My stash just grew again 2018.

[McColm]

Won on eBay the 1/72 CMR Avro York resin conversion set.

[rickshaw]

Actually Westbury-on-Severn, just 10 miles away from me. 

But in reality I bought it via ebay, it was mentioned on here a short while ago. The same guy does an A5 version as well.

The A4 one is here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A4-Vacuum-Forming-Kit/273102965500

Thanks for that.   

[NARSES2]

Ta for that.  Now if I could cast white metal, I'd be laughing.

Depending on the white metal you intend to use it's not that difficult. The main problem would likely be the heat source. Although Woods Metal for instance has a melting point below that of boiling water, 70C if memory serves.

At school my metal work master helped me cast some wargames figures, admittedly they were "flats" using resin moulds and aluminium which came from  small Al ingots and melted bottle tops, I kid you not. It can be done at home using domestic equipment as long as you check a few things out first.

I've seen home casting done with Plaster of Paris moulds, just make sure they have fully dried out first, and the alloy smelted in a saucepan.

[Steel Penguin]

try prince august
http://www.princeaugust.ie/

metal and moulds

and
http://www.resin-supplies.co.uk/mouldmaking.htm
for stuff to cast into.

[Chris Payne]

A few decal sheets arrived this morning from the big H.

[Weaver]

Ta for that.  Now if I could cast white metal, I'd be laughing.

Depending on the white metal you intend to use it's not that difficult. The main problem would likely be the heat source. Although Woods Metal for instance has a melting point below that of boiling water, 70C if memory serves.

At school my metal work master helped me cast some wargames figures, admittedly they were "flats" using resin moulds and aluminium which came from  small Al ingots and melted bottle tops, I kid you not. It can be done at home using domestic equipment as long as you check a few things out first.

I've seen home casting done with Plaster of Paris moulds, just make sure they have fully dried out first, and the alloy smelted in a saucepan.

When I was at school, somebody got thrown out of the Wargames Club and disciplined because it turned out that he'd been accidentally dropping commercial figures into Plaster of Paris that was just lying about and then accidentally spilling white metal over the resultant holes, which was very careless of him. The fact that he'd been trying to make up for his carelessness by selling the figures to other members at a profit was a factor...

[TheChronicOne]

 

[Squizzette]

Received a couple of kits that somehow managed to get added to my order of a bottle of Tamiya Thin Cement

1 x 1/72 Aoshima OH-1 Ninja
1 x 1/72 HobbyBoss CH-46E/F Sea Knight

Squizz

[The Wooksta!]

Ta for that.  Now if I could cast white metal, I'd be laughing.

Depending on the white metal you intend to use it's not that difficult. The main problem would likely be the heat source. Although Woods Metal for instance has a melting point below that of boiling water, 70C if memory serves.

At school my metal work master helped me cast some wargames figures, admittedly they were "flats" using resin moulds and aluminium which came from  small Al ingots and melted bottle tops, I kid you not. It can be done at home using domestic equipment as long as you check a few things out first.

I've seen home casting done with Plaster of Paris moulds, just make sure they have fully dried out first, and the alloy smelted in a saucepan.

It isn't something I'd advise doing in the kitchen - when I was a kid, me Dad used to melt lead to make sinkers (fishing weights) and the smell was awful and took weeks to subside.

[Thorvic]

I got my Modelsvit Mirage 4000 yesterday from the French Model Shop that commissions these kits 

[NARSES2]

When I was at school, somebody got thrown out of the Wargames Club and disciplined because it turned out that he'd been accidentally dropping commercial figures into Plaster of Paris that was just lying about and then accidentally spilling white metal over the resultant holes, which was very careless of him. The fact that he'd been trying to make up for his carelessness by selling the figures to other members at a profit was a factor...

Ah, times they are a changing  As I said my metalwork master (Mr Troupe) actually helped me back in 1967/68. Wargames figures in the U.K. were not that readily available, Donald Featherstone  , had only just published Wargames a few years before (I still have my original copy) and commercially available figures were very rare in the U.K. especially if you were into Ancients. We used some original German flat figures I'd got from Tony Bath, who had a hand in setting up Miniature Figurines I think, at one of the first "shows"

Ah to be in at the very beginning of something 

[Weaver]

When I was at school, somebody got thrown out of the Wargames Club and disciplined because it turned out that he'd been accidentally dropping commercial figures into Plaster of Paris that was just lying about and then accidentally spilling white metal over the resultant holes, which was very careless of him. The fact that he'd been trying to make up for his carelessness by selling the figures to other members at a profit was a factor...

Ah, times they are a changing  As I said my metalwork master (Mr Troupe) actually helped me back in 1967/68. Wargames figures in the U.K. were not that readily available, Donald Featherstone  , had only just published Wargames a few years before (I still have my original copy) and commercially available figures were very rare in the U.K. especially if you were into Ancients. We used some original German flat figures I'd got from Tony Bath, who had a hand in setting up Miniature Figurines I think, at one of the first "shows"

Ah to be in at the very beginning of something 

Well as I said, I think it was the fact that this kid was blatantly selling them to other people that prompted such a harsh reaction from the teachers. If he'd been quietly copying a few orcs to bulk out his army, they'd probably have turned a blind eye, if they'd even found out about it.

The fact that he was part of the 'Warhammer Wave' than finished off the wargames club was probably an aggravating factor too. The club was run by the history department, and originally did mainly WWII and Napoleonic, with a smattering of other things, including sci-fi and fantasy, as minor interests. However, the year below me got heavily into Warhammer and started to aggressively promote it, to the point where nearly half of the games being played were Warhammer and the 'zealots' were going up to people playing other games and saying "why aren't you playing Warhammer? Warhammer's better than this other stuff. Everybody else is playing Warhammer so you should too."

In the end the history dept teachers had had enough and declared that if more than 50% of the games being played weren't historical, then they'd fold the club up because it wasn't serving the purpose of teaching history any more. Despite the clear and unambiguous warnings, despite the mediation efforts of the older boys (including yours truly) who were on the club committee by then and knew exactly how frustrated and serious the teachers were, and despite the fact that they had zero power in the situation, the Warhammer zealots insisted on defying the teachers, with the result that the teachers went through with their threat and everybody lost out.

[jcf]

Casting white metal detail parts, landing gear etc., is not the same as open pour casting simple figures.
White metal detail parts are cast in a spin-casting machine and done with vulcanized moulds.

http://cccrow.com/how-2/metal.html

[rickshaw]

There are various tricks that can be done to simulate the vulcanised moulding technique.   One of the easiest is to use an old tobacco tin lid with asbestos string around it.  Soak the string in water and when you pour the metal, place the old tobacco tin lid on top of the mould opening - the resulting steam will force the metal into the extremes of the mould.  Now, I last did that over 30 years ago when you could still get asbestos string.  Nowadays it is nigh impossible but there should be substitutes available.

Another way is to rig a centrifugal moulding machine.  I have seen them done with old gramophone players, which you wind up before adding the metal down the middle of the machine to the mould.  This forces the metal to the extremities of the mould.

Many years ago, I used to be a wargamer and downunder figures were rarer than hen's teeth so it was surprising what would find it's way into some rubber.  All gone now and there are figure manufacturers downunder now.  Some even do real 25 and 15mm figures (rather than 28mm and 18mm ones).   

[NARSES2]

Casting white metal detail parts, landing gear etc., is not the same as open pour casting simple figures.
White metal detail parts are cast in a spin-casting machine and done with vulcanized moulds.

http://cccrow.com/how-2/metal.html

Interesting Jon. I wasn't aware of that.

.  Some even do real 25 and 15mm figures (rather than 28mm and 18mm ones).   

Yup wargammes figure just grow and grow. One Christmas I got a set of painted 20mm Russian Guard figures made by Alberken for Christmas from Gamages' . Nowadays they'd be considered 15mm. I still have them along with with some other Naoleonic's and a few ancients