Bases and the New Shelves

So I was pretty busy yesterday to post anything new.  I managed to cast the mold a couple times, so now I have plenty of bases to paint.

 

Yep, that is about 50 bases.  I would continue to cast some more, but this is plenty to get me started for the time being.  I just took them to sink a few minutes ago and cleaned the mold release residue off, so now they're ready to be primed and painted.

The new shelves for my case came in today.  Now I must say that I really like the Ikea Detolf glass case, but the problem is that the spaces are too big and they don't nearly give you enough shelves.  For $65 dollars though, its still a good buy.  I didn't want to do any major remodeling to the case, but I didn't want it to look like I "jerry-rigged" something together.  I did a little bit of research and I found these wire rope clamps at Home Depot.  I found that with the 3/32 to 1/8 in, you either get a perfect fit, or it just a hair to snug which you have to bend out so the clamp will go around the bar.


Here is what it looks like...

 

Personally, I think it looks pretty good.  Trying to measure the correct height on each one was a hassle due to the fact that its a tight fit, but with a little perseverance and trial and error, we got it on.

More Greenstuff Bases

So last night after I posting about my green stuff bases, I checked to see how the green stuff was curing and it was pretty solid.  So, I decided to pour the mold before bed so I could start working on these bases all day tomorrow without having to worry about the 4-6 hour dry time for the mold.  Here is how it turned out 

  

I think it turned out pretty good, other than the fact that everything is bunched up to the left.  I was worried this morning about wrecking the mold because I forgot to hit the originals with mold release before I poured it.  Alas, everything turned out pretty good with minimal air bubbles.  I had to muscle a few of the legos off the side, but everything turned out pretty good.

As for the plastic that I'm using, its this stuff....

 

Smooth-Cast 300.  Its pretty good stuff.  It cures in a little under 10 minutes.  You can purchase this stuff and Mold Star 15 at www.smooth-on.com/ for around $25 for the 2 part Smooth Cast and $30 for the 2 part Mold Star.

 As far as the casting goes, the mold I made cast pretty well.  I screwed up at the bottoms because I didn't scrape the top of the mold, but that can be rectified easily.  Since these were the test ones, I wanted to paint them up to see how the details hold.

 

I took this picture because I wanted to show the masters with the cast ones with a paint job.  The details looked pretty good.  As far as the paint job goes, it looks a little too stoney and bland to me, but I went with a straight grey pattern to white because I wanted to really see the details and how they pop with a strong highlight.  When I repaint these, when I go from my dark to my mid grey tone, I'm going to do a quick reddish brown (doombull brown) and a mid-tone brown (mournfang brown) in between to give it a more earth tone.  Stone work (even cobblestone) is not straight grey.  It has a brownish and even greenish tones in it as well as your grey and white tones.

I would've casted a bunch more today, but I was working on my ikea glass case in where I put my finished miniatures.  I've pretty much run out of room, so I'm adding more shelves.  I went to a glazier on friday, and I'm having 3 more shelves made which will be in on tuesday.  I mounted the brackets today which will hold the new shelves to the frames and I had to find an alternative area to put my miniatures till the new shelves come in.  I'll post some pictures when the new shelves come in.

 

Green Stuff Bases

So after a few hours of dabbling with green stuff and sculpting, I finally have the 8 master bases done.  After I cranked out the first 3, I started getting quicker with them, trying to make each unique.

I experimented with a couple, trying to add different textures.  I'm hoping that each of them will look similar, yet different at the same time.  I think when I start casting them, then painting them, the drybrushing will pick out the unique textures.  I'm going to let the green stuff set over night and cast the mold tomorrow.  I haven't cast anything for awhile, so I'm really looking forward into seeing how they turn out.