Next was to look at how I was going to convert so many and maintain an acceptable level of uniformity. I was going to have to find a method of reproducing my conversion parts. I'd previously used a silicone mould material called Siligum and created castings by simply filling the mould with 'green stuff'. For one sided designs you can effectively use the mould as a press mould. Here we see a first attempt at creating a mould for the finished collar. Although the results for the collar came out well, my attempt at using this method to reproduce the head as a two part mould didn't work that well. Siligum is also expensive and so I was in danger of spending more on the conversions than the base miniature.

Enter Oyumaru! Ok a bit of explaination, for some time now I had seen advertisements for something called Instant Mold (American spelling). Essentially a plastic compound that when placed in very hot water became less solid and you were able to press objects into it to form moulds. As it cools it becomes solid (well harder).. So I thought I might try it instead of Siligum. As is often the case for most hobby products they are often repackaged versions of a product that already exists. Enter Oyumaru which is the same stuff and comes in a variety of colours. I went for clear as I thought that would help me see if I had made a good mould or not. The advantage of using Oyumaru over Siligum is that if it goes wrong you can just melt it and try again. The disadvantage is that it doesn't copy the detail of the original as sharply and heat will melt the mould. So they are not that great for moulds you might want to keep for some time. From the picture you can see my first attempt at using Oyumaru to make several moulds for the collars. I was able to start up a production line to speed up the project.