Thanks for kind words. It seems that these boards limit the number of times your signature appears to once per page to cut down on clutter. Have a look near the top for a link to my shop The Dark Works. <- or click here
So, as one last serious article before I get swamped under by school for the next 14 weeks, I've got a mix of tools, techniques, and materials to ramble about. Get comfy, it's going to be a big one. First up, a bit of home made kit...
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The Easy-Bake Oven has nothing on this simple setup; I give you the Greenstuff Oven. Or maybe it should be called the Kneadatite Kiln so it sounds more sophisticated.
I like to use standard arm lamps around my studio, especially at my painting bench. They're a low-cost lighting solution that is useful with how adjustable they are. They're also prone to wearing out and braking, since they're not exactly expensive; easy to replace, but now I also have a use for the left over lamp. By adding an incandescent light bulb and combining it with a coffee can, it produces and stores just enough heat to speed the cure of epoxy putty, without endangering any resin or plastic.
The foiled cardboard of this coffee can makes it perfect for the task. Any properly size container will do, but the reflective nature of this type of can helps improve the effect. The bulb is 25w, and that is the perfect strength; I also tested a 15w bulb which didn't generate enough heat, and 40w which was enough to cause styrene to start warping. I've used it with the 25w bulb on several objects (some very delicate) with no adverse effects to the styrene or resin.
I would estimate that this little oven cuts the cure time of Greenstuff in half, and helps to alleviate one of the things I hate about working with it; to do Greenstuff sculpting work well, many times you need to work in layers. And I hate waiting for layers to cure so I get discouraged to even start some projects. It's far from instant, but it certainly helps.
![]()
A simple trick for improving the pins used to hold a build or conversion together, I've been meaning to show this tip for a long time.
Pins are essential to help certain builds stay together, it's as simple as that. any pin is good, but there's a super simple way to make them better; add texture.
1) I consider a good set of pliers an all-round must have tool for any bench; sometimes you just need the gripping power. I make sure mine have very well defined teeth in the jaws of the pliers for just for the following purpose.
2) By gripping the pin wire in the pliers and twisting it several times you can score some texture into the pin. You want to grip it tightly so that the teeth bite into the metal a bit, but don't go overboard. Work you way down the wire to make a good length of textured wire.
3) With this added texture on the wire, super glue will have something much more substantial to lock into as it dries. This simple change takes just a few seconds to do, but it will make pinned joints much stronger against both twisting and pulling forces. I actually dread the idea of trying to dismantle anything I've assembled with these pins; they work so well that may times the only way to remove something mounted with one, is by destroying it.
![]()
I've mentioned adding a second metal point to a compass and using it to cut circles, and here's how I use it to do just that.
1) Tilt the compass and gently scribe the circle into the plastic. Take your time, it will cut rather well with modest pressure and several passes. This can work on surprisingly thick card to get very accurate circles; here I'm cutting 1.5mm styrene sheet. Start with the first circle at the size you want. It's best to cut the circle slightly larger then what will be needed; the edge of the cut will be a bit rough and you'll want to file and/or sand to finish, and that will shrink it a little bit.
2) Use a fine pin to poke the center point through the plastic. All you need is a point to use as a guide on the other side, so it doesn't need to be rammed through, but it will depend on the thickness of the material what kind of pressure you'll need to get at least a small point to work with.
3) The act of cutting the circle can force the compass out of alignment, be sure to test that it's still the right size before you flip and cut a second circle on the other side of the plastic. Naturally, you want to closely match the first circle. How deep you need to cut will really depend on the thickness of the material, but you'll be surprised that it doesn't need to be very deep for the next step to work every time.
![]()
Great thing about styrene, it loves to bend and snap on a cut line, even if it's not that deep. The break will even usually be a clean 90 degrees many times.
1) Simply bend the sheet firmly but carefully to split the scribed line into a proper break. Do it gently in both directions to get an even break from both sides.
2) Work around the circle and weaken the grip it has on the sheet with the bending action. Stiff areas near the edge of sheets can be stubborn to do with fingers, just use your handy-dandy pliers to help with the job.
3) Once you've worked around the circle it will reach a point where it will all but fall out of the sheet. It will be a bit rough around the edge, but still very clean and accurate.
4) It's already marked with a perfectly centered point for drilling for all sorts of purposes, if it's useful. Great for adding magnetic plates to tank turrets, for example.
![]()
Used to carefully apply super glue, I managed to break this little tool cleaning it after using it during the Decimator build, so I'll take the opportunity to show how to make one.
I was turned on to this wonderful little tool idea by the thread A Detailed Quality build of a Storm Eagle. This tutorial in general is a wealth of insight into the experience of assembling an advanced Forge World model. Not only does the author detail the problems and fixes for the model and build, but also many extra efforts taken to do add many extra details to the kit. Truly inspiring and informative, and this tool is a perfect example.
You'll want somewhat larger needles to make one of these. A few different sizes for different jobs is never a bad thing. A pack of needles will cost a few dollars, and the extra needles you don't used will always be useful as actual needles.
![]()
You can buy these tools already made from some hobby suppliers, but making them is so easy, it seems silly to spend more than $2 for some needles.
1) You'll need to nip off the end of the needle to get the desired forked shape. Be aware that needles are made from extremely hard steel (A jewelers saw-blade in my jigsaw would not cut this needle) and will most likely leave divot marks in the clipper's cutting blades. I have a set of cheaper clippers for doing such potentially damaging jobs.
2) Take care when you clip off the end, the bit will fly like a tiny missile; safety goggles are advised. This is what you want, but it's going to be rough and need some cleanup.
3) I start with a sanding block with 320 grit sandpaper to clean and shape the ends. Again, because the needle is so hard you'll need to use black silicon carbide sandpaper. Once i have the shape I work up to higher grit to smooth the finish.
4) With some loose sandpaper the inside of the tines are cleaned up and shaped a little.
5) To finish them, I work up to 600 grit and then 800 grip to get a nice finish on the surface. you want them to have a clean finish so they are easier to clean. Since they're used with super glue it's inevitable that the glue will build up on them and need to be removed while in use; a smooth surface will avoid buildup in the first place, and scrape clean easier when you need to.
![]()
Behold the amazing power of... Capillary Action! It happens so quickly I can be tricky to photograph so the middle shot is a bit out-of-focus.
Just touching the tool to a drop of liquid glue will cause the capillary action to pull a small measure of glue into the tool. Again, the photos for this are a little tricky; clear glue doesn't photograph well. Give it a try and you'll quickly see; touch the tool to a gap or join that you want to apply glue to and capillary action will pull the glue from the tool and into the gap/join.
By placing the hoses for the Decimator in drilled holes first to test and adjust the fit, and then carefully applying glue with this tool, I was able to lock these hoses in place without any messy glue buildup or mishaps. I've even carefully glued some of these hoses together to help lock them tight, and the light touch of this tool helped keep it very clean.
![]()
I've been using the pictured Mold Star 30 for years, and while I like how it performs I was interested in improving my moulds.
Put simply, resin casting moulds (all moulds, really) wear out. The plastic while it is in liquid form is actually very volatile and will actually attack rubber little-by-little as the mould is exposed to the plastic over-and-over. The plastic also produces a significant amount out heat while it cures, and I'm sure that can't help. And then there's the simple act of the object being pulled free from the mould's surface, slowly wearing away at the rubber. Many times you also need to bend and flex the mould to free an object, which is also hard on a mould, especially as it gets older.
It's no wonder moulds will dry out like the one pictured here; the pale colour of the left mould is an indicator of the age of this mould. At first, the discolouration has no effect on the cast quality, but as it expands it will make the surface so brittle that it's only a matter of time before defects start to appear.
![]()
So, in the spirit of exploring my options I chose to try some new products to see if I can improve my the lifespan of my moulds.
Mould Max 30, as the name might suggest, is rather similar to Mould Star 30, but it boasts a better tear strength, a long mould life, and it's bit stiffer once cured which helps to ensure items don't deform during casting work. Where the Mold Start is a 50/50 mix, Mold Max 30 is mixed 10-to-1. Mould Max 30 also takes 24 hours to fully cure opposed to just 8 hours for Mould Star 30. Mold Star 30 also pours noticeably faster (it's less viscous) then the Mold Max 30, so it doesn't catch bubbles as easily; Mold Max 30 benefits from being vacuum degassed before pouring a mould.
Both rubbers perform very well, but it seems like the Mold Max 30 is in fact aging better. It will take more use to see how it holds up over the long term. Its tear strength and stiffness is also noticeably improved, but all of these improvements come at the need for equipment to get the most out of it, and the longer curing time. I would still recommend the Mold Star 30 as the better general use rubber for the average hobbyist, but if you can do it right, Mold Max 30 can be worth the effort.
Finally, a few words about the mould release I use. Mann Release 205 is general purpose release that I've been using for years, and it does a great job, but it's not perfect. It's very thin and requires a separate spray bottle that never works as well as it could. I still rely on 205 during my mould making because of how good it is for treating the split for the mould.
But for actual casting I'm really liking the Mann Release 200 that I have started using in the last few months. It's a canned aerosol product that goes on very lightly and smoothly, and it even treats the surface of the mould so that the castings have a wonderfully smooth surface. The only down side of this release agent is how quickly it gets used up. It doesn't need to be applied heavily, but if you're doing lots of casting it will gobble up a can in no time at all, even if you use it sparingly. The good stuff never lasts as long as you'd like.
And on that note, thanks for reading. As always, things are brewing in the background as I'm grinding through my college work and I'll be ready to jump on things once I can get back in the studio. Classes finish at the end of April, so expect some garbled ramblings to emerge sometime shortly after. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze something in before then, but time will tell.
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast." ~ Ace Rimmer
So, as one last serious article before I get swamped under by school for the next 14 weeks, I've got a mix of tools, techniques, and materials to ramble about. Get comfy, it's going to be a big one. First up, a bit of home made kit...
The Easy-Bake Oven has nothing on this simple setup; I give you the Greenstuff Oven. Or maybe it should be called the Kneadatite Kiln so it sounds more sophisticated.
I like to use standard arm lamps around my studio, especially at my painting bench. They're a low-cost lighting solution that is useful with how adjustable they are. They're also prone to wearing out and braking, since they're not exactly expensive; easy to replace, but now I also have a use for the left over lamp. By adding an incandescent light bulb and combining it with a coffee can, it produces and stores just enough heat to speed the cure of epoxy putty, without endangering any resin or plastic.
The foiled cardboard of this coffee can makes it perfect for the task. Any properly size container will do, but the reflective nature of this type of can helps improve the effect. The bulb is 25w, and that is the perfect strength; I also tested a 15w bulb which didn't generate enough heat, and 40w which was enough to cause styrene to start warping. I've used it with the 25w bulb on several objects (some very delicate) with no adverse effects to the styrene or resin.
I would estimate that this little oven cuts the cure time of Greenstuff in half, and helps to alleviate one of the things I hate about working with it; to do Greenstuff sculpting work well, many times you need to work in layers. And I hate waiting for layers to cure so I get discouraged to even start some projects. It's far from instant, but it certainly helps.
A simple trick for improving the pins used to hold a build or conversion together, I've been meaning to show this tip for a long time.
Pins are essential to help certain builds stay together, it's as simple as that. any pin is good, but there's a super simple way to make them better; add texture.
1) I consider a good set of pliers an all-round must have tool for any bench; sometimes you just need the gripping power. I make sure mine have very well defined teeth in the jaws of the pliers for just for the following purpose.
2) By gripping the pin wire in the pliers and twisting it several times you can score some texture into the pin. You want to grip it tightly so that the teeth bite into the metal a bit, but don't go overboard. Work you way down the wire to make a good length of textured wire.
3) With this added texture on the wire, super glue will have something much more substantial to lock into as it dries. This simple change takes just a few seconds to do, but it will make pinned joints much stronger against both twisting and pulling forces. I actually dread the idea of trying to dismantle anything I've assembled with these pins; they work so well that may times the only way to remove something mounted with one, is by destroying it.
I've mentioned adding a second metal point to a compass and using it to cut circles, and here's how I use it to do just that.
1) Tilt the compass and gently scribe the circle into the plastic. Take your time, it will cut rather well with modest pressure and several passes. This can work on surprisingly thick card to get very accurate circles; here I'm cutting 1.5mm styrene sheet. Start with the first circle at the size you want. It's best to cut the circle slightly larger then what will be needed; the edge of the cut will be a bit rough and you'll want to file and/or sand to finish, and that will shrink it a little bit.
2) Use a fine pin to poke the center point through the plastic. All you need is a point to use as a guide on the other side, so it doesn't need to be rammed through, but it will depend on the thickness of the material what kind of pressure you'll need to get at least a small point to work with.
3) The act of cutting the circle can force the compass out of alignment, be sure to test that it's still the right size before you flip and cut a second circle on the other side of the plastic. Naturally, you want to closely match the first circle. How deep you need to cut will really depend on the thickness of the material, but you'll be surprised that it doesn't need to be very deep for the next step to work every time.
Great thing about styrene, it loves to bend and snap on a cut line, even if it's not that deep. The break will even usually be a clean 90 degrees many times.
1) Simply bend the sheet firmly but carefully to split the scribed line into a proper break. Do it gently in both directions to get an even break from both sides.
2) Work around the circle and weaken the grip it has on the sheet with the bending action. Stiff areas near the edge of sheets can be stubborn to do with fingers, just use your handy-dandy pliers to help with the job.
3) Once you've worked around the circle it will reach a point where it will all but fall out of the sheet. It will be a bit rough around the edge, but still very clean and accurate.
4) It's already marked with a perfectly centered point for drilling for all sorts of purposes, if it's useful. Great for adding magnetic plates to tank turrets, for example.
Used to carefully apply super glue, I managed to break this little tool cleaning it after using it during the Decimator build, so I'll take the opportunity to show how to make one.
I was turned on to this wonderful little tool idea by the thread A Detailed Quality build of a Storm Eagle. This tutorial in general is a wealth of insight into the experience of assembling an advanced Forge World model. Not only does the author detail the problems and fixes for the model and build, but also many extra efforts taken to do add many extra details to the kit. Truly inspiring and informative, and this tool is a perfect example.
You'll want somewhat larger needles to make one of these. A few different sizes for different jobs is never a bad thing. A pack of needles will cost a few dollars, and the extra needles you don't used will always be useful as actual needles.
You can buy these tools already made from some hobby suppliers, but making them is so easy, it seems silly to spend more than $2 for some needles.
1) You'll need to nip off the end of the needle to get the desired forked shape. Be aware that needles are made from extremely hard steel (A jewelers saw-blade in my jigsaw would not cut this needle) and will most likely leave divot marks in the clipper's cutting blades. I have a set of cheaper clippers for doing such potentially damaging jobs.
2) Take care when you clip off the end, the bit will fly like a tiny missile; safety goggles are advised. This is what you want, but it's going to be rough and need some cleanup.
3) I start with a sanding block with 320 grit sandpaper to clean and shape the ends. Again, because the needle is so hard you'll need to use black silicon carbide sandpaper. Once i have the shape I work up to higher grit to smooth the finish.
4) With some loose sandpaper the inside of the tines are cleaned up and shaped a little.
5) To finish them, I work up to 600 grit and then 800 grip to get a nice finish on the surface. you want them to have a clean finish so they are easier to clean. Since they're used with super glue it's inevitable that the glue will build up on them and need to be removed while in use; a smooth surface will avoid buildup in the first place, and scrape clean easier when you need to.
Behold the amazing power of... Capillary Action! It happens so quickly I can be tricky to photograph so the middle shot is a bit out-of-focus.
Just touching the tool to a drop of liquid glue will cause the capillary action to pull a small measure of glue into the tool. Again, the photos for this are a little tricky; clear glue doesn't photograph well. Give it a try and you'll quickly see; touch the tool to a gap or join that you want to apply glue to and capillary action will pull the glue from the tool and into the gap/join.
By placing the hoses for the Decimator in drilled holes first to test and adjust the fit, and then carefully applying glue with this tool, I was able to lock these hoses in place without any messy glue buildup or mishaps. I've even carefully glued some of these hoses together to help lock them tight, and the light touch of this tool helped keep it very clean.
I've been using the pictured Mold Star 30 for years, and while I like how it performs I was interested in improving my moulds.
Put simply, resin casting moulds (all moulds, really) wear out. The plastic while it is in liquid form is actually very volatile and will actually attack rubber little-by-little as the mould is exposed to the plastic over-and-over. The plastic also produces a significant amount out heat while it cures, and I'm sure that can't help. And then there's the simple act of the object being pulled free from the mould's surface, slowly wearing away at the rubber. Many times you also need to bend and flex the mould to free an object, which is also hard on a mould, especially as it gets older.
It's no wonder moulds will dry out like the one pictured here; the pale colour of the left mould is an indicator of the age of this mould. At first, the discolouration has no effect on the cast quality, but as it expands it will make the surface so brittle that it's only a matter of time before defects start to appear.
So, in the spirit of exploring my options I chose to try some new products to see if I can improve my the lifespan of my moulds.
Mould Max 30, as the name might suggest, is rather similar to Mould Star 30, but it boasts a better tear strength, a long mould life, and it's bit stiffer once cured which helps to ensure items don't deform during casting work. Where the Mold Start is a 50/50 mix, Mold Max 30 is mixed 10-to-1. Mould Max 30 also takes 24 hours to fully cure opposed to just 8 hours for Mould Star 30. Mold Star 30 also pours noticeably faster (it's less viscous) then the Mold Max 30, so it doesn't catch bubbles as easily; Mold Max 30 benefits from being vacuum degassed before pouring a mould.
Both rubbers perform very well, but it seems like the Mold Max 30 is in fact aging better. It will take more use to see how it holds up over the long term. Its tear strength and stiffness is also noticeably improved, but all of these improvements come at the need for equipment to get the most out of it, and the longer curing time. I would still recommend the Mold Star 30 as the better general use rubber for the average hobbyist, but if you can do it right, Mold Max 30 can be worth the effort.
Finally, a few words about the mould release I use. Mann Release 205 is general purpose release that I've been using for years, and it does a great job, but it's not perfect. It's very thin and requires a separate spray bottle that never works as well as it could. I still rely on 205 during my mould making because of how good it is for treating the split for the mould.
But for actual casting I'm really liking the Mann Release 200 that I have started using in the last few months. It's a canned aerosol product that goes on very lightly and smoothly, and it even treats the surface of the mould so that the castings have a wonderfully smooth surface. The only down side of this release agent is how quickly it gets used up. It doesn't need to be applied heavily, but if you're doing lots of casting it will gobble up a can in no time at all, even if you use it sparingly. The good stuff never lasts as long as you'd like.
And on that note, thanks for reading. As always, things are brewing in the background as I'm grinding through my college work and I'll be ready to jump on things once I can get back in the studio. Classes finish at the end of April, so expect some garbled ramblings to emerge sometime shortly after. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze something in before then, but time will tell.
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast." ~ Ace Rimmer
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