Military Miniatures

The commercial moulds arrived yesterday. There were a total of three moulds, but I was only going to use two of them - the mould of the serving boy and the mould of the lady.

It is not as easy as it seems, and the first attempt at casting with molten lead was not a total success. I could not get the lead into all the crevices of the figure. Using a sharp knife I cut some extra vents in the face of the mould and the second attempt worked!

For the first time I had a figure that I had actually hot cast from metal - a great experience!

Here is the lead being poured into one of the moulds:

And, once cooled a little, here are the two halves of the mould being seperated to reveal the figure inside:

The suspense of opening the mould is like that when opening a birthday present.

And here is the cast figure of the lady, with sprues and core etc still attached.

These figure models came with cast on bases, which I cut off. In the case of the serving woman it was quite easy. But the barefoot boy was difficult as the feet had to be shaped and the toes ‘cut’ into the foot with a sharp blade.
There was quite a lot of flashing to trim, but the work was worth it.

If you have never ever made any castings before, then give it a go, it is a whole new experience.

So, no idea how the final setting of the figures in the cafe will turn out at this stage, but here is one possibility. The French Dragoon Officer is talking to the serving boy whilst the lady brings a cup to the his table.

….and thank you to my wife for taking the photographs.