Casting Tips and Tricks:

We use smash casting for most of the weapons, body parts, and accessories we cast. Of course we have dreams of graduating to injection molding ABS plastic, but until then, well, we use these tips and tricks...

Avoiding bubbles:

Microwaving your silicone mold for a minute or under before pouring in your casting material seems to reduce air bubbles and improve curing times. Use a small pokey tool to force air bubbles out of overhangs and tricky areas after you have poured your casting material before you smash your mold pieces together. Tap the mold after smashing it together.

Digital scale:

We recommend a gram scale that is accurate to 1/1000 of a gram. Ours is only good for 1/100, and when we are mixing a small amount of material, especially when mixing silicone, which is a 10 to 1 ratio, our scale isn't as accurate as we'd like.

Mold notes:

Keep notes on each of your molds, especially how many grams of casting material is necessary for each pour. Also note how much pressure results in a good cast. It has been our experience that a well crafted mold doesn't require much pressure.

Recasting bad casts:

We often get imperfect results. Sometimes you can fix a cast with a void by putting the cast back in the mold and repouring just on the bad part. With this in mind it is not so bad to err on the low side when mixing your casting material for a pour. While it does save casting material to try to get the amount just right, for some molds it really is much better to have lots of excess.

Powders and Dyes:

Metal powders work really well with alumilite. The metal colors are limited, but you can achieve many different colors by using dyes for your alumilite in conjunction with the powder, and by varying a mix of different powders and/or how thick a layer of powder you use.

To cast or not to cast:

Casting is expensive, both in time and money. It is much cheaper to buy parts from Playmobil® if they have what you need. If they don't have what you need, how much do you need? It may very well be that casting is not the right answer. If you only need a few copies of an item, think about just constructing several of them. Still, even if you only need a few, casting can be an attractive option because the results can be very close to real Playmobil® items in terms of quality and durability.