still unidentified bootleg He-Man figure that has been
the basis for all my action figure molds up to this point and started gluing my
air vents and pour spots to the arms as well as the torso, because I can always
use a spare torso mold.
This is how I oriented the pieces
in their mold surrounds (plastic cups from the dollar store with the bottoms
cut off). This picture was taken before I pre-filled the sockets in the arms
with silicone, affixed the cups to an acrylic sheet with Loctite silicone
sealant (which I find is better than using hot glue, is easier to smooth out,
and is less prone to leaks). Again, details on that whole process will be
forthcoming in my mold-making article. But imagine these cups filled with
silicone rubber and that’s pretty much what the one-part molds look like.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6T_4UGxkP-AnTCshttwI2fm-dyTqQGxsBNaySQrFmcLHk2IViPQhBt_VDGdS8_tQEjqGARe2dSFRi2JdIOXW3FGikHLm_hv-VzzADETb6ti24uRaS4cU4ViWXWfDqLKz2LHVqM11v1x4nrcwxU6MQc5_NdaSdulL3Gc-9VQHJMwqeREsMHEmyrJPCA/s320/2.5%20Remaking%20Molds.jpg)
When the molds were complete and I
cut them open to extract the original parts, I was a bit concerned when I saw
that the “peg” on one of the molds was at a slight angle when it should have
been protruding straight out. Now, this peg creates the “socket” in the arm, as
it represents where the rubber flowed into that negative spare and cured
inside. This worried me because I thought it might alter the shape of the arm
socket when I poured in the resin and if that was messed up, then the arm
wouldn’t snap onto the torso and the entire thing would be useless.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzAtp3kuLRUUmd_Iu1sUaqTHwgrlTjp-xpyQUNem0EjRTra8CHX58VWDL6CWU1gensAKfDb51WT1M30I__GBsQqVPcpW0bqzW8gMtjaT_ZJNCxDrn1jlkZcUjWwiJmjq1cXlpPUuTezT9wo6074Jb-KDCbIlDgi1HSoggFwwteRqoagB3Sz4h08Qh6A/s320/3.%20MOTU%20KO%20Arm%20Mold%20Peg.jpg)
But thankfully, my fears were
unfounded and even after several subsequent castings, the arms connect to the
torso without any issue and the overall shape is unaltered despite the weird
aberration in the mold. And what’s more, the mold lines are considerably
smaller, require much less clean up, and generally look better than the ones
produced from the two-part molds. This is a test casting that I made, the
picture taken almost immediately after taking the molds out of the pressure pot
and demolding the pieces. I’m definitely going to stick with the one-part molds
for the arms going forward, as I’m much more satisfied with the results seen
here.
A side note, I wanted this test
figure to be a semi-translucent blue like Crystar the Crystal Warrior, so I
mixed the resin with some blue transparent resin dye (again, the generic stuff
used for epoxy resins) but since Flex-It 90 resin’s default color is a golden
amber/yellow, it just turned it a different shade of green. I kind of foresaw
that result, but I still wanted to see what happened.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdc8ifFKmXW_zfZsU57UJ7CC7VXDEQfGg1AS34CGqPMzXsO2nTEjRQUQvnc-4qPqoy3gEuiilF2JjInU12n-a-n5XZj6POqCGBWCr-8b_anVTZRtqJQwy9W8jHjdM6QVcIskDJgF98wWS1tfO2kfnebr_FFKevhIx8TgpIzEiRuMDqnNw_5i0-Le18w/s320/4.%20Figure%20Casting%20with%20Improved%20Arm%20Molding.jpg)
Now I just need to cast five new
sets of arms for my Toxic Slime Pit Mr. Boneface figures. Also, I’m probably
going to re-mold the bandana skull head too since (as you can see from the
pics), it’s still a bit rough on account of the mold I’m currently using being
from my first batch of “prototype” figures (and thus, made from silicone that
wasn’t vacuum degassed). So once that head mold is cured, I’ll have to do five
new head castings as well. Then I’ll hopefully be finished with the casting
stage for the Toxic Slime Pit Mr. Boneface.
And while we’re still on the
subject of mold making, I made molds for yet another bootleg action figure buck
body separate from the one seen above (and thus, the seeds for a series of
wrestling-themed bootlegs were planted). I found this very MOTY-inspired
luchador figure on ebay for about $6-7 bucks and being such a huge fan of
Mexican bootleg action figures, I couldn’t wait to take it apart and make a
whole new set of molds. What’s interesting here is that the head and waist are
connected to the torso via these long pegs instead of ball and socket joints.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHfLwK8GgWs2i_SFw2KaV4LFegWw1Tv_3t_iCx-tcARWZmuqxExA0VQOtgwoAUQ724hNqbqrxwlUfPBRduyrw_Yc-hhVihR8lkjwIeez90FMwmZ-GaGLhuH1eNfajEjD_MR-8j18FUNb99foA6kRbFbFx1MexiRbvnucqKvlks5-jJiWeXm3o1IXrAg/s320/5.%20Luchador%20and%20Disassembly.jpg)
What I foresaw as my biggest
challenge with molding this figure was the through-hole that runs the entire
length of the torso. It’s not the easiest thing to photograph, so I’m hoping
this wooden skewer illustrates the point (pardon the pun):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvA0IYewyDCo91fEs_M3diyD_7HUi0Ttnr2DWROA0W7r6fh4vtQ5bx0zb9oKu1KvuevquVedogZ3vQQlIBLJd9VuJbCbg3W0i5UKo33jelm1CPxX3-wi1PARGdr8B7A6Illjz3OKlgpFnNap-fyinuxLQVZgwAW0WrrkPGEEzjFtyO6Ahb88SNd_1mhQ/s320/6.%20Luchador%20Torso%20Through-Hole.jpg)
So I set the torso mold up like I
would any other torso piece with the pour spot/funnel glued to the neck area,
air vents glued to the ball joints where the arms attach, as well as some extra
vents on either side of the neck for additional venting and stability for when
I glue the funnel and vents to the bottom the plastic cup (leaving the torso
piece itself upside down in the cup). I poured the silicone in two batches, the
first one filling up the mold cup enough for the silicone to go past the funnel
and just up to the neck where the through-hole begins. I waited for it to
partially cure before, leaving me with a “floor” to where I could drizzle in
some more silicone to pre-fill the through-hole without it leaking out. Once
the through-hole was more or less filled up, I poured the rest of the second
batch of silicone around it
The final mold has this crazy long
peg where the negative space of the through-hole will be when resin is poured
into the mold. I’m not overly concerned with this peg tearing off in subsequent
castings since Cast-A-Mold silicone is incredibly tear-resistant and I’ll keep
it spritzed with mold release before every casting.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOMCp24LF6hPG0vtInNtKeV2EcRB6fgACgTNQLjHx023aV-CyuHWliZR9R7L8voniFLJ-6F-m1oA45hru7JmDDQKF_HKTl8QFdEVsc17RsrsoV_Ss3erTl7N1TdJbJBj184uWQEg4YKjzy1FVy4ePnHZUrNqukrBwkR6bUSjsZyPHB3YWym4BrLnr-w/s320/6.5%20Mold%20peg.jpg)
Molding the other pieces was
business as usual, though I regrettably had to use a two-part mold for the legs
because I wanted to have the pour spout attached to the end of the peg and not
pour in through the feet. It would have been too hard to keep the legs upright
in the cup if I went the one-part mold route.
To date, I’ve only made my initial
“clean-out” casting in flesh-colored resin to season the molds and aside from a
few scattered air bubbles (I tend to have those with initial castings despite
the pressure pot, with subsequent castings always turning out much cleaner), I
thought it turned out great.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9dNE53Cw819AhuRxBt_U4VTsu-CFWa1-5NycjPVOxaTuHVpjkqhSCG5Zf0OeNJ7nuQGUrXYvNiGhU22bj1vBc5RwYY-0yvDykfCFBlzEcMPdjhGiBgyF9460mf_QWx5ZcQAYIXjRkCCNsAfYUpOwdotj41f6mTbnYfoFdcCX-ycG-FMQUVFFEFNbTA/s320/7.%20Luchador%20Original%20and%20Recast.jpg)
I’m looking forward to doing more
with this luchador body pattern as well, as custom head sculpts will be even
easier than the typical ball-and-socket ones for my other MOTU KO buck system
since all I have to do is take the neck peg from an existing luchador head cast
and glue it to the bottom of my custom one.
But as of now, I’m still focused on getting my first wave of Mr. Boneface figures produced and up for sale on my Etsy store. At this time, I’m thinking of splitting the series up into two waves of three figures each (each figure with a highly limited run of five individually numbered pieces as I gauge the level of demand for this sort of thing). Expect more announcements on that in the very near future as well as some more behind-the-scenes articles detailing the making of my bootleg resin art toys.
Comments
Post a Comment