Post by Gannon on Jan 4, 2011 21:14:11 GMT -5
Okay Ziggy, So first of all you want to stay away from any acrylic based non water soluable paint. This is fine and dandy for model cars but will wreak havoc on a miniature model. Vallejo, Citadel, and Privateer Press are the three best companies to get your paint from. Secondly, always water your paint down a little before applying it to your models, unless you want blotchy, or thick results on a vehicle or infantry model.
Secondly making your own molds is okay, to a certain point. It becomes an IP (Intellectual Property) issue if you want to sell the things you make with your molds to other people or try to pass it off as your own. Take the Infringment Lawsuit that GW is pursuing against Chapterhouse Studios as a case in point. Chapterhouse, although a great company, and maker of some decent bits, pushed the envelope a bit too much, and will probably (unfortunately) lose this case. If they do so, it will effectively break the Company and cause them to shut down. Small things like Skulls and spikes can be bought or found at bits websites rather easily, as well as the extra guns you may need. To be safe I'd skip the Casting thing, as it's a LOT of work, and will yield relatively shakey results. Wraith had it correct in the molding process. There are three types of molding, Pressure, Gravitational and Centrifugal. Pressure is the plastic or resin being forced into the mold by a machine, Centrifugal is using a wheel placed horizontally with the molds at the outside and pouring the resin or plastic into the middle while it's spinning. Gravitational is pouring the solution into the mold and letting the resin settle, usually while using some type of vibration machine to shake all the bubbles that form to the top (good for bases). You can also do something like this with Greenstuff, it's pretty easy but good for another subject.
There are no official GW stores in Japan that are close enough to Iwakuni to be worth the trip. There are stores in Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo that sell GW items, but the prices are so high you'll end up spending twice the amount for the same thing you could pick up at a GW store in the states. This is due to the crappy yen rate and import costs to Japan.
Secondly making your own molds is okay, to a certain point. It becomes an IP (Intellectual Property) issue if you want to sell the things you make with your molds to other people or try to pass it off as your own. Take the Infringment Lawsuit that GW is pursuing against Chapterhouse Studios as a case in point. Chapterhouse, although a great company, and maker of some decent bits, pushed the envelope a bit too much, and will probably (unfortunately) lose this case. If they do so, it will effectively break the Company and cause them to shut down. Small things like Skulls and spikes can be bought or found at bits websites rather easily, as well as the extra guns you may need. To be safe I'd skip the Casting thing, as it's a LOT of work, and will yield relatively shakey results. Wraith had it correct in the molding process. There are three types of molding, Pressure, Gravitational and Centrifugal. Pressure is the plastic or resin being forced into the mold by a machine, Centrifugal is using a wheel placed horizontally with the molds at the outside and pouring the resin or plastic into the middle while it's spinning. Gravitational is pouring the solution into the mold and letting the resin settle, usually while using some type of vibration machine to shake all the bubbles that form to the top (good for bases). You can also do something like this with Greenstuff, it's pretty easy but good for another subject.
There are no official GW stores in Japan that are close enough to Iwakuni to be worth the trip. There are stores in Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo that sell GW items, but the prices are so high you'll end up spending twice the amount for the same thing you could pick up at a GW store in the states. This is due to the crappy yen rate and import costs to Japan.