Tips for Working with SiOres Featuring Children of Ecstasy by Creature Caster
"SiOres is a great material for Miniatures and in this video we go over some things to watch out for as you work with it. Working with our SioRes miniatures will be slightly different than working with our resin miniatures.
Simon, Operations Officer at Creature Caster provides some tips."
by Creature Caster
Tips for working with SiOres with Simon
Operations Officer at Creature Caster
Check pieces & prepare tools
Make sure you have all the parts.
Get together your essential tools
- A craft knife
- Sharp blades for the craft knife
- A round file
- Sanding sponges
- A toothbrush or hard bristle brush
- Clippers
- A pin vise, with proper bits
- A mask
- Super glue
- and some milliput
Some additional non-essential tools
- A curved sanding tool
- A variable speed tool
- dremel
- flex shaft
- Tweezers
- and quick set for super glue or accelerant
Washing & Preparations
No need to wash parts you receive like regular resin models. Didn't need to use mold release in the models so you don't need to wash them.
You might find that there's a light coating of white powder on them that's actually from talcum powder and if you find that there's excess just brush it off otherwise the primer will adhere to it.
Remove Vents & Sprues
Vents are small holes that are cut into the mold to allow for the material to fill the part, unlike plastic or resin.
You can clip off the sprue fairly close to the part.
Since the material doesn't snap like other resin.
For rounded areas leave a bit of material and slowly work down towards the model mirroring the shape this will train your hand so that by the time you are flush with the part you can easily cut away excess material without flattening out the part.
Remove Flash
Flash is excess material created during the manufacturing process.
The flash is the thin material you'll see around the part. You can take a pair of sharp clippers and just cut little shapes until you get to the piece and then use a knife to clean the rest of the flash off.
Smooth out mold lines
SiOres cuts very easily. Use a hobby knife, the big difference between working with SiOres compared to resin or plastic models is that it cuts very easily almost like cutting through butter.
This also makes it easy to shape with a knife. Almost, sculpt with it. You should be using a very sharp knife. You'll have to develop muscle memory, and not cut too much into it.
One of the things that you might have to get used to is not scraping away the mold line with the edge of your blade like this it doesn't work effectively on SiOres.
Another way to remove mold lines is with files and sanding tools. Initially, it might seem difficult to sand it, but you can sand it, and use a brush removed to find particular. So you can see what you're doing.
Also, use a fine grit of sanding paper, sanding sponges are the best, in my opinion. (Recommended 3M fine and super fine).
Files a nice needle file that is round you can. Keep the organic shape of the rounded surfaces with a needle file.
Those are the best tools to be using.
You can also use a dremel or flex shaft, and also use this tool as long as you have the right bits to help clean mold lines in difficult-to-reach spots.
note: you will have to sand the part afterward since the tool will be a bit savage on the material. You should avoid using these tools on a surface that are supposed to be smooth.
Fix mold shifts
Sometimes due to uneven pressure on the mold parts can get a little bit of a mold shift. SiOres are less prone to mold shifting than resin due to the high-pressure system.
If it does occur I would avoid cutting the top half of the mold shift off like a lot of people do since you'll be cutting a big chunk of it off and it's hard to smooth out afterward, especially on smooth surfaces.
use milliput to fill in the seam and sand it away especially if it's the smooth or focal point of the model.
Does not warp with heat
Unlike resin which uses a chemical reaction to produce a finished product, SiOres uses heat and pressure to produce the model parts.
Therefore you should not receive any bent models, and the materials are not going to bend in high temperatures, like most resin models on a hot summer day and you go back to your car and your models are in the car you'll find that your weapons aren't bent.
But I would still watch out for cooking your paint job.
Final polishing
This step is important for a nice and smooth finish.
If you have ever sanded a plastic mold before you notice that it leaves a fine grit behind and as previously mentioned, it's hard to scrape away this material. I would use 3m fine and superfine thinning sponges to remove away this grit and also give a unified feel to the model.
It is important to use very fine sanding material. These can be found in most automotive parts stores and hardware stores and are very cost-effective.
TIPS: You can also bend SiOres to help you get into the hard-to-reach places. just be careful not to bend it more than 45 degrees or use your best judgment to avoid snapping the piece because it still can snap.
Use a brush or compressed air to move the fine particulates away while you're sanding so you can see the surface of the model and so you don't end up cutting away material that you want to keep.
Dry fit, Dry fit, Dry fit
this is a really important step that people overlook.
Dry fitting is basically testing the part and making sure that fits correctly without using any glue, if there is an even connection point you can cut away or sand away the material to help it fit.
You can score or sand connection points to give them texture for the glue to latch on to.
A great method to use before you start gluing your models together is to score the model by putting little scratches on one surface of the model. This increases the surface area for the glue to bond to and is a great way to make sure that it sticks together solidly.
You can also apply the same method with files by sanding the surface.
Pinning parts
Pinning is a useful technique to help you hold your model together and let the glue set properly and also provide extra strength, just in case it takes any type of damage.
If it takes damage it's going to be easier to put together afterward and also means that you don't have to use too much glue to actually bond them all together.
Create stable and strong connections between parts.
Pinning lessens the time you will need to hold parts together.
Pinning is the technique of drilling a hole into one side of the connection point and to the other side of the connection point.
A lot of Creature Caster models have guide holes already in place to help you with this technique.
Pin parts with multiple connection points.
it's especially important to pin your model together when there are multiple connection points. For example two legs to the base.
Simply because it makes it a little bit easier for you to position the model correctly and when you actually get to the gluing stage it will help.
It also helps you paint things separately if that's something you like to do as well too.
Glue the parts together
Make sure to use cyanoacrylate super glue it should be at least medium thickness so the glue doesn't drip all over your model at this stage.
You should also dry fit again to make sure you have the correct angle and the correct fit of the longer set than what you might be accustomed to compared to working with resin or plastic, so make sure to hold the parts.
Using a small dab of glue will help with this, since using more will take longer to set, and you're more likely to have it set incorrectly.
Using also an accelerant might help with this process and the cellular is a spray, that comes in a spray bottle, and you just spray it after your bottle has glued them all together and it will help the clearing process set faster.
Final tips
Using epoxy putty of some sort to fill in the gaps will help create a great finish for your model.
Use a small amount of putty pushed into the gaps by a toothpick or silicone tool.
Use a preferred tool such as a hobby knife silicone tool or even a dental pick to help push the material into the gap and then smooth it out with some water. once the putty has set it can be sanded into a smooth surface that matches the clean surface of the rest of the model hopefully.
We thank the Creature Caster team, for this amazing video and tips that help a lot of users to prepare their miniatures #madewithsiocast.
Check the Creature Caster website to see their miniatures.