To populate my O Scale and HO layouts
For HO people, look first for packages of pre-made, unpainted models and get some craft paint, small brushes and a magnifying lamp. One of our late members here, RR Mel, did a lot of his own castings of people. You might look through his old posts here.
I took these cheap, unpainted figures, reconfigured a few limbs with a razor saw and glue, and repainted them.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Rest in peace Mel, this would've been right up his alley, peopl. He made molds for his people.
Maybe it's possible to go back in time, in the forums, through a search, and find some of his work.
Mike.
My You Tube
Just last night, I finished painting 52 LPBs, and now have only another 250-or-so yet to do.
If you click on the photo, it should enlarge.
...some of them need a little clear Dullcote, as they look like they're sweating profusely.
...obviously, the scale of the figures seems to vary, even within a single package from one source, and what's shown is definitely from more than one source.
I also have quite a few pieces of livestock to paint, too, but most of those can be done using only a few colours, and usually not too much in the way of details.
Wayne
Mel made his out of resin and I never quite understood how he made molds (of figures he had purchased)
doctorwayneI finished painting 52 LPB
LPB's? Is this sizeism?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hi maltcar,
Just to clarify, I think you mean 'silicone' molds from which you can make epoxy castings.
I searched YouTube for videos showing how two part silicone molds are made. I couldn't find anything regarding model train figures, but I did find this more general video. Click on the 'Watch on YouTube' bar on the lower left to get the full screen view:
I found this thread that shows how RR_Mel does the figures but he doesn't go into a lot of detail regarding how he actually made the molds. Scroll through the whole thread to see lots of examples of his work:
https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/p/284030/3272713.aspx#3272713
Here is his website. It is well worth spending some time exploring it:
https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Most packages of molded people come with several copies of the same figure. I believe that Mel's method was to reconfigure the identical models to make them different from each other. He would cut off an arm or a leg and change its position or turn the head a few degrees, etc. etc.
Then he would make silicone molds of each of the figures so that he could make several copies of the repositioned people.
He was also quite skilled at painting the figures. There is a distinct advantage to painting the figures youself in that you can make the colours much more realistic. The prepainted imported sets from China very often have really oddball coloured clothing. How many men do you see in a day wearing purple or pink suits?
Hope this helps.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
BigDaddy doctorwayne I finished painting 52 LPB LPB's? Is this sizeism? Wink
doctorwayne I finished painting 52 LPB LPB's? Is this sizeism? Wink
Could be, as scale seems to be somewhat random, and LPB is subject to each individuals' interpretation of those initials.
doctorwayneCould be, as scale seems to be somewhat random, and LPB is subject to each individuals' interpretation of those initials.
I will quote doctorwayne himself from one of his posts in the aforementioned thread:
"Yeah, Mel has changed the meaning of LPBs as "Little Plastic Beings" or even Little Plastic B*****ds, into one of Lusciously Perfect Babes."