Creature Caster - Review

I already did a short review of Creature Caster, see previous post. In this review I'll expand on the earlier review, and highlight the build process. I'll probably adjust my scope to include a review of Sicast/SiOres miniatures in general.

Would you like some miniature with your flash?

The build process of the Creature Caster figures was annoying. Full stop. The fidelity of the arm and wrist joins were very low, and super fiddly. As stated previously, the arms were not numbered on the tree, (the web page shows some  numbering, but this must be a newer tree as my limbs had none), so many of the figures needed to be assembled by examining Creature Caster's web photos. This is tedious and annoying. Just provide better trees!

I would encourage a potential buyers to scrutinize the web photos. The photo below is a screen rip from Creature Caster's own web page (without permission). The type and magnitude of failures I'm describing are clearly obvious.

 

 

Actual product advertisement!

This is the norm, not the exception. Note fit. Note finish. Note "cleaned" mold lines. 

 

Remember BONES... SiOcast is almost that bad. It can be sanded to some degree, but not well. It cuts easily (easier than BONES). It's too soft to clean with the old, "scrape the blade" kind of approach. On the upside it does glue well with superglue, but the set time is long, so use some kind of accelerator, or be patient. It also binds well with Tamiya Putty Basic Type, which is good, because those cracks aren't going to fill themselves.

At $50 USD I can't recommend this kit. SiOresSiOcast is being hyped and pumped by all the talking heads, but it's barely better than BONES, which I won't buy any more. Stick to the white metal and more "traditional" stuff.

 

Good luck,

HMP

Pro Acryl Expansion Set 3 (First Impressions)

New paint! What follows is a quick first test and my initial impressions.

Liquitex Acrylic Ink Review

In a fit a madness I went to the local art supply store and bought a bunch of Liquitex Ink. This short product review will give my initial impressions, and highlight some of what I have already learned.

First of all the colors, Quinacradone Magenta, Yellow Orange Azo, Phthalocyanine Blue (green shade), Carbon Black, and Titaniutm White. The colors I chose are all fully transparent while the black is semi transparent and the white is opaque.

Liquitex Acrylic Ink

 I did this on purpose as I wanted to be able to use these inks as tints and washes, plus you can always add white or black to make them opaque. In fact, since Liquitex is a no nonsense professional level pigment and dye company, they just straight up tell you what's inside. You can look and see if you are buying a blend of pigments, or a single pigment. I specifically chose inks that are single pigments, this allows for more precise blending down the road.

Liquitex Ink product description

From the label we see the that it is transparent, indicated by the white box (and it straight up tells you), it also lists the pigment, PB15:3. This stands for Pigment Blue 15:3, which you can look up! Imagine that. Here's a handy reference site for ya'll. (http://www.artiscreation.com/blue.html).

 
Using the link above and simply clicking on PB15:3, you can find out all kinds of goodies, including the CAS #. The CAS# is a unique identifier to the chemical, as you can see, there are many names but only one CAS#, that's so chemists around the world don't get confused. By searching the CAS# on google or your favorite chemical supply company, one can learn even more.

CuPc on Sigma Aldrich

 Fun fact, I've made versions of the above compound! In the biz we call it "copper-pc" (CuPc for the written shorthand). Even artists don't usually bother with the whole phthalocyanine, and just call it phthalo-blue.

Anyhow, back to the story. The pigment content is insane. It's so high that it's hard to understand, imagine a GW base (in pigment terms), but with the viscosity of water! For my first test I painted a shitty BONES really fast and tried to use the Carbon Black as a wash, since it was so fluid. It turned the mini black. The surface tension is a little too high to behave as a good wash, I'm planning some soap tests later today.

Next I black primed a crab and then heavily dry brushed with white to bring out the detail. With this under painting done I used the Yellow Orange Azo and the Phthalocyanine Blue (green shade) to paint the crab. By adding differing amounts of coats and choosing where to have both colors and where to have single colors I was able to paint this crab in about 5 min. No wet blending was required, the greens are simply due to the transparency.

Mr Crab

I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but given my past experiences with Liquitex products, particularly their acrylic mediums, I was expecting professional results, which is exactly what was delivered. For organic things and beings like Mr Crab, I feel these inks will be amazing, especially as glazes with under-shading and for color blending (phthalo + quinacridone = awesome purples). I really want to get an airbrush...

HMP