Before I sculpted Lil-Hitler, I hired a sculptor to make a Slap The Jap clone. The original figure that inspired this project is shown at Marvin3m.com. It was a popular WWII conversion of the Chicken Sam Ray-O-Lite game by Seeburg. Another very rare and collectable figure that I wanted but had little hope of ever finding. The sculpting came out great but it was solid so I had to make a casting that was hollow. I needed a hollow figure so I could mount it to my Ray-O-Lite skeleton. While I cast one for myself I cast an additional 3 figures to sell and recover some of the cost of this project.

This is the mold I made. It required 10 pounds of Alumalite mold making compound.

I used spray paint to paint the teeth, then skin, then jacket.

I used a Hunter Green textured paint for the uniform.

This is my final painted figure. I cast my bartender legs and painted them. They are not identical to the original but I will re-do those in another project. I should have used more spokes in the battle flag too. It still came out quite good. I did not clean up overspray because this is supposed to be a copy of an original that was mass produced. It should not be perfect but should look ...mass-produced. A little overspray and small imperfections make it more realistic.

Some things I learned:

When using large quantities of Alumalite casting resin, you should wear a respirator, eye protection and gloves. This is a good idea with small amounts too. Exposure to the fumes makes your pulse increase and you cannot avoid an occasional splash so you need protection. Casting something the size of a Star Wars figure may not matter, but dealing with large quantities, you definitely notice the chemical effects.

Casting large items(this size) is not simple and requires a LOT of mold rubber which is expensive and a lot of plastic resin. If you do not mix enough of either, you can mix more and pour it in even after the first pouring has set. It will sill bond to the previous pouring. I often had to mix 3 or 4 times to pour enough to fill the mold to the top for these figures.

You can use the Alumalite Microbaloons to extend the plastic resin. It is just filler that costs less than the resin itself plus it makes the plastic much lighter. It is a fine glass powder that will mix with the resin up to 100% but I never tried more than 50%. This stuff also requires a respirator because when you pour it, it goes up in the air and everywhere like flour. You do not want to breathe it. I also tested using regular sand(playground sand from home supply). It worked but did not mix well. It separated and tended to sink to the bottom. That is why the Hitler head is gray, all the sand sank to the bottom of the mold. It was cheap and did act as filler. It also added weight. The final casting was just as good as any other so I used sand in a number of these to stretch out my remaining casting resin. I would not use sand if I were planning to do a lot of finishing, sanding, or shaping with a dremmel as it would eat up tools and be hard to work with. I later realized I could have used palster of paris. It is cheap, similar to the microbaloons, not as abrasive as sand and much finer. I will try plaster of paris as filler on my next project.

If you would like one of these figures, see ClassicArcadeGrafix.com There are a limited number available.