Alien egg objective markers

After allowing my moulds a good 24 hours to cure, the Lego brick casings were disassembled and the plasticine masters were removed. Here are the two moulds, washed and ready for use.

I'm very pleased with the amount of detail which the silicone has picked up, and I've managed to avoid getting any particularly noticeable air bubbles.

My first casting was a bit of a rush, and the plaster was slightly thicker than I wanted, but I'm still very pleased with the results. The plaster has been painted using Inscribe acrylic craft paints. I started with a thinned down coat of Raven 1732 (ie. black) to seal the plaster. This was followed by another coat of black to get a good base layer, then a drybrushed layers of Forest Green 1721 over the top of the eggs/base and Burnt Umber 1730 for the underside of the eggs. The final touch was a drybrush of a Taupe 1739 (a sort of concrete colour), which really brought out the detail - the mottled texture of the eggs and the "biomechanical" piping between the eggs.

The too-thick plaster mix has actually added some character to the castings, with parts of the piping looking slightly decayed and rotten.

Finally, here's a shot of the markers with a GZG light vacc-suited explorer and a Xenomorph, plus a smaller QRF alien creature.

I'll mix up some thinner plaster for the next lot of casting, and will probably add some black poster paint. This will produce a darker finish that won't show up the chips in the paint in case they get knocked. The moulds will need a small amount of trimming to ensure the plaster can reach all the pipework. Time to start work on the hive!