How to Mold Army Men

Toy soldiers require making a two-part mold.

Toy soldiers have a long history. Early in the 20th century, companies manufactured them from lead and pewter. Although you can still find pewter soldiers, lead ones have fallen by the wayside due to the metal's toxicity. Today, companies usually manufacture these soldiers out of plastic. However, when casting your own models you need to decide what kind of silicone to use to make the mold. This depends on what casting material you will use for the soldier itself. You can use any kind of silicone if you plan on casting with resin or plastic, but if you plan on casting with tin or pewter, you will need to order a special temperature-tolerant silicone.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Newspaper
• Wax paper
• Plasticine
• Prototype soldier
• 4 ball bearings
• Plastic straw
• Mold release
• Gloves
• Respirator
• Silicone rubber kit
• 3 plastic mixing cups
• Popsicle stick

1. Lay down two layers of newspaper over your work space and put a sheet of wax paper on top

2. Create a rectangular bed of plasticine that is 1 ½ inches deep, four inches wide and six inches long. Embed the toy soldier you wish to duplicate in the placticine until it is half covered. Then press a ball bearing into each corner of the plasticine bed until they are half covered.

3. Run a plastic straw from the base of the figurine to the edge of the plasticine bed. Press it gently into the plasticine.

4. Create a wall of plasticine all the way around the rectangular bed. Make this wall ¼ inch thick and two inches high. Place the plasticine bed on top of the wax paper.

5. Spray the exposed portion of the soldier, straw and the ball bearings down with a bottle of mold release. This keeps your mold from sticking to the prototype. Use a mold release made by the same company that made your silicone kit.

6. Don a pair of gloves and a respirator. Take the pair of bottles that came with your silicone kit and set them next to a pair of mixing cups. One of these bottles contains liquid silicone and the other contains a catalyst. When mixed together, they cure into silicone rubber. Pour equal amounts of both bottles into the two separate mixing cups. Use enough to potentially fill the plasticine enclosure.

7. Pour the contents of both cups into a third cup and stir them together for one full minute. Pour the mixture over your prototype. Keep pouring until the silicone almost reaches the top of the plasticine wall.

8. Let the silicone harden. The time this takes depends on the silicone you use, but can take anywhere from four to twenty-four hours.

9. Flip the mold over to expose the underside of the plasticine bed. Peel the plasticine away to expose the other side of the soldier figurine, the ball bearings and the straw. Remove the ball bearings from the silicone rubber.

10. Create a two-inch tall, ¼-inch wide wall of plasticine all the way around this side of the mold. This is for the second half of your two-part mold. Spray the surface of the mold, the straw and the figurine with mold release.

11. Mix another batch of silicone rubber and pour it over the exposed figurine until the rubber almost reaches the top of the plasticine wall. Let the silicone cure.

12. Peel the plasticine away from your mold and pry both halves of it apart. Pop the prototype and the straw out. Rinse both halves of your mold with water to remove the leftover mold release.

Tips & Warnings

• Work in a well-ventilated area and keep children and pets away from the uncured silicone rubber.

References

• The Toy Soldier Company: A Brief History of Toy Soldiers
• "The Mouldmaker's Handbook"; Jean-Pierre Delpeche and Marc-Andre Figueres; 2009
• YouTube: Mold Making, Casting: Using OOMOO Silicone Rubber