Thread: Resin casting kit advice

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While at Hobby Lobby today, I saw a resin casting kit supposedly suitable for small sculptures. Does anyone have any experience or advice with such products? My nerves may never recover from my plaster mold making days for slip-casting porcelain, but the instructions made the process look simple enough. I need to make an army of rats, and being able to mold multiple heads, feet, and possibly tails from my own sculpts would shortcut the process considerably. (The bodies will be wire and soft sculpture, so no need for casting on those parts).

I would love to use resin to cast the solid bits I'll need for this project but hesitate to risk the cost of the kit, even with a 40% off coupon, without knowing that it is relatively goof-proof. Recommendations as to other casting kits also welcome.

The kits at Hobby Lobby are cute and all.... but you get better product, and more of it from Smooth-On - Mold Making and Casting Materials for a World of Applications! Or polytech on the West Coast, which has most of the same stuff. IF nothing else, I recomend reading the how to's and whatnot at SmoothOn.

Safety first... Nitrile gloves and safety glasses.

Accurate measuring, generally its a 50/50 mix. Graduate cylinders one for each component. A & B. A is probably Isocyanate, and B is probably Poly {mostly vegetable oil}, it is a good idea to mix the B component before combining with the A component. Once A & B are combined the clock is ticking. Stir until they turn amber. Once they go amber you have 1 - 2 minutes to pour before it sets up {the MSDS should mention "pot life"} . It will get about 300F when it sets up. ANY moisture will cause a violent reaction and make it foam.

How BIG are the rat parts???? Rigid foam might be more ecomomical.

Ideally, ina perfect world with unlimited resources... I would do brush on silicon for the mold. Then do a backup shel with flex foam {like Nerf ball foam} with would result in mold like those silicon muffin pans. {actually smooth-on sells the food safe silicon for making those type baking pans}

I fully agree with Rojellio, smooth-on has a great starter kit. Very important note is to use sulphur free clay when making your sculpts. A small starter kit is $70.00. It includes everything you need to make a successful mold and casting. I just switched over to smooth-on products and couldn't be happier. And remember, you can always add a filler to your resin to extend the volume.

I have to agree that this site Smooth-On - Mold Making and Casting Materials for a World of Applications!, is the best so far. There is another one here BITY Mold Supply - Mold Making, Mold Rubber and Casting Resins | Home.

There are many products to work with.

Thanks for the advice. I knew buying that kit was going to be too simple. Have any of you tried casting from a polymer clay original? I know sulfur content is usually listed on modeling clays but no such luck with polymer that I've been able to find.

I am into painting resin figures and mold making and casting so this topic comes up alot on another forum I frequent, e2046.com. Smooth on is a great company, I emailed them and received excellent personal tips for my projects. You can even call them, very personable customer service. The tutorials are very easy to understand as well. The product is super nice quality in and of itself, but there are other further refined resins you can use from japan that is also nice, but that type is for figures you want to display in a cabinet, not outside elements I highly recommend checking out the smooth on site, they literally have everything you would need. Some local companies may carry these products, saving shipping, but compare prices first. I know of local hobby train shops that get the smooth on products for casting their parts for displays.