Resin Kit Tutorial , From Sculpt To Casting..updated 07/27/2008

[kent kidwell]

Hello ,
I am relatively new to this site, but have enjoyed this open forum very much. I think this site is doing a great service ,offering info that is very hard to aquire as these subjects aren't taught in any conventional way,and learning through trial and error can be expensive and slow. I joined this site in an attempt to expand and improve my illustration skills as I feel they need it, but my true love and employ has come from scuplting and in an effort not to starve in that profession I have learned in my twenty + years doing it that you have to be diverse and very flexable in application . which means that one day you could have a guy wanting a dragon in bronze and a lifesize person in concrete the next. so knowing how to sculpt is important but knowing how to make a mold of the piece how to break the piece into sections to improve casting quality, and how to engineer a functional mold that will last through hundreds of castings with consistant results , also what materials to use to cast with , like resin , polyester, urethane, plaster , concrete , bronze you name it and if you are looking to produce commercially you will need to develop a working knowledge of these materials and there applications.but dont fret you will never know it all and every project will teach you something.So all of us will always be students .Anyway enough babbling , I am going to walk you through a garage kit or resin kit process from design to casting a finished product, many of the things I am sharing with you are things I learned from professionals who nice enough to show me so im just passing that on.Ayway if you have any info on an improved way of doing something that is faster and better then what I am showing please tell . like I said we are all students .I won't be offended.one other thing this thread is spacific to produceing a resin cast commercially viable piece , without having to go and outsoarce the casting and keeping production costs low.I have been working on this project since dec 5 and the sculpt is nearly done. I have done very few sci fi creatures in my day so I hope it won't bore you veterans , my son wanted a creature so here it is , I hope you like it and the info helps, mahalo. and Merry Christmas!

[Monkeywiz]

That's a great sculpt, and I'm looking forward to updates outlining the rest of the project, especially as I'm just dipping my toes into the whole sculpt, mold, cast process, seeing someone with experience outline how they go about it will be a big help towards improving my skills and reducing the inevitable wastage pieces.

[kent kidwell]

thanks , this process is alot of work im finding so its good to see interrest.even if the sculpt blows the pre mold process and molding and casting parts should help.Thanks again

[kent kidwell]

I started work on the base first so i would have a place to mount the piece naturally.I strayed a bit from my original design, if I were not producing this piece for myself I would probably be forced to stay accurate to the original, so much more fun doing this stuff for yourself.

[OMB]

Great work Kent Kidwell, can't wait for the next posts to see how it goes and how your going to get round all them difficult undercuts.

Ollie

[kent kidwell]

thanks,I shall show you how to deal with pesky undercuts.Im a few steps away from that yet , i will be imputing and correcting stuff for the next couple of days .the strings on the armiture below are just to hold legs in correct position until epoxy cures.the tube I used for the armitures spine is just plumbing tubes , i like the way thay bend , bend to much and they break kind of like a real spine.Ive not been going through all the steps already covered in the excellent smellybug tutorials mainly because my area of focus has alot to do after the sculpt that and im slow at this .picture 7 below shows the replaced shin armiture. I also drilled into base 1/4 inch and inserted armiture wire into hole to add stability. I secured the spot with a little epoxy . I dont want the legs to move at all once the spot is solid.let epoxy cure before doing anything else to piece . why I do this will be more clear as we move forward.

[kent kidwell]

Im started the process of determining where i will devide the piece. you do this for several reasons . for me I do this because the odds of getting a perfect casting on a complicated piece is almost impossible, especially in a garage company budget . and nothing sucks more then having to trash 2lbs of resin for a few air bubbles , second reason is if you do get an air bubble on a small part you can toss it with almost no loss and re cast it. another reason is most modelers enjoy the assemly process what they hate is poor castings and filling in air bubbles. also they grumble about pieces that dont assemle seamlessly. if you can pick out the devides after assembly you did a poor job. so far I have chosen to remove the piece at the ankle as well as have the fore arms seperate. I would like to possibly seperate the piece below the belly but no rush on that . (see below)im starting the process of determining my devides while the legs and arms are still soft.by cutting deep to the armiture then softly correcting my cuts closing any visible line left by the xacto blade.on the two ankle cuts Im going to remove it completely and put it back just to ensure the legs will easily come away from the base without cracking . I will put the Piece back an clean it up before baking with the base. . but the cuts will be there and it will come away from the base with no problems because i tested it first.this process of seperating the piece up can take forever if you wait to do these things until late in the process . another good reason for doing this is I will be able to have the arms removed from the piece to sculpt the hands it allows a better view to ensure clean sculpt on the hard to reach backside of the arms

[t e m p i s t ~]

great sculpting, and thank you for sharing I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this.

[kent kidwell]

thanks, heres more..below I have shown where all of the seperations will be and how many pieces we will have just on the creature , ultimately there wel be about 10 seprate castings , plus a few more small castings like horns and smaller pointed or thin parts that will trap air bubbles. it also males the piece more three dimentional to have intentional undercuts that are cast seperate and placed back on during assembly. I will show some examples of this further in the process.I was afraid that seperating 4and 5 would be a challenge but i should be ok as the spine won't need to be cut to make this work hurahh.

[Saittam_j]

Hell Ya!

Awesome sculpt

[stalsby]

very cool!!! cant wait to see the casting!!!

[OMB]

If you have to cut through the Amature wire,for example at the elbow what tool would you use? and maybe silly question what is a xacto blade?

Really great job and real easy to follow.

Ollie

[Monkeywiz]

Hey OMB, I believe an xacto blade is just an American brand of scalpel type craft knife, very fine and sharp with the blade ending in very sharp point/tip. You should be able to find an image if you google search and then locate a similar UK version in an art/craft store. (I got a handle and 5 replaceable blades for around £5-6 from a local store, you can probably find one cheaper if you shop around).

[kent kidwell]

forgive me xacto was wrong ,i think its called a craft knife or something , I forget that this forum is world wide I will try to be more broad . as for the armiture I use a dremel tool with a thin metal cutting disk. also the epoxy putty allows the thick wire to release if you twist it out, cutting any metal inside of a piece can be very damaging . so a little trick , cull all the joints first and attach them using only epoxy putty.that way you wont need to cut away any armiture wire inside.(see attached)

[MacJ]

Kent,

I apologize if somewhere in this thread you answered this question already, but I noticed you smooth out and refine the form with a brush....Are you using something like turpinoid to dip the brush in and apply to the sculpt? I'm hoping there is a less toxic approach to this part of sculpting...I know that with Chevant sulfur free clay an alcohol torch can be used to the same effect, but can sometimes singe the clay and in general make things smell...so I'm curious, hoping you can elaborate on how u approach this part of the process...

-J

[kent kidwell]

Ok in this next section I am going to focus on cleaning the separation and making seamless and tidy reconnect spots. please let me know if something doese'nt compute..

[kent kidwell]

the last picture shows the epoxy mushing out,i Dont have a Picture of the next step , just sculpt th soft material clean removing excess. after you do this the most important step (leave it alone for 24 hours ) a difficult task if you are as impatient as I am, but very important because if it moves at all even a little while epoxy is soft you will ruin your seem and will have to do all this section again. I have made that mistake more times then I can recall so patience its worth it. I didnt show it but the right foot was going through the same process as the left simultaniously just but showing both confuses it .I will be showing the hands sculpt and forearm attachement in a couple of days . I hope you have found this a little informative . have a good one and have a happy new year..MacJ I just noticed your question . sorry , yep ive been using turpinoid for this sculpt actually in the past Ive used the much smellier mineral spirits . turpinoid is odorless and is very refined . the thing that scares me about oderless solvants is there is no way to tell you are breathing in fumes so i ventalate very well when using it . I hope this helps answere that question but I think it creates more.one other thing macj is try using an industrial heat gun for stripping furnature for getting the same affect as open flame on chevant.much more controlled .thanks again for the excellent questions .

[lilalex]

'KK' -
I know you're going to focus on the tech aspects of production in this SbS, but I have to say, your design and execution of it are awesome - great job!!

I too am looking forward to see how you address those nasty undercuts and hellacious base details.

Q: By using the flexi-plumbing pipe, don't you risk it expanding inside your sculpt when baking? My experience has been 'air pockets = broken pieces'.

On smoothing the SS; you could also try brushing it down with alcohol - thinned with 10% or so water, it works real well and isn't as bad as other more caustic solvents.

Again - Great job! Thanks for taking the time to show the 'back end' process of production, it's very much appreciated.

Have a good one..
la

[kent kidwell]

Thank's lilalex for your questions and solvent solution I will give alcohol a go.

As for the airbubble question I havent had to many problems with that. I find the super sculpey reacts badly to quick changes in temp, and might be why you are getting air bubbles . I don't pre heat the oven when baking I add 10 minuts to my bake time and put the piece in, then I start the baking, I dont exceed 200 digrees and bake generally depending on the size of the piece. two little time can weaken the piece but extra time in my experience only darkens the piece a shade but seem's to be harder when done. so I bake every piece at least 80 minuts big or small, bigger pieces with a thick body add an hour . after baking turn off oven and leave the piece in the oven and open the oven door. leave it alone until piece is cool inside and out. This usually takes several hours. What I have found about sculpey is that it needs to expel internal heat but the material is like concerete in that to fast it cracks . also this piece is not the one I will be painting , the original will go into storage . I will be painting a casting. The resin is way stronger then super sculpey .So my goal is a well seperated piece that captures the integrity of the original , I dont sweat the cracks and breaks that much . I can patch and fix the pieces easy enough. if you were to pull the hot piece right out of the oven in a cool room you would have way more cracks start developing litterally before your eyes.as experience has taught. So slow heat, long Bake, slow cool is the formula to follow for sculpey.
Now onto the undercuts the majority of the undercuts will be alleviated on the creature buy seperating the piece. not all the problems but most.I will try to use what reference photos I have for this answer so It may be a long one bare with me . The creature first, I see a mold catch on the mouth and on the armor plateing .im going to focus on the hardest one., below are 2 pics attached . #1 i will do , pic #2 I won't do.a little risky if the rubber won't pull from mouth it will tear off and that would suck, Im for the safe way.more work but peace of mind.

One quick off the subject comment I wanted to make is , I hope im not comming accross as concieted or that my way is the only way. Im likeing the open forum of discussing new ways to do things .my way is not the only way and may not be the best way to handle problems its just what I know now. I have a real problem with people that hold back techniques out of fear of getting outdone or competed against if you are always learning you will alway be ahead. but there will always be someone better thats just life, but it gives us goals.
ok back to undercuts, the base believe it or not will be easy, the tendrils when done will closely overlap each other ,filling in most holes as seen in pic 3, see pic 4 shows the holes going away . The small holes on the tendrils themselves are shallow as the webbing was solid first and a thin layer added after for that effect.I will be doing a pictoral step by step of this process but i hope this helps aswer the pesky undercut problem..you can see that you need to be thinking about the following step with everything you do . I made molds for artists for 5 years and I rarely got the artists to see that engineering the piece for mold making and ulimately casting are essential for saving money and time.few got it!the more energy you put into this process the faster the casting and money making process will go.

[OMB]

Don' t be silly your not coming over concieted at all. its real good of you to share your knowledge. I havn't seen a detailed mould making process explained so clearly with good visuals. I am a quailified fiberous plasterer in uk and covered the basics of mould making at college but nothing to this degree, with such small undercuts so its a real pleasure.

Ollie

[tatiana]

Originally Posted by kent kidwell

...One quick off the subject comment I wanted to make is , I hope im not comming accross as concieted or that my way is the only way. Im likeing the open forum of discussing new ways to do things .my way is not the only way and may not be the best way to handle problems its just what I know now. I have a real problem with people that hold back techniques out of fear of getting outdone or competed against if you are always learning you will alway be ahead. but there will always be someone better thats just life, but it gives us goals....

...I made molds for artists for 5 years and I rarely got the artists to see that engineering the piece for mold making and ulimately casting are essential for saving money and time. few got it! the more energy you put into this process the faster the casting and money making process will go.

I, too, am finding this thread very helpful and certainly don't feel that you're coming across as conceited at all. As one of those concept artists that creates product designs (collectibles and decor) that sculptors have to translate for mold making and casting, your step-by-step process and analysis will certainly help me improve, at least a little. Besides, I also have an interest in creating my own character maquettes and sculpts outside of work so I've been seriously enjoying reading and collecting inside information from all of the sculpting threads in this section.

Thanks very much for your insights!

t

[lilalex]

Originally Posted by kent kidwell

Thank's lilalex for your questions and solvent solution I will give alcohol a go.

As for the airbubble question I havent had to many problems with that. I find the super sculpey reacts badly to quick changes in temp, and might be why you are getting air bubbles . I don't pre heat the oven when baking I add 10 minuts to my bake time and put the piece in, then I start the baking, I dont exceed 200 digrees and bake generally depending on the size of the piece. two little time can weaken the piece but extra time in my experience only darkens the piece a shade but seem's to be harder when done. so I bake every piece at least 80 minuts big or small, bigger pieces with a thick body add an hour . after baking turn off oven and leave the piece in the oven and open the oven door. leave it alone until piece is cool inside and out. This usually takes several hours. What I have found about sculpey is that it needs to expel internal heat but the material is like concerete in that to fast it cracks . also this piece is not the one I will be painting , the original will go into storage . I will be painting a casting. The resin is way stronger then super sculpey .So my goal is a well seperated piece that captures the integrity of the original , I dont sweat the cracks and breaks that much . I can patch and fix the pieces easy enough. if you were to pull the hot piece right out of the oven in a cool room you would have way more cracks start developing litterally before your eyes.as experience has taught. So slow heat, long Bake, slow cool is the formula to follow for sculpey.

GREAT info 'KK' - I like the starting with a cool oven Tip; I'll have to give that one a try. I'd bet 90% of the cracking and such associated with SS does come down to cooling the piece too fast - damn this impatience of mine!

Originally Posted by kent kidwell

Now onto the undercuts the majority of the undercuts will be alleviated on the creature buy seperating the piece. not all the problems but most.I will try to use what reference photos I have for this answet so It may be a long one bare with me . The creature first, I see a mold catch on the mouth and on the armor plateing .im going to focus on the hardest one., below are 2 pics attached . #1 i will do , pic #2 I won't do.a little risky if the rubber won't pull from mouth it will tear off and that would suck, Im for the safe way.more work but peace of mind.

Easy for you to say!

Originally Posted by kent kidwell

One quick off the subject comment I wanted to make is , I hope im not comming accross as concieted or that my way is the only way. Im likeing the open forum of discussing new ways to do things .my way is not the only way and may not be the best way to handle problems its just what I know now. I have a real problem with people that hold back techniques out of fear of getting outdone or competed against if you are always learning you will alway be ahead. but there will always be someone better thats just life, but it gives us goals.
ok back to undercuts, the base believe it or not will be easy, the tendrils when done will closely overlap each other ,filling in most holes as seen in pic 3, see pic 4 shows the holes going away . The small holes on the tendrils themselves are shallow as the webbing was solid first and a thin layer added after for that effect.I will be doing a pictoral step by step of this process but i hope this helps aswer the pesky undercut problem..you can see that you need to be thinking about the following step with everything you do . I made molds for artists for 5 years and I rarely got the artists to see that engineering the piece for mold making and ulimately casting are essential for saving money and time.few got it!the more energy you put into this process the faster the casting and money making process will go.

Sounds great - really looking forward to the rest of your explanations; thanks again, remembering to take notes or photos has to be an added pressure during the process and it's much appreciated.

btw - re:"comming accross as concieted" - not as far as I'm concerned - but even if you did, feel free to be conceited, just keep the tutorial rolling along!

la

[kent kidwell]

thanks again for the encouraging comments . I know me well enough to know that if no one replied to this thread I would bail . So thanks again I live in the most remote spot on earth and no one in three thousand miles in every direction even knows what super sculpey is, this is my way connecting with other artist's.So keep um' comming and I will dump more boring stuff on you.My wife and four kids find this all very dull.
I have now completed the hands not the claws.and have attached the arms with clean seams,I wil have some pictures of this today.
Happy new year.
mahalo.

[itchy_tasty]

hey, this is a great demo. ive always wondered at how these resin
kits were sculpted. so far, this has answered a whole bunch of
questions. im really looking forward to the casting process.
thanks.

ps that model is cool as hell too.

[kent kidwell]

thanks itchy, I have attaches some picts detailing the newest point of the piece. attached are some items I added by using epoxy putty like the horns and the claws . I will be detailing how I did this as the claws and any other spotts I needed .

[kent kidwell]

ok sorry for the delay , heres more on making clean seperations . just a little more . here you will also learn what (draft) means as well as prepareing places in advance to add a sprue.we will just toach on this (sprue ) for now but we will cover it well later. im getting tired of looking at this ugly bugger so Im getting motivated to finish it quick,

[kent kidwell]

I decided to re do my footings at the ankle to support thr piece better.the process of # 1,cleaning the female side staying within margin line ,#2 giving the shape a slight draft ,#3 using vasoline as release ,#4 using the female end to shape the male end.#5 letting it cure.is the same process you can use on almost all seperations you want that nice lego like fit.

[kent kidwell]

the following is the thigh seperation process . just slightly changed from arms and feet. I am leaving armiture in place for stability until mold process
this process will be the same on the other leg, but Im only showing the one side. just to boring to add more on this part. I am nearing the finish before the mold process . so for those that have stuck This out I truly hope it was worth it for you let me know if you have questions .
Thanks

[lilalex]

Looking great 'KK' -

Does using the petroleum jelly as a release agent effect it's curing or the adhesion of subsequent application/touch-ups of SuperSculpey or more epoxy putty?

Using a Dremel on and in such close proximity to more fine detail like that makes my eyes water.
Have you ever tried a fine jeweler's saw? I've even heard of some guys using thick thread and dental floss to minimize the loss of material, detail, and possible damage should the rotory tool slip or something.
I like the jeweler's saw; I have used a rotoray for cutting larger pieces and a more general removal of material, but on something small and as detailed as you've got going, I can see where my hams would have trouble just getting in and around the finer stuff.

Looking forward to the updates.
la

[pijay-brown]

looking nice
Long way to get to the cast for a complicate piece
That's very interesting, the way your are preparing the character, helps a lot

The only thinh is about horns, personaly, it' s weird to see horns on this sort of "fish character", that's personal

Excellent work , the character looks great, with fine details, and it's like he was saying : "Come, come in this hole, i will digest you" makes me think to a carnivorous-plant. Maybe a Bait could be add on this hole but it's just a suggestion and it could be done later

Congratulations