I'm curious if Siocast has been looked into for possible miniature production. I think its relatively new, but it seems to be less expensive than some mini casting, while still being a good quality mini.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 10:57 am: Edit

Siocast does very look interesting. Cheap plastic minis without the high cost of stainless steel molds. https://www.siocast.com/

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 12:27 pm: Edit

There's good and bad with all of the various production methods, and SioCast is no exception.

The good:
* Fairly inexpensive in operation.
* Fairly rapid process.
* Very durable product.
* Decent detail retention.

The bad:
* Proprietary supplies (both the thermoplastic resin and the molds that work in these machines are sold only by SioCast).
* Noted issues with mold lines, which are both more prevalent than in traditional injection mold castings and more difficult for the end user to remove than with traditional spin castings.
* Long straight parts (spears, etc) are reported as having a tendency to not quite turn out straight; while that's not a big deal for say, a figurine of a person or animal, it's a problem when looking at things like warp nacelles.
* As with any casting (vs 3D print, such as Shapeways), there are limits as to what can be done as a one-piece miniature, and trade-offs necessary to do so (e.g. Gorn warp nacelles effectively attached for most of their length to the hull, etc.).

By John Williams (Johndw) on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 02:11 pm: Edit

I wonder if the low cost and mold line drawbacks would make it favorable for larger models/minis over smaller ones, such as the "2500 scale" minis that are on shapeways, or other models that are perhaps for display.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 02:48 pm: Edit

I moved Siocast to its own topic so we can find it later. For how, I would just like to see information about such things, how they work, and so forth. I just don't have time to deal with it today (or this month) but I don't want the idea to be lost.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, May 12, 2022 - 02:35 pm: Edit

Under The Bad
the 3rd bullet is more of an issue IMO than any of the other 3. Mainly because with plastic or plastic composite materials this is much more difficult to "fix" as a modeler.

The 4th bullet is personal preference. As a self proclaimed modeler who (prior to gathering almost 1000 SFB minis) grew up building WW2 (personnel, naval, aerial and infantry) models and dioramas, as well as muscle cars consisting of 100s to 1000s of pieces, I find that putting a miniature together from several pieces far more appealing to its original look and design over the 'adjusted' design created to appease the masses. I understand this is a decision of business however and one likely sells more if they are 'intact' upon receipt vs "some assembly required".