How to "true" molding and casting maquette with multiple various forms of limb(chavant NSP).

Николай Попов

Hello. I want to make a sculpture being to put on the table or shelf for your own collection, but do not know how I would do it right casting. The lessons I have encountered with simple forms, without a lot of limbs crossing each other. So far my attempts have failed. I broke the maquette. (((

Please tell me how to make a maquette molding and casting, as in this lesson https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/monster-maquette-assembly-and-paint ? How to determine which parts of the sculpture cut. Advise, where you can find information about molding complex sculptures. Sorry for my bad english.

Chris Ellerby

Sorry you broke your maquette, I know how that feels!

For a character with many limbs, it is best to cut the limbs off after sculpting and mold them individually.  You can leave a small hole/socket where each limb attaches to the body so the limb castings can be easily attached, or just leave a flat surface.

This process requires a bit of cleanup around the seams between the limb and the body.

Here is what Tim Martin's creature looked like prior to the limbs being attached.


And here he is attaching one of the limb castings with cyanoacrylate glue.


While his lesson does not cover creating the molds for this creature, you can get a good idea how he molded it by looking at the seam lines/flashing before he cleans it up. 

/Chris

Николай Попов

Thank you very much for your answer! That is, when the layout is ready, I will do the maquette cut on parts? Or sculpting at start by parts? How to sculpt a maquette by parts?  Is there any information on this site, or tutorials about it?

Chris Ellerby

You would sculpt the maquette as you would like the finished character to look, and when you are done sculpting you cut off the limbs so they can be molded on their own.

I don't believe we have any tutorials that focus on breaking down a maquette sculpt into multiple pieces for molding.

The closest I can think of would be this lesson, where Tim Martin removes the ears from his sculpture before molding, and then casts those on their own:

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/how-to-make-creature-props-mold-cast-paint

We do have a lesson series by Sandy Collora on designing and molding action figures, which does cover breaking down limbs, but that lesson is not available yet.  Keep checking the site, as it should be out in the next few months.

/Chris  

Николай Попов

Thank you, Chris! 

Chris Ellerby

Any time!  I hope you can share your project with us here on the forums when you are ready.

/Chris