Resin casting Kits

[thierry laurent]

Here's my own experience:

If you want to learn and play a little bit with resin, get a kit or at least the basic items.

If you only want to cast resin to solve one kit issue, go rather the aftermarket route! You will not learn anything but will save time and money and avoid a lot of frustration.

Ànd if you just want to copy small and easy to cast items, do not use silicone rubber. RTV is expensive and has a short shelf life. Moreover, making molds without a pressure pot rarely results in good or even usable molds.

Finally, according to the case I used reusable rubber (such as the blue stuff one from the green stuff brand) or even latex to reproduce MANY items. This will not allow you to reproduce complex parts but in any case the RTV alone is generally not sufficient to create molds without the dreadful microbubbles.

[Fokkerguy21]

I used to buy 2 pint kits of rtv for about $40. High quality stuff, but shelf life after opening ended up in a lot of wastage. 

Found a great smaller alternative like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/158067346847?

If you seriously want some nice castings, consider a vacuum pot and some quality resin.

The vac pot really makes a difference-------solved about 95% of my prior failures. You can also deaerate your slicone before pouring

Edited August 7 by Fokkerguy21

[RCPlym]

On 8/7/2026 at 5:04 AM, Fokkerguy21 said:

You can also deaerate your slicone before pouring

 

 

It is far from difficult to use RTV silicone for mould making - pressure and vacuum chambers are not absolutely essential, unless attempting to mould highly detailed pieces. 

 

Brushing RTV onto masters is one way to minimise any voids, and then very slow and careful pouring of the remaining rubber will result in perfectly usable moulds..

 

I suggest getting a starter kit from somewhere and just giving it a go! Then progress onwards and upwards if you like what you see. You may decide it is too much bother and quit without having spent too much money, but that won't be the case if you go whole hog from the get go. 

[RCPlym]

On 8/6/2026 at 9:26 AM, thierry laurent said:

short shelf life

 

Some have - I recently used the remains from a pot I still had kicking around that is now 22 years old. Surprised me it still worked, but that it did and I got the moulding i needed.

 

Now, whether is is good enough to pop parts as it did years ago is another matter, and in general, there's never enough of the stuff handy when needed, so I doubt much shelf life will matter.