Thursday, January 27, 2022

The Trials of Goo - Sprue Goo that is.

So last October, I stumbled across a video about Sprue Goo by the Miniature Hobbyist on YouTube & the uses this fella had put it too. It was quite interesting & the link provided is of that video.

 My biggest takeaway, was the making of the plastic panels for use as basing on figures that were either snipped slotta, or those plastic ones that did not have an inherint base attached.

So after watching the video, it was off to Goodwill to snag some old cheap spoons & a rolling pin. I also bought a small cooking pan at the dollar store, as well as wax paper rolls.

 


With the final purchase of the Acetone, it was into the jar!

 


Well, this is where things go a little different from how his video portrays it.

My first batch seems to have some powdery sprue atop the goo...is this from primed sprues? Or are their different qualties of plastic sprue..I would have to say maybe to both.

 


So going forward I will not be using any primed sprues. I know there are many who prime the pieces while on their sprues. I can try removing the primer to see if that helps.

 I watched his video again, thinking I may have missed something, as certainly the plastic goo does not drop off my spoon, but sticks to it like a thick sludge...so it required a bit of scraping onto the sheet.

 


When I rolled it with the rolling pin, it got very thin, but man is it sticky! I waited the mentioned time period before trying to peel off the wax paper. Yep it was coming up with it. (Apparently the acetone hadn't evaporated enough)

 

My understanding thus far is that after a period of time, you need to remove the wax/parchment paper to allow the plastic to dry. Eventually my result is shown below.

 


Was this to be considered a failure? Well yes & no. Yes in that I was unable to use a pattern roller over it as shown in the video. But no, as I can still use this for rough ground. So grabbing a circle template & drawing circle patterns over it. 


I was then able to use scissors to cut them out.

 


Then glued them on washers....I originally tried using white glue, but some of them released while trimming the edges. So I reglued them with GOOP. Some would say to use superglue, but my experience with super glue, is that when it gets cold ( I am in Alberta after all) that glue releases as well. 

 


Once trimmed, I then used some greenstuff to seal the edges to the washer & in some cases fill some small areas that needed it. (This will certainly save money on the Greenstuff). 

 


So what happens with all the scrap snippings?

 


Well they go right back into the jar to remelt & become one with the goo for future use. I actually used some of my finished ones on the BEF figures I built from the plastic sets in my previous posts.

Certainly not giving up on this, as its more of a learning & development of what I've dabbled with so far. Scott was kind enough to save me a bunch of sprues & its my hope that I am good for a long while to work on this behind the scenes process!  The goal of course is to get it to where I can indeed use my rollers to pattern the sprue!

Thanks for following & be sure to check out his video on this as it was always a shame throwing these sprues in the trash in the past. 

4 comments:

  1. An interesting read.
    I have used something like this in the past (dropping bits of sprue into a bottle of Humbrol solvent cement) as a filler but never liked it much. As a way of making bases though it seems far too much work for unimpressive results, especially when you can buy flat plastic bases from the likes of Renedra quite cheaply. I do look forward to seeing what you do next with it.

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    1. Thanks Michael, your right, my first results have been less than stellar, but there are a couple of points to my desire to do this. First, I've been focussing on basing my figures on washers so that they sit on my magnetic sheets, thus preventing bouncind around. Secondly my desire to not be dumping all the sprues in the trash, though I've been keeping sprue for some time as I use it for debris bits or fence posts etc. It was just those gnarly bits that were problematic to do things with. Watching his video & seeing the using of rollers to pattern the flattend sprue is my endgoal as I have several of the Greenstuff rollers & more I've downloaded patterns for to do with my 3d printer. I agree there are many great alternatives to cheap basing. I just wanted to find more uses for the sprues. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  2. Considering all the plastic sprues going to wste throughout the wargaming world this is an excellent idea - the proof is in the pudding as they say.
    An experiment with putting the goo over the washers was my first thought, I use washers a lot for basing too, I've found a quick heavy duty filing over the washers gives glue, filler etc, (and maybe goo), gives a good key. I think there is some great mileage to be have in thi experiment, building bases come to mind too.

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    1. I agree Joe. I've had others talking about making a sprue goo with glue, that they use as fillers, etc. My only concern at this time with using it to fill the edges of the base is that as its still quite wet when adding, that the acetone will eat through the glue thats holding the cured base on. Currently my challenge is finding that time period where I am letting the blob sit in the ari before rolling it flat & then being able to run the roller over it before its fully set to get the pattern.

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