PLAMO: Re-WiredWolf - Plastic Modelling, Share & Learn

Hi, here r some step by step pics on recasting parts using milliput (a brand of epoxy putty), which are quite self explanatory. I use talcum powder as mold release, but I heard from Pazu (thanks) that lip balm works as well. Objects to be recasted must not have undercut or it will be locked into the mold, destroying your hard work.

Original part, spliced from leftover ball joints of my old kits


Press this part onto a block of milliput (along its plane of symmetri.. hope i got the spelling correct). Remember to coat both the part, and the milliput surface with talcum powder. Wait for the milliput to fully cure.


Once fully cured, press another block of milliput onto the earlier block, with the original part still in place.


Voila... mold is ready. the part in the middle is the recasted part. Just put in a smallblock of milliput into the cavity , coat with talcum powder, and squeeze. You may need to repeatedly open up the molds, remove excess milliput, and squeeze again, until the shape is correct. tedious, but it works.. Extra tip, wait for the recasted item to fully cure, then pry it out of the mold using the leftover 'flesh' around the recasted part. This way you don't damage the actual part.


Here's another example:-


Notice the small hole in the corner of mold on the left. I intentially drilled this in to act as an escape for excess milliput. So when I squeeze the mold together, the excess milliput will be squeezed out like toothpaste. Also, when the part is cured, you can push the part out via this hole as well... dual function!


Final Recasted part with the flesh removed.


other sample:

A little bit more about casting or re-casting to be exact.

Re-casting is the process of making a mold for a 3d object, and then recreating a replica of this object using various materials.

The most common form of recasting, is in the form of resin+silicone rubber. The mold is made from silicone rubber, and the object is then casted out using resin. The surface detailing obtained from resin casting is superb and is much cleaner and sharper than what you would get from 'milliput' casting explained above. Resin casting is a little bit more tedious, and the chemicals involved are pretty toxic. I'm planning to try this out soon, and will definitely put up a tutorial on this soon, hopefully.

The tutorial on milliput recasting above is sort of a quick and dirty way of reproducing parts, and it has its limitations. As mentioned, the surface detail will be slightly softened. Also, because both the molds and recasted object are hard when fully cured, you need to be very careful not to have 'undercut' in the shape of the object. Otherwise, the object will be locked in the mold when fully dried. This problem is slightly less severe when using resin + silicone rubber combo, because silicone rubber is quite soft and can flex a little. A slight undercut in the original piece is still fine.

A little info on milliput. Milliput is a brand of epoxy putty. Epoxy putty usually comes in 2 parts, and you basically knead 2 equal parts together, evenly, work on it like clay or plasticine, and then let it harden. There are many grades and brands of epoxy putty. I know Tamiya has a range as well, and there are also industrial types which can be found in hardware shops. The industrial grades generally have a more coarse surface, and is more difficult to sand, so its not really suitable for modelling work. But they are relatively easy to find, so sometimes beggars can't be choosers.

I personally use milliput, which it self comes in 2 (or maybe more) grades. The commonly available grades are 'Standard' and 'Super Fine'. The super fine , as its name implies is much smoother and is more expensive. However, it hardens a bit tougher and is thus more difficult to sand. It is also more brittle. I generally use standard, because I find that once you go over it with about 1000grade sand paper and a good coat of primer, you can't see the difference, unless you inspect really closely.

I think that's about it. Feel free to pop more questions and I'll try my best to answer ^_^

Woo hoo. ! Kam Siah Kam siah ! . Now no need to go waste money buy the stupid resin hands from b club ! Can just cast my own gunpla hand with some of the nice spare hands of the newer 1/144 kits.

I will try it when I can find the time

Will any epoxy putty work, or does it have to be miliput?

Milliput is a type of epoxy putty. The easiest way is to try it and see if it works or not.

This is a damn cool tutorial. I will try it because I lost a vent on my kit. Maybe some mod can link this in the sticky thread of tutorials?

Dig this out. Which milliput do you normally use? I was planning to get Xeno's milliput. The amount is like vitagen bottle slighly bigger

Dude... if you read in my first post, you'll find that milliput itself is actually a brand of epoxy putty. So what exactly did you mean by your question?

The grade you mean? If that's the question, the answer is that the recasting method will work with both standard yellow grey grade ans also the silver white grade.

I think there's some confusion here...

Xenomorph here in Singapore sells their own 'brand' of epoxy putty which they claim IS Milliput... it doesn't come in a box, but in bottles. When I went there and asked about Milliput, they brought these out. I didn't buy them so I dunno whether it is the same as Milliput tho.

If you asked me, the guys at Xenomorph just calls their epoxy putty Milliput for the name recognition.

Kippei - You'd need to experiment with the Xenomorph epoxy putty. Not all will work. I tried using Daiso to do some casting... the details aren't all that great...

I went around seaching for milliput. No deal.

I used their putty filling before, I can say it is smooth like S grade wave milliput. Basically what they use is not the norm for mainstream model builders. But for casting parts I just bought their version to test it out.