Casting Material Notes:

Alumilite Regular:

pros: very strong, holds metal powder very well

cons: expensive, relatively viscous, sets up very quickly

conclusion: excellent for small metal-powdered pieces if you can pour the mold quickly

Alumilite White:

pros: sets up a little slower than Alumilite Regular, not as viscous as Alumilite Regular, color may be better if using dyes, holds metal powder very well

cons: expensive, too bendy for small thin pieces like weapons

conclusion: works OK for fairly large pieces, like helmets. May be a very good solution for hands, since the softness could make it easier to get it into the wrist hole without cracking the arm.

Instacast:

pros: sets up a little slower than Alumilite regular, not as viscous as Alumilite Regular, color may be better if using dyes

cons: does not hold metal powder very well (too easily scraped off), almost as stiff as Alumilite Regular but not as strong, may burn out silicone molds faster than alumilite (which is a very big negative).

conclusion: a cheap solution if you don't need to use metal powder and you aren't worried about your molds lasting very long

Aerosols:

Here are some aerosols of debatable usefulness.

Ease Release 800: can be used in the same way as vaseline for preventing silicone pieces from bonding when making molds. You need to be sure to apply a complete barrier, and because of this we actually prefer just using vaseline and a brush.

Silicone Lubricant: use on your silicone molds to allegedly help prevent "mold burnout". Mold burnout is when your silicone mold gets hard, starts to crack, and becomes unusable. This doesn't seem to be a big problem with Alumilite.

Universal Mold Release: Can be used between casts to help casting material separate from silicone mold. Not really necessary in our experience.