The World of Model Soldiers

Part 10 : Making Your Own Model Soldiers

After collecting and painting soldiers for a while, many enthusiasts decide that they would like to make their own figures. Whether the results are successful or not depends on the ability the individual has as a sculptor or modeller.

Making single figures is fairly simple and can be done using a wire dolly or framework, which is then covered with a proprietary brand of filler to give the shape of figure required. You can keep adding to it and filing or scraping away unwanted parts until the model has achieved the proportions you want.

To produce a number of figures in a single size, it is a good idea to cast a simple basic figure in lead. Work on the dummy figure until the proportions are correct: length of head to total length of body, width of shoulders to width of hips, length of parts of arm and leg. An artists’ supply shop will have books on anatomy, which give a guide as to the proportions of the human figure, and it is helpful to study yourself in the mirror, and also observe how others stand, sit, and walk, to become aware of the relationships between the various parts of the body. Having created one good, anatomically correct figure to start with, you can then cast all the other figures from it. By using pure lead for the casting, the figure will be soft enough to be animated easily into any conceivable position, and then dressed by the application of model filler.

After making a figure, one is often so pleased with the result that one wants to make others for friends, or even sell them to other enthusiasts, and to do this the figure needs to be cast. The simplest method of casting model soldiers is to attempt to visualize where, if the man was lying on his back, an imaginary line should be drawn around his outline in order that there should not be any undercuts in the mould. If any part of the figure is completely under the mould, as opposed to just lying in its cavity, the mould or the figure will have to be broken in order to release one from the other.

First embed the figure in plasticine up to the imagined parting line or halfway mark, then build a retaining wall of card or similar material around the plasticine and pour plaster of Paris on to the plasticine. Once the plaster has set, remove the wall and plasticine, put a thin coat of detergent or liquid soap as a parting agent on the surface of the plaster cast and the figure, and then, once again, after building another retaining wall, pour on plaster of Paris in order to make the second half of the mould. The two halves of the mould, when finally parted and the master figure extracted, will then have a cavity, which, after the mould has been thoroughly dried, and preferably baked in an oven at a low temperature, can be filled with hot metal to produce a casting of the original master figure. If the mould has not dried thoroughly, the water that is still retained by the plaster will turn to steam when the hot metal is poured in, super-heated steam, which will expand and blow hot metal out of the top of the mould. Quite apart from the fact that you will lose valuable metal, you might also lose your eyesight, so be very careful and ensure that the mould is perfectly dry before you attempt to pour in the hot metal.

You can obtain the metal required for your soldiers from many sources: old scrap figures, pieces of lead piping, washers, fishing weights, air-gun pellets, and solder all make reasonable metal for casting. It can be melted down at home on the gas cooker, in an old enamelled saucepan. As the skill of the modeller increases, he will want to achieve more crispness of detail, and then the mix of metal becomes more important. Most metal firms who specialize in non-ferrous metals will be able to give advice as to which metal alloy one should buy for any specific purpose. The best and most economical alloys for casting have a content of about 60 % lead and 40 % tin, and sometimes antimony or bismuth is added to improve the casting properties.

At the plasticine stage of mould making, it is a good idea to make two or three indentations in the plasticine surrounding the figure with a thick pencil. These hollows will fill up with the moulding compound and remain as keys for locating the mould halves during casting. A pouring channel should also be built up from a point above the figure’s head to allow the metal to flow into the cavity. This channel will have to be built up on each half of the mould so as to leave a cavity in both halves of the mould.

A plaster of Paris mould will normally give you 10 or 12 castings, and if this is all you require, then there is no need to go any further. If, however, you want a production run of 100 or more, then use a silicon rubber mould. This material is obtainable from all reasonably well equipped artists’ shops and comes in a variety of grades. The consistency of the grade usually used in the manufacture of moulds for model soldiers is similar to that of treacle and it is mixed with a catalyst to make it go hard.

The same procedure is followed as described above, except that the silicon rubber rather than plaster of Paris is poured on to the plasticine to make the two halves of the mould. The rubber mould which results will be suitable for up to about 300 castings provided the temperature of the metal is constant and correct for the particular mix used.

When the silicon rubber, or the plaster of Paris, is poured on to the master figure to make the halves of the mould, the liquid should be poured in slowly and from only one corner of the mould, so that it spreads evenly across the surface of the half mould of plasticine and slowly covers the figure, expelling all the air as it does so. If air bubbles are left behind, clinging to the figure when it is cast, they will appear as ‘goitres’, mar the casting, and possibly start to break up the mould.

The manufacturers of model soldiers, instead of producing small moulds for use by hand, have a technique of centrifugal casting whereby they take a disk of pure rubber and lay on it the master figures, 8, 10, or 12 at a time, in a spoke design from the centre of the disk, rather like sausages on a plate. They then place another disk on top, thus making a sandwich of the master figures. This sandwich is heated in a special mould former and a great deal of pressure applied, something exceeding 20 tons per square inch (more than 3 million grammes per square centimetre). The mould then gradually vulcanizes around the master figures. When it has completely vulcanized, it is pulled apart, the master figures are taken out, and where they were, cavities remain to be used for casting.

The new mould is then put on a spinning turntable, rather like a gramophone turntable, but which turns much faster, and molten lead is poured into the top of the mould. When it hits the base, it is flung out to the extremities of the mould by centrifugal force, and thus fills all the cavities. Centrifugal moulds can be spun once every two or three minutes, and they are usually used in batches of about five or six so that no one mould gets too hot. In this way the manufacturer has a vast production potential and keeps pace with the demands of his customers.