Post #22 The 40k symbol project

Well here is the before and after shots of the 40k army symbol project I have been working on for the past few weeks. After finally getting them cast in bronze I was met with disappointment due to some of the symbols not taking the bronze, five of them were completely unusable and the rest have a weird film on them that makes them look burnt. Following are the shots of the symbols cut out fo the styrene followed by the the bronze casts.

Space Marine, Imperial Guard, Sister of Battle, Eldar and Tau

HQ, Elite, Troop, Fast Attack and Heavy Support

Necron, Chaos Space Marine, Ork, Tyranid and Dark Eldar

The final product

 

As can be seen by these detail shots something went wrong at some point in time to create that weird surface texture. Some of the casts are even pitted and cracked. I have yet to try and clean them off so maybe something can be recovered. The people at the shop I went to had no clue either as to how this could have happened, they said they were going to do some research into what kinds of problems people run into using styrene to make patterns. I am going to do likewise and also look into getting a bench-vise and sheets of hard wax in order to make the next set out of wax and insure the final result will be exactly what I want.

 

The only one that turned out in the manner I had envisioned..the freaking Eldar one. It was also cast individually and there was some discussion that casting them individually may be what is necessary when using styrene to make patterns. As far as I am concerned I will be spending some considerable time creating these again out of styrene and wax. The styrene will be just for show and the wax I aim to cast in bronze. Knowing what the possible end result is I think that creating a set out of each material will be the best use of my time and have the best end results.