WHAT DOES HOMEWORLD DO WITH EXTRA OR FAILED PARTS?

If they are tinted...I throw them out.  Especially red parts.  Red is the HARDEST color to match.  I have 3 little part bins.  ALL DIFFERENT SHADES OF RED or pink.   Red mismatch tints show up more than the rest it seems.  At least to me.  You make a batch...one part...just ONE cast fails...its ALL garbage.  I could try and match it up later...but that could take 3 or 4 or more attempts chasing a color for ONE part.  Im better off throwing them all out and trying a complete pour all over. Im just wasting the mold among other things.

I have a whole tray of mismatched color parts...and the colors cant be matched up to other colors because the tints are specific.  I could make a yellow and blue figure for instance, but the shade of blue doesn't look good with the particular shade of yellow. 

I had thought of having a cast sale.  25 cents a part or something stupid crazy like that...but unless you have a rivet squeezer or all the other specific parts, my extra cast parts are no good to you.

So yeah...I have been throwing out the extra colored parts.  Pure white, pure black and clear parts I do keep for later use because they always match up.

PRICES-Stock VS Commission

In case some of you are wondering...stock prices are cheaper than commission. 

By 'stock' price I mean what I have currently available.  Its already made.  You don't have to wait for me to make it.

Commission prices are more expensive because I make brand new molds for every commissioned figure.

Stock figures are limited to what I have available where as you can commission most anything you want.

Stock figures are usually available once a year.  Commissions are available at any time.

REPAIRING AIR BUBBLES

Myself, I would rather have one huge air bubble than a tiny one.  A big air bubble can be easily fixed or altered for a custom project.  Small holes mean a lot of work for little compensation.  In most cases its probably easier to throw the cast away and simply make another.  When dealing with tinted parts, its particularly problematic. 

But "IF" you can manage to match the tint or are dealing with a standard color resin, the best way that I have found to fix a air bubble hole in a cast is to build up a small wall around the hole with clay.  Then fill it up.  You peel away the clay and a little bit of light sanding and Viola.

Of course, if the bubble is in an extremely sensitive or high detail area, it might be best to just make a new one.

If the bubble is in an unobstructed part of a mold channel, then cut out te bad area, reseat in mold and finish filling the mold.  This method works great for making multiple color custom parts.

Im going to peel away the clay and sand everything back down.  The detail is simple so it wont even show when done.

Here is a photo of a failed HEAD cast.  I poured the resin in too fast.  This created an air bubble that prevented the mold from filling all the way.  Thinking it was full, I pressurized it.  I cut out the bad part, re-inserted the cast back into the mold and poured in more resin to complete the fill.  This can  be done with exact color match resins.  You wont even see a blend line unless you are using different colors like I did in the above picture.

EXTENDING POT LIFE TIP...Resin & Silicone

Pot life (refresher) is the term given for the allowable time to manipulate your resin.  It starts from the second you combine the 2 compounds.  Pot Life varies from resin to resin.  Please refer to your specific products for actual Pot Life times. 

15 seconds is a long time when referring to Pot Life.  And it still goes just as fast.  So you need to be organized and efficient.  No wasted movements. 

One way to gain yourself a bit of extra Pot Life time...

Smooth On products, the way the instructions are read, you might think to add "A" to "B".  But you don't have to.  It doesn't matter if A gets poured into B or the other way around.  And this can be applied to the silicone for making the molds as well.

POUR THE THINNER OF THE 2 COMPOUNDS INTO THE THICKER ONE.  You waste time trying to get every drop from the thicker compound into the mix.

And no...it doesn't matter if you stir clockwise or counter clockwise.  Just mix well.  Always.  That's where most of peoples problems happen.  Insufficient mixing due to panick over pot life and pouring everything before the resin/silicone starts to cure.  ever over extend yourself by trying to get too much done.  One bumped mold can throw your timing right out the window.

CUSTOM CLEAR MAGNOS FROM "THE CHEST ENGINE"

A friend of mine who runs the blog The Chest Engine recently commissioned a few  Magno Heads from me and was having some custom fun with them. 

I really like the Palisades Clear magno's.  Too bad the plastic is so brittle.  But for people like myself and a few others they are the most perfect magno for customizing because the color possibilities are endless if you have any customizing abilities.  I myself kept 4 clear Palisades Clear/black BK sets for customizing a set in a particular color for myself.  Clear with metallized blue accents.

UNFORTUNATELY...these were the last heads I am able to make.  My molds have expired and I sold all my Emperors and King Atlas/Green Barons.  So I don't have a master available to remake the mold.  But if I had one, I could make more.

And here is what their owner over at The Chest Engine ( I really need to update my HOT LIST) did with them.  Thanks to The Chest Engine for the pics.

I love knowing I was able to help someone make customs like these. 
AWESOME PICS and thanks again to The Chest Engine for the pics.

More information on the making of these figures can be found over at thechestengine.moranity.com 

BILL MANTLO RECOGNIZED BY MARVEL

This has probably been dissected by Micronaut fans everywhere already, but in case some of you DONT KNOW...

Bill Mantlo was a writer for Marvel back in the 70's.  In the 90's he was permanently disabled by a hit and run driver and his life changed negatively on every level.

Now...25 years later a resurgence of a past character now made popular by the Guardians of the Galaxy movies...Rocket Racoon means Bill can now live somewhat of a more comfortable life outside the hands of a government system which had him penniless and in government care which meant any gifts, memorabilia or assets of any kind had to be sold for his care.

Please click the link below for the compete story. 

Im not ashamed to say I cried my eyes out over this.  Bill's lost 25 years of his life.  He will never get that back or his health.  But now he can at least live in his own house and keep the things which mean something to him instead of being pushed around by the system.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/guardians-galaxy-how-rocket-raccoon-rescued-my-brother-bill-mantlo-999096

In Memory of Joe (Joseph) Sikic

This post is in memory of a man none of you know.  But to me, he was a great man.  Joe Sikic.

He was my mentor.  He took a confused high school drop out aimlessly bouncing from job to job and gave him a chance to determine his future.  His direction in life.

A European, Croatian to be specific and a hard man.  More than once he threw a part out of the shop during my learning process.  I wasn't allowed to read the newspaper or a book or anything during coffee breaks.  We didn't have cell phones then.  "I'm paying for your coffee break.  So you'll concentrate on work."  He'd say.  And I'd spend my coffee break writing down fractions in a 1/64th format up to one inch, calculate in my head the three decimal equivalent and then write it down and memorize it.  During the day he'd shout out fractions and I had to know the decimal equivalent.

My parents weren't his biggest fans and more than once I had to tell my dad to stay out of it.  It was a small jobber shop that earned me invaluable experience in the mid 80's when everyone else was out of work and only the most seasoned and experienced machinists were still working.  Nobody wanted an apprentice.  They all wanted machinists with 15-20 years experience.  Not a former prep cook. 

$6.00/hr  Don't laugh.  Its 1987.  Considering my previous job as a cook was $5.50/hr...I was in heaven with the raise.  I worked hard and laugh now at how he would teach me lessons.  Things I still apply today.  I always have the cleanest most organized work bench.  For a reason.  Things he taught me.  Things they don't teach today.  Tricks of the trade.  Tricks I have since adapted and applied to the action figures I make.

I wanted to have lunch with him.  To thank him.  For all he did for me.  Its been a few years since last we talked.  I was in the corner store when I saw him.  No...it wasn't him.  It was him alright, but younger.  It was his son.  Upon talking to him I learned that Joe had passed away from cancer.

I feel bad that I never fully told him how much I appreciate everything he did for me.  The opportunity he provided me and the skills he willing shared and taught me.  He was a hard man with a soft center.  A good man.  I feel very fortunate to have known him and to have apprenticed under a man as skilled as he was. 

I wish I could have told you in person.

Thank you Joe. 

Cast Repair

There are a couple of ways you can repair a cast if you choose not to throw it out.  And probably a couple more I know nothing about. 

The first...Sometimes when pouring a sprue mold, you may accidentally over pour flooding the spout.  This can produce an air bubble which may fool you into thinking the mold is full.   Then when you open the mold, you find half a cast.  These are fun for customizing.  Now if you are lucky enough to be able to achieve a full seal by reinserting the cast back into the mold, then first simply cut out the part of the cast that failed put it back into the mold making sure it is 100% seated, and fill the rest of the mold.  You can have fun by changing the color...or not.  I've had success blending the same color together seamlessly in 2 or 3 pours.

If its a Smush mold, you can do the same as the above.  Cut out the bad, reinsert cast into the mold, and add more resin.  Sometimes that's not an option either.  Sometimes where the cast fail happens, particularly in sprue molds, prevents simply cutting out the cast fail and adding more resin.

If its a high detail area, depending on the amount of resin used for the complete cast, I might suggest simply scrapping the piece and checking the mold for what could be causing the problem and try again.  Sometimes its not worth it to save and fix.  How much time are you willing to invest to save the failed cast?  Is it worth it?  Its not always.

If its in an area that can be worked back into form with a little sanding and ingenuity, then I would suggest taking some clay and building a little bowl around the hole which you would then fill with resin.  The clay bowl keeps the resin from running all over the cast and ensures the failed area is fully filled.  The bowl doesn't need to be very high.  Simply tight to the cast and slightly higher than the cast surface.  You can easily remove the clay after the resin has cured.  What doesn't easily sands off.  You then sand/rework the detail back.  This method works well for flat, geometrical surfaces or areas where detail is easy to rework manually.

Those are the methods I use when I repair casts.  Of course, you don't need to have a cast fail to have fun with the cast.  You could intentionally under pour or pour discriminately to achieve results of a more specific nature.