Resin Scratchbuild #4 & Magic-Smooth Review

Ship #4, in resin

I bought 8 ounces of a modelling compound called Magic-Smooth last week.  Last night, after removing the resin cast I poured of ship design number three (seen last post), I decided to do a comparison of Magic-Smooth versus resin.

Magic-Smooth is a two-part epoxy but unlike most of the materials miniature-makers are used to, this stuff has a consistency similar to honey versus clay or putty. I therefore reasoned I could use it like I use Durham's water-putty or resin or plaster or any other liquid-to-solid medium.  So I mixed some up and got my first lesson.  Magic-Smooth really is a lot like honey or, more accurately, a lot like tree sap.  It's very sticky and although it's possible to mix it with your fingers like Kneadatite, it's easier to mix the two parts on a piece of plastic with a disposable knife.  Once the epoxy was mixed I pressed it into the one-part mold of ship three.  Pressing it in proved very sloppy, but that's where Magic-Smooth shines: you can smooth it with water.  I then waited overnight for it to cure; a huge disadvantage when compared to water-putty which cures in 100 minutes or Alumilite resin which cures in 3 to 7 minutes!  I pulled the cast out of the mold this morning and photographed it next to the resin cast of ship three.

Top: resin cast, bottom: an abomination

Obviously Magic-Smooth is a no-go for small spaceship miniatures.  Air bubbles and poor detail reproduction.  Also, the Magic-Smooth cast is rubbery and very hard to trim.  In fact, it reminds me of some failed experiments I did with hot-glue gun casting.  Magic-Smooth is probably awesome for taxidermy applications and larger, organic sculptures, but for casting in 50mm long silicone molds it's no good.

Last post I mentioned I had poured two resin ships but only showed one.  I finished a rough lower hull for the second ship and photographed it today.  I still need to take a file to it and do a lot of clean-up, but I'm very pleased with the detail and lack of air bubbles.  Alumilite comes through again for me.

50mm long