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Insta-Mold – Is it Worth the Money? See My Review to Learn

    Well, hello everyone. I’m a new writer on the blog, and I wanted to make an interesting topic to start. Not the most discussed or known of topics to be honest, and somewhat controversial to some people.

    So, for a project I started for Frostgrave I thought about making a small Melniboné themed warband. The base models are the Galadhadrim warriors from LOTR line from Games Workshop. After they arrived, and I inspected them, I really liked them, but the heads, shields, and the elven swords didn’t make the cut for my warband.

    So, I searched the webs, and I found helmets, and shields, but no swords that made a good impression. After searching in all my past miniatures, and the bitz box, I found a nice broadsword that could make the cut, but I have one and I needed four of them.

    How did I conjure a solution?

    Easy: Insta-Mold!

    Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. The commission earned helps maintain this site.

    Insta-Mold

    Insta-Mold – called by many names, and carried by many brands. This particular set is from Insta-Mold Ebay shop. It’s is a kind of plastic, really malleable that can be put into a malleable state by just heating water up to just before boiling point, and then dipping it for a bit less than a minute.

    It’s very useful to copy small parts like weapons, symbols, banners, boxes, or just any small model part. For entire miniatures it is mostly useless unless it’s really well divided into separate parts, and small enough. If you find it morally acceptable – I don’t find it particularly, I just copy small parts that I’ve modified, or done by myself, or if they sell, and odd number for what I need.

    Casting with Insta-Mold

    As you can see above, I copied the broadsword, and made a copy with greenstuff. I recommend brown stuff. It’s stiffer and less flexible than GS, and looks pretty good once cured. The copy is slightly smaller, and has some problems on the edges, but nothing too great. Obviously you will have to sand the flash – I already cut it on the picture, with small clippers or scissors, but that is easy to do.

    As you can see, the copy is quite similar to the original, eerily similar for a cheap mold and cheap casting material.

    Casting Results

    So, do I recommend it personally?

    Yes, but only for people who do lots of conversions. If you don’t do conversions, and intend on copy miniatures, just give up – this won’t work for that. But, if you’re like me – usually make your own weapons, change lots of parts, or do many experiments on minis, it’s a good tool to have.

    For the price – less than 10€ included S&H to Spain, it’s quite cheap and useful, and since it’s indefinitely reusable (just reheat and re-mold) it’s a good addition to the arsenal of tools and materials of a modeller. You can even use it to copy textures from terrain you make to make copies on all sorts of materials. I tried copying a brick I made with styrofoam and it worked perfectly; and since it’s not too hot it won’t melt the styrofoam.

    So, what do you think as a first post? I intend on making more tutorials on the future, showcase some of my warbands / minis of different games, maybe even rule reviews, and AAR’s if I can make pictures of the games I play.

    As for what I like, I’m mostly a 15mm, skirmish gamer, but lately I’m getting back to 28mm territory – specially Frostgrave, Open Combat, Mordheim, and really thinking on Age of Sigmar if I find a cheap army. In the last year I dabbed a lot with 3D printing different things for wargaming, which I’ll show in the future if I print something interesting.

    See ya around, and do experiment the possibilities of Insta-Mold.

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    Karlos Perez
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    Thor
    Admin
    7 years ago

    First, welcome to the team!

    A good first post. I’ll definitely have to look at this stuff the next time I need to duplicate something. Wonder if any of the local craft stores carry it.

    Minor suggestion, it would be nice to see the process more. It’s unclear how you did the mold of the sword.

    Thor
    Admin
    7 years ago

    Never be worried about having too many pictures, especially when it comes to reviewing something, and showing how something works.

    Joe B
    7 years ago

    Great first post Karlos. I’ve seen modders use insta mold and others use two-part resin to make molds and I think of the two this looks much easier for quick work. I tried making a green stuff mold my my iron warriors and mentor Legion shoulder pads as they went out of production but never got good results from it, may have to try again with this

    Rory
    7 years ago

    Nice little review, thanks for writing and sharing it.

    TheRhino
    7 years ago

    Nice review.
    Do you just put a big blob of your chosen material between the two pieces of instant mold and squeeze?
    How fine do the details on the copy end up? Could you duplicate things like skull icons and still have visible teeth, notches in weapons, etc?

    Warren Falconer
    7 years ago

    I’ve tried this stuff before I felt like it was a nice quick fix to copy that one part you need. I used it for 40k combo weapons and the like. It was a nice cheap balance between scouring eBay and waitin a few weeks and going full blown casting. Great too. To have in the tool box.

    *thumps back into the cave

    Thor
    Admin
    7 years ago

    Holy hell! Anyone else see that? It was a rare Falconer spotting!

    Kamui
    Admin
    7 years ago

    Welcome! Nice first post.

    I haven’t tried this yet but after reading this I’m am tempted to pick some up. I considered it at one time but ended up going with a product called Composimold instead. It’s reusable like Insta-mold but more rubber like. You melt it in a microwave then pour it over your object to make a mold. It makes a nice, flexible mold but it’s very difficult to make a two-part mold with it.

    I’ve also been playing with Tinkercad lately to make some 3D printable parts, but I haven’t printed anything yet. Do you have a 3D printer or do you use an online service?

    Kamui
    Admin
    7 years ago

    Shapeways is the service I have been planning to try. I just need to finish up something to print…

    Anyway, nice post. I’m looking forward to more!

    Turkadactyl
    Turkadactyl
    7 years ago

    Thanks for the review. I may have to call upon this stuff one day.

    DaggerAndBrush
    7 years ago

    Good review and an interesting material. I think this may work for bases, too, especially if they don’t have undercuts etc.

    Thor
    Admin
    7 years ago
    Reply to  DaggerAndBrush

    Yeah, it’s definitely suited for simple stuff. I have to remember to pick some up myself.