Blue Stuff: The Basics
September 24, 2019 by avernos
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Wouldn’t you need some sort of “box” for a to part mold? If you press it “as is” will it not deform? Nice video as always! Bluestuff – the wargamers Copy&Paste.
no because you should wait for it to cool and harden before doing the other side you don’t need a box to hold it, although if you do it it won’t hurt
So it’s rock solid when it’s cool? Looks still a bit wobly
The stuff I have is called Instant Mould. Once cooled and harden there is still a little flex to allow you to de-mould easily.
If you leave it for a day it goes very hard with a tiny bit of flex. If it dried too hard then you’d never be able to get the Greenstuff out.
The nice thing about this stuff is that it is reusable, so in case of problems with pulling model out of mould, you can tear or cut the mould open, put it to hot water and make new mould. All in like 10 minutes.
This is how I made the wooden ammo boxes on the bases of my Pak40s for Flames of War. If you take your time and are methodical the results are excellent. I am surprised that people don’t use it more often.
I might have to steal that idea
well worth it for small incidentals
this was really cool, I did not know anything about bluestuff… I can see it coming in quite handy.
well worth having it on the shelf as you never know when you may need it, and it’s totally safe I know this as I’m sometimes lazy and will drop it in my coffee to soften it up.
I’m presuming you can pour resin into it without difficulty
You might have to build up the back of the mould so that it sits flat when flipped over.
Not really. Resins tend to be exothermic reactions and produce a lot of heat your mould will melt and the resin and blue stuff blend together ruining both
I use this stuff for years now.
I have actually 3d-printed myself a little press to make avoid using books in the process.
Also, in case of double-sided moulds I’d recommend putting first part to a freezer for cooling. Not only does it speed cooling up but freezing temperature makes blue stuff much harder than it is in normal room temperature. This makes pressing top half of your mould much easier and more accurate.
That’s a new trick for me. Thanks.
Great video, very useful 🙂
I do a lot of casting and if your going to invest in this, you should get a mold release spray. I use Mann Ease Release 200, works wonderful for just about anything, and it doesn’t hide any detail. Vaseline works but just the slightest amount can easily hide detail. Also works wonders between mold layers so the mold itself doesn’t stick to each other while curing.
I have a wax spray I haven’t really needed it for these press moulds but when I’ve been using them I haven’t needed sharp detail or deep cuts.
Good tip though, I know someone who uses a spray on pan oil as a budget alternative and it works for him
lol i was going to add i have had good success with a cheap spray vegetable oil. as i found i was hiding detail when using vaseline. ive also used the molds to make bases out of milliput and or dass clay ( found the clay did leave bits in the mold more often. )
I forget this is a simple press mold, I’m over complicating it lol. I’ve never thought to use veggie spray. The cost of platinum cure silicone isnt cheap so I’ve shied away from “non-indrustry” products. I’ll give it a try with some testers.
I think I’ve got something the same as this but a clearish white from the river? company.
It comes in a variety of colours I got my own years ago long before GSW appeared called oyimaru I think..it was a long time ago. Same stuff though. Handy little tool
Another helpful video for a product I’m actually very familiar with. Didn’t think of the vasoline for de-molding ease but am happy to have learned it now. I heard you guys mention KY Jelly as well. Were you joking around or does it work as well as the vasoline? I’m just thinking of the fact KY is water soluble for clean up purposes.
No I wasn’t joking about KY for exactly the reason you mention. It’s easier to clean especially if you’re working on a conversion with small added details that you are worried about damaging when brushing clean
@avernos you use green stuff in the video but do the other stuffs still work as they are less flexible?
This is an area I haven’t worked in but see the benefits. Great video.
All of the stuffs and milliputt itself work fine. The blue stuff itself is flexible and if you are having difficulties you can drop it into hot water and simply peal it off your cast
Yeah, just remember that the stickier the mass you use the harder it is to reach deep recesses and generally to achieve good results.
I’ve even seen (haven’t tried myself) people pouring UV resin in those moulds with good result. I imagine you’d need rather shallow moulds for this to properly cure the resin before demoulding.
That UV torch worked well for curing it but needs more testing to achieve the best result
Is there anything “special” about modelling Vaseline? Or is it more of less raised eyebrows from loved ones than if you go lurking off to your man cave of choice with a 500ml vat of the stuff?
The cynic in me would say the “special” bit is the profit margin for the manufacturer!
I have no idea, it doesn’t seem as thick as regular stuff, but I imagine they both do the same thing
@robert – That what i figured but thought i would give the benefit of doubt! #buymerch
@avernos – Thanks bud, good to know that there is some difference to be had 🙂
Cheers for the tutorial @avernos. Some top tips there, used a similar product before but never considered doing a two part mould before. I also use fairy liquid (that’s washing up liquid for dishes and not liquidised fairies, although ? that said I’m sure it would work just as well and the stinking fairy vermin deserve it! but I digress) for preventing the part sticking to the mould. I really like the reusable nature of blue stuff though as my current one is a two part epoxy that is semi flexible but does run the risk of cracking, so I… Read more »
any of them should do the trick, you can get sharper detail on the mould if you are more careful so brown would probably be my go to to get the best results and also the easiest to clean up and use afterwards
This is a great product. The first time I used it was to mold some lion heads (using decorations from a Pegasus Hobbies gothic building set) which I used on a scratch-built fountain. Easy to use, and can get some excellent detail for your terrain builds or bases.
Ooh Gerry, I think your close to pulling off a bit of ASMR on this one…
Keep these coming Gerry
Last time I looked up blue stuff on the internet I didn’t find some modelling supplies, I got something quite different…..