MWO Desert camo Hunchback

This was painted for an exhibition and the first HBK to be finished. Because it's going to be in an exhibition, so assembly consideration had to be given. The aerial and small head laser have been omitted and the hump has been glued to reduce the chance accidents as a result of clumsy handling.

All made in house on a Roland MDX40a 4 axis mill, recast and painted by myself. Record time for painting on this one 4days from bare resin put in some very long hours and blurred vision!

I know this is an odd thing to be please with, but I particularly like how bicep decal came out any one whose had to put a decal non-flat surface will tell you its a pain, but this one came out right first time. The decal was place on the bicep allowed to dry then sealed with gloss then the floating parts were cut with a scalpel and lowered into recess of the X emboss, sealed in with gloss and shaded with the rest of the model.

click on the image, then right click and view image for the full rez version or view on my DA page
deviantart.com/MWO-Desert-camo-Hunchback

Approx 16cm to 16.5cm tall (Table top HBK for comparison).
1/60 scale.
Waist, shoulders and elbows articulate.
Legs can be glue in different articulated positions.
31 separate parts go into making the model.

Comparison with my earlier Centurion.

Have questions? here's the RD email

HBK painting

Just thought I'd share this progression montage of the HBK so far a days worth of painting (+1day for prep and glue). I can't tell you how good it feels to be into painting and loving how good the model looks now it has some colour.

This is a one tone scheme (my first) I had to paint this one differently because I didn't have lots of time to wait for paint to dry. It'll get the usual weathering treatment and I plan to give the metal parts on show here a dust of gunmetal to brighten them.

I need to get this wrapped up asap as it's destined for a trade show end of the month. Two/three days worth of painting to go but I off on holiday this week so I need to cram as much in before hand.
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I'm Lord of the Boxes!!

I'm also probably abit high on hot glue

Woot end of a tedious day of cutting up cardboard and rolling plasticine but rest of the mould boxes made ready (hopefully) for the delivery of some RTV tomorrow.

Clear RTV test

So I waited and waited for that clear RTV (rubber) sample to arrive. Frustratingly it arrive late on Thursday to late to get a 5kg order in before the weekend >.<

This rtv is 2x the price of the normal stuff so i really did have to wait to see how the test come out (a rare case of patience for me) and I'm glad I did. What I knew is this was 40shore hardness (compared to the the 20-25shore I normally have) but with not point of reference there was know way of know how hard it would be.

So I made Up 2 mould boxes (abit a little too over sized). As soon as I weigh out the main part in I knew it wasn't right for me. The Silicone was thick, really thick it was hard to degas and I had to take great care in pouring it then degassed the mould again and it still looked like I couldn't pull a high enough vacuum to pull all the bubbles out. The RTV also clung to the bucket which left a frustrating wastage which meant I could only pour 1 test mould.

Surprisingly the cured mould didn't have any bubbles in it so I guess the degassing did work and it was only surface tension bubbles. Here you can see the ghostly Hunchie shin suspended in the silicone (the pen was to help the camera focus).

Now the fun and games started holy fruit of the ball is this stuff hard and it didn't help the mould was a bit too thick either. Even with the help of my wife it was a job to cut this mould. In the end I had to trim 1.5cm off the parting line side just to get it to relax it enough to cut down to the part. At one point i was thinking I would just have to cut the part out but lucky that wasn't the case

The mould its self is actually quite good (as you can see below) it aligns nicely and this was the most tricky part to cast but all the venting and bridging (2vents 6brigdes) help the bubbles out. However it takes considerable strength to pull the part out of the mould which is a fingernail killer.

So in conclusion it made a nice mould but boy is it too hard to use esp if every mould was made like this. Glad I didn't buckle and buy a 5kg tub it would of hurt my wallet and my poor fingers.

I did order another clear rtv sample from another company it was 13shore (so softer) that comes on Monday but I really running out of time to get these moulds done so I've also ordered 5kg of the blue stuff just get her done because I know it produces good moulds only downside is your cutting blind.

HBK Moulds design, casting and such

So as per last weeks post I decided to keep everything in house.

Back when I was learning to cast 6 years ago the main assumption was you made 2 part moulds casting. The people started to use split moulds because it was far quicker and you could get really close to a perfect cast since the parting seam was only partway around. The technique was new to most people there wasn't much in the way of info and after reading up about it that's how I set out to make my moulds. There were a lot of blanks left to fill in and my technical skill and tool box were basic.

I started with plastic card mould boxes sealed with plasticine but they were iffy and often leaked, so I switched to Plastic cups they were pretty good and fast to make moulds. I also got lazy when it came to adding proper venting to allow air bubbles out because I had vacuum pump I could degas the resin before pressure casting it. And that worked well for the more simple MW4 models they were blocky with surface detail. But I found more and more the MWO models had more detail, undercuts and fins etc that technique was becoming inadequate.

One good thing that came from trying to source a caster. One of the companies I spoke to (a well regarded judging by the list of commercial companies that use their services) came straight out and said he be to expensive to do the work.  But he was happy give some advice so told him some of the problems I had, he walked me through how he'd do it. There was no magic trick on how time consuming it would be to cast but there were lots of ways I could improve my moulds. I then spent a fair bit of time researching what he had told me.

• No more being a slacker I had to add venting, make sure there's no big spots where bubbles can sit. Time spent here pays dividends over fickle casting later on.
• Second I had to make square moulds because they align better. Since my earlier attempts I had bought a glue gun and this it a perfect way to quickly seal cardboard mould boxes but does take allot more time than just dropping stuff in a cup.
• Then I had to thicken my mould walls much more than I had been doing before plus extra thickness on the side to be cut
• Draw a straight parting line then with the help of someone holding the rubber taught (I always did it by my self) and a fresh thin scalpel blade make a cut waving back and fourth across the line
• One of the guides I found on line recommended cutting as little as possible at first and using a mould release to help the master out. Then its a case of easing the parting line down till you get a happy balance.
• Lastly he recommended going with a clear RTV(rubber) so you can land you parting line perfectly around any details. 6 years ago it wasn't that common to hear people talk about clear rubber. I started with the blue stuff like most and stuck with what I knew worked. I did some research into the clear RTV. It's not as easy to work with its allot harder and it can react badly to certain substances such as super glue. I ordered some samples of which one company never got back to me and the other one will send me something but unfortunately the guy (apparently there is only one) who decants the rtv is away on holiday till Tuesday. bummer

Any way I had some blue RTV and I decide to mould the masters that had simpler parting lines. So I followed all the above advice and waited for the moulds too cure. I had to wait 2 days for the kids to be out and the wife to be in a helpful mood to cut open the moulds. The resin also has to be cast on a dry day but we had 3 days of torrential down pours to wait out.

HBK foot mould

Any way the wait was worth it, the parts came out pretty much exactly how the masters went in, a few some small bubbles but you can't vent everything, the parting lines were really tight you couldn't even where tell there were but for some thin flashing that just brushed off, I'm so happy how they came out. Since I've used mould release the parts went into the sonic cleaner with some organic degreaser, they'll get a soap bath and a rinse after that (you don't want some grease spoiling a nice paint job).

As soon as I can get some more RTV I can finish of the rest of the moulds and get a whole model cast.

Making mould preparations

I've not forgotten you guys or the HBK. I was just chasing my tail for 2 weeks.

I was looking to outsource making the moulds HBK as some of you might remember I hurt my thumb and it was a little more serious than I joked I worried I wasn't fit enough to make moulds/casts.

I know from went I first started that good and well price mould makers are mythical, the truth is there's very little profit in mould making since its so labour intensive and that's why I originally started casting myself. Needless to say looking for quotes resulted in having to make a 3hr trip to this 'professional' workshop where I had to wait 30mins for someone leave before I enter and receive my model. It was totally avoidable and cost me 2weeks.

Anyway it just reaffirmed that everything is best done in house where I have total control. The other good news is after going to my GP x3 and getting no where, I went privately to see a dermatologist and she fixed me up. Apparently I touched something that cause an acute allergic reaction (like a heavy metal) some cream and a few days my thumbs much better.

So I've start the process of making pour spouts for everything. Its fiddly task but I'm going to take it slow and really go for making good moulds that cast well. On the centurion I regretted not making better moulds it made for tricky casting so spend a penny here save a pound (in time) later on. So lots of vents/big chunky moulds/tape bridging are the order of the day.

Forward planning - multi tasking leopard

Currently the CNC machine is sitting idle which is no good. It might as well do something with it so with that in mind last year I had the Leopard dropship printed but I was never happy with how it came out (its what prompted me to got to CNC) so I decided to abandon it. But I still have this great Leopard dropship 3D model ready other and sub dividing for CNC.


Before I invest a small amount of time in it I want to know the level of interest in a table top scale Drop ship. If there's not enough hands up then I'll probably just make it a personal project. As there no patron the price would probably be £200 which given its bigger than a thunderhawk from forgeworld (£410) and I'm not a professional shop I feel that's fair. That price didn't come out of thin air either the leopard is scaled bigger than any 1/60 scale assault mech plus it has an interior which just increases the amount of work but it'll be the first Battletech dropship to have a working bay that doesn't look like a soap bar or a football.

And for those who havent seen it together;

If you want one contact me on the address below. I'll keep a list and if I get enough people interested then it'll be a go I'll CNC it. A deposit of 25% before making moulds and the balance upon dispatch. I expect that it'll be ready to ship around new year if not earlier assuming there's brisk interest.

Feel free to share this post if you wish to drum up interest