for years i have been collecting plastic animal figurines made by companies like Papo,Schleich, collecta etc.
i am quite good at sculpting materials like modeling clay, bee wax etc. i can make anything i see with a lot of detail and some of my models are more detailed than the commercial ones . my problem is that
figurines made from clay do not last very long because they break easily .
i would love to make figurines out of plastic but i can not find any plastic material that can be used as modeling clay .i have been told i need to make a mold .
i am thinking of making models out of bee wax , then covering them with some heat resistant clay or plaster, drilling holes on them and the placing them in the oven so the bee wax can melt away through the holes and i will end up with a plaster or clay mold , then i need to find some polymer material that will have the viscosity of water so it can fill the smallest detail in the mold and then break the clay mold and end up with a plastic figurine .
if anybody knows of a simpler way or more suitable materials for making plastic figurines i would appreciate any help . thank you all in advance
Precious Moments Angels

This message has been edited. Last edited by: deontebolaw,

Wow, Very Interesting idea! I don't have any idea how to do it tho, Sorry. I use Polymer clay like Fimo, that is my favorite brand and seems to last the best if I coat it with some verethane when the design is finished. I have made animals, Angels, monsters, flowers, fairies. Biggest about 5 x 3 inches and they turned out well. I gave them to people for gifts. I find the most difficult part is warming the clay to make it workable to get going. I had some is storage so have not tried the new softer clays on the market now. Fun projects to be make tho, then baked and painted if needed, than varnish.
Sorry I couldn't help but I hope you find the answers you are looking for

It's called investment casting or lost wax moulding.
It's used all the time from making jewerly to gun parts.
Google it, there's even videos on how it's done.
If you Google lost wax supplys you'll find the wax needed to do it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joecaption,

In the '60s I used to make figurines out of some type of material which I think might have been plastic or resin. I purchased the molds, and poured them into the molds.

This produced a tremendous amount of heat, so much so that I was uncomfortable having it in the house and put the mold outside to harden.

I remember that it was some type of casting but I'm not sure if it's the same that Joe refers to.

I had molds for a Venus de Milo, a David, but I don't remember what else.

Your post is quite interesting; sounds like you're quite an accomplished artist.

This is how I do it:
Buy bog and hardener, and find two boxes big enough for the plastic figurine you want to make. Make the master figurine out of whatever you feel comfortable with (wood, foam, what have you). Then, fill the first box with bog and hardener (mix well first!), and immerse the figurine halfway (like a person lying on his or her back in a swimming pool!). Let dry (takes a few minutes) and take the figurine out.
Then do the same with the other box, but do it for the other side of the figurine, let dry, take it out.
You now have two boxes full of bog, with negative impressions of your figurine.
Now smear vaseline into the moulds (because that's what they are) as a separator, and pour more pre-mixed bog and hardener into each box, all the way until they're level with the mould surface.
Let dry, take out, glue the two halves of your figurine together, and bog the gap.
Done.

HEAT RESISTANT SILICONE