Making a Green Stuff Press-Mold

Hello again everyone! Occasionally I am short a piece or two when working on an army, and there are also those hard-to-get pieces that I want more of (shields, heads, pouches, etc). I am missing a handful of backpacks for some Rogue Trader space marines and decided to make a press mold for it, as original casts are very difficult to come by. ***Please remember that creating copies of pieces should be done for personal use only. It would be illegal to sell any casts of a miniature/piece that is not yours!***Materials:-Green Stuff for the mold (as this is flexible and will make it easy to get your piece out)-Milliput (or any rock hard putty for casting, so you can file/sand the piece easily)-Games Workshop 30mm square bases (you could use round ones, but I prefer square so that the mold halves line up properly)-Sculpting tool, craft knife or needle-Petroleum Jelly or other lubricant (applying cooking oil thinly with a brush will also work)1. First we will choose what to make a mold of. In this case it is a Space Marine backpack. Pick a couple plastic bases that are the right size, and these will hold each of your mold halves. Since the backpack is too thick for just two bases, I will have to make one of the sides deeper, so I took a third base and cut out the center. It doesn't need to be perfect.2. Glue the hollowed base on top of one of the others. Skip this step if your piece is thin enough for just one base on either side.3. Mix up plenty of Green Stuff and fill one of the mold halves. It's easy to underestimate how much putty you'll need, so make sure to mix enough.4. Grease the piece and the bottom mold half with a bit of the Petroleum Jelly (I use an old paintbrush. You won't need very much to grease it). Then firmly press in the piece into the soft putty. Make sure that you have removed all flash from the piece before molding. Press it down about halfway (reference where the mold line was on the piece, and that should give you a good idea of how deep to go).5. Notice that the edges are pulled away from the piece. This is where the sculpting tool comes in handy! Push the putty up against the edges of the piece. Take into consideration any overhangs/crevices in the piece that may prevent it from being removed from the mold once it sets. I filled in the vents at the top of the backpack with a little green stuff, as the top mold might have trouble being removed if I didn't. Take a pencil and make a few indentations on the corners. This will help the molds line up right. LET THIS COMPLETELY CURE BEFORE MOVING ON.6. Now that it has cured, mix up more Green Stuff and fill the other mold half. Lightly grease the top half, and firmly press it down onto the bottom half. I like to start pressing at one corner and then move across. Use a lot of pressure. Here's what it looks like after being pressed together. Try to get the bases lined up as evenly as possible. There will be some excess putty oozing out the sides. Don't worry about this now, we'll clean it up later. LET THIS COMPLETELY CURE BEFORE MOVING ON.7. Once that has cured, it's time to break apart the mold. Take a craft knife and cut away the excess putty. Use your fingernails to pry apart the mold. There should be a small gap between the two plastic bases that you can get your nails under. This will require a lot of force! Be careful not to tear the mold though. Once it is apart, you can finally pull out the piece. I used a sculpting tool to pry it out of the mold half. Try not to damage the mold when removing the piece.8. There we have it! A finished mold! Now to make a cast. Grease the mold lightly. Mix up a little milliput (I have used Green Stuff to cast before and it works fine, it is just not very easy to sand/file, so I would highly recommend using milliput or a different hard putty). Press it firmly into one of the mold halves. Practice and time will tell you just how much putty you'll need. Press the other half on top. Use A LOT of pressure. Putty will ooze out of the sides. The more you press it, the less distorted your piece will be. I'll explain this later. LET THIS CURE COMPLETELY. After several hours, break apart the mold again. The base actually came off of one of the mold halves, so that should give you an idea of just how much force you'll need. If this happens just use a drop of super glue and fix it back into place.9. Notice that there is a thick layer of flash. This is the downside to casting pieces this way, as your casts will be slightly thicker than the original due to excess putty squeezing between the mold halves. The more pressure you use, and the less extra putty you add in will help make this less apparent. Use a knife and files to clean up the piece. Perfect! The piece is ready to be glued to the model and painted!I hope this article was helpful. I always appreciate feedback of all sorts. Feel free to comment and ask questions.-Matt