Star Wars Credits and Coinage - References and Recreation

[Muddler]

You know what, yours look even better than the originals especially the credit ingots!

Thanks a lot! "Better than the original" - should that become my new slogan...? But seriously: Of course my main goal has always been to be as accurate as possible. But I'd also like the items to have a nice feel when you handle them around. So the result is just my personal compromise...

Anyone having a go at the glactic credit chip?

You mean this one?:

Just got the raw 3D-print!
The Mandalorian Coin also:

At least, these two shouldn't be too hard to cast

The real experimental work currently goes into this transparent crystalline coin:

First trying it the "official" way with transparent resin which is then painted on the outer parts. But getting bubble-free results is almost impossible without a vacuum-chamber... And this transparent type of resin takes literally DAYS to cure completely
Maybe I'll try the two-component-approach on this one with putting a laser-cut acrylic part into a metal-resin-mix...

 

[Potroclo]

Didn't try myself yet, but I hear the best method for bubble-free results when casting resin is actually a pressure chamber, not a vacuum one. Vacuum makes the resin foam.

 

[Muddler]

Didn't try myself yet, but I hear the best method for bubble-free results when casting resin is actually a pressure chamber, not a vacuum one. Vacuum makes the resin foam.

Also had no Chance to try myself, but as far as I understood, you'll ideally Need a chamber that does both. So you first mix up the resin and put it into vacuum to pull out as much gas as possible. Then you put it into the mold and put that one into the pressure chamber.
Don't know, if I'll be able to buy or tinker something like that...

 

[Muddler]

Some cool new find!
These strange "Alien-leather"-Tokens were identified as chicken foot leather!

Thanks to FXengineer!
I didn't even know such a thing existed!

 

[FXengineer]

Some cool new find!
These strange "Alien-leather"-Tokens were identified as chicken foot leather!

View attachment 942530
View attachment 942531

Thanks to FXengineer!
I didn't even know such a thing existed!

And knowing is half the battle!

 

[Muddler]

Finally some time for updates.
The Mandalorian coins and the simple galactic credits turned out quite nice:

But the ones with the transparent centers are still keeping me busy. Doing complete casts in red-tainted transparent resin didn't work out for me. Without the right equipment to degas the resin they just look to bubbly inside. So I went for my two-part method.
I had these acrylic octagons made:

I made a two-part mold for the coins. I then poured a bit of the metal-resin mix in, inserted the acryl-part and used a weight to keep it in place:

(I tend to pour any excess resin into these small beakers for that purpose).

The two mold-parts are asymmetric, so one part is much thinner.

After the resin has cured a bit, I mix up another small amount, pour that in and squeeze both parts together.
(The resin I'm currently using has got a curing time of 3 hours, so I do this after about 1 hour)

When the part is completely cured, I cut out the thin layer of resin in the middle and peel it off. (No matter how much weight I put onto the mold, there'll always be at least a minimal layer of resin on the crystal part).

This way I can have a heavier, metal-cast body and still the plain transparent center. Though this is surely not the way the original props were made, I'll still stick to this method, because I like the result better.

But there's still a lot to improve. I've already been told, that the red of the acryl is too dark. So I'll try to get some in a lighter red. And I somehow have to improve the process to minimize irregularities.

So if you people got any ideas for me, I'd be really happy!

 

[FXengineer]

Finally some time for updates.
The Mandalorian coins and the simple galactic credits turned out quite nice:
View attachment 979446
View attachment 979447

But the ones with the transparent centers are still keeping me busy. Doing complete casts in red-tainted transparent resin didn't work out for me. Without the right equipment to degas the resin they just look to bubbly inside. So I went for my two-part method.
I had these acrylic octagons made:
View attachment 979449

I made a two-part mold for the coins. I then poured a bit of the metal-resin mix in, inserted the acryl-part and used a weight to keep it in place:
View attachment 979450
View attachment 979451
(I tend to pour any excess resin into these small beakers for that purpose).

The two mold-parts are asymmetric, so one part is much thinner.
View attachment 979452

After the resin has cured a bit, I mix up another small amount, pour that in and squeeze both parts together.
(The resin I'm currently using has got a curing time of 3 hours, so I do this after about 1 hour)

View attachment 979453

When the part is completely cured, I cut out the thin layer of resin in the middle and peel it off. (No matter how much weight I put onto the mold, there'll always be at least a minimal layer of resin on the crystal part).

View attachment 979454
View attachment 979455

This way I can have a heavier, metal-cast body and still the plain transparent center. Though this is surely not the way the original props were made, I'll still stick to this method, because I like the result better.

View attachment 979456
View attachment 979457

But there's still a lot to improve. I've already been told, that the red of the acryl is too dark. So I'll try to get some in a lighter red. And I somehow have to improve the process to minimize irregularities.

So if you people got any ideas for me, I'd be really happy!

Great work! These are coming along fantastic. The Mando coins and Credits are spot on in detail.

The red center is a little dark. My reference has it closer to an orange. I did mine by laser cutting acrylic centers and gluing them in after casting.

 

[Muddler]

Great work! These are coming along fantastic. The Mando coins and Credits are spot on in detail.

The red center is a little dark. My reference has it closer to an orange. I did mine by laser cutting acrylic centers and gluing them in after casting.

Yeah, you're absolutely right! I already had some new acrylic parts cut in orange, which seem far closer regarding the translucency:

So they are a lot closer, especially to the stills from the "Star Wars Show"

But all the coins on the other promo-pics seem to be a clear red. I don't know, if those pictures were all color-adjusted or something.
For some reason, transparent acryl is only available over here in dark red or orange, no bright red (despite some horrible fluorescent neon-red...)
What did you use for your parts? Would you share some pix of your acrylic parts for comparison?
(I'd even be willing to order acrylic-sheets from abroad, if they are a better match).

Here another pic of the "old red" and the new orange crystals:

For now, I like the orange ones better. But I still got the feeling, that they are not really perfect...

 

[FXengineer]

Yeah, you're absolutely right! I already had some new acrylic parts cut in orange, which seem far closer regarding the translucency:
View attachment 991412

So they are a lot closer, especially to the stills from the "Star Wars Show"

View attachment 991413

But all the coins on the other promo-pics seem to be a clear red. I don't know, if those pictures were all color-adjusted or something.
For some reason, transparent acryl is only available over here in dark red or orange, no bright red (despite some horrible fluorescent neon-red...)
What did you use for your parts? Would you share some pix of your acrylic parts for comparison?
(I'd even be willing to order acrylic-sheets from abroad, if they are a better match).

Here another pic of the "old red" and the new orange crystals:

View attachment 991414

For now, I like the orange ones better. But I still got the feeling, that they are not really perfect...

I'm pretty sure that the orange I used is the same as the ones on the right. I just added some patina aging. It really helps bring them into the right tone.

 

[Seaniiie]

While I'm pretty sure that this is NOT what the prop guys did for the movie, I still found this to be my perfect approach for this task!

Actually that’s exactly what we did for the movie. I should know because I had to cold cast a whole bunch of them! I think we did copper, brass and aluminium versions of all the metal tokens.

The resin we use for coldcasting is just general purpose polyester fibreglassing resin with a ratio of about 2 parts powder to 1 part resin.

 

[Muddler]

Actually that’s exactly what we did for the movie. I should know because I had to cold cast a whole bunch of them! I think we did copper, brass and aluminium versions of all the metal tokens.

The resin we use for coldcasting is just general purpose polyester fibreglassing resin with a ratio of about 2 parts powder to 1 part resin.

Wow! That's just amazing to hear!
I just assumed that painted resin would have been sufficient for production purposes (because the audience would never get to feel the actual weight of the items.)
I had another member point out, that clanking sound-fx were added to emphasize the metallic character of the props. That's why I thought, that pure resin was used.
But to learn first-hand, that I somehow accidentally did the right thing is really thrilling!
Thanks a lot for sharing this!
Do you happen to know, how the "Separatist"-Coins were made? (The ones with the light-blue, semi-transparent center showing the hexagonal separatist-symbol). Because I really don't manage to get my head around those.
I thought of a two part item, where a massive printed or laser-cut pattern was cast into tranparent resin and then painted on the edges afterwards.
Any info or idea on that would really be appreciated!

 

[thegnome]

Muddler What 3D printer is best for this type of thing for less than 375$? What did you use? What program is it that you used to design these masterpieces? Thanks for letting people use the 3d plans to make these currencies.

 

[Muddler]

Muddler What 3D printer is best for this type of thing for less than 375$? What did you use? What program is it that you used to design these masterpieces? Thanks for letting people use the 3d plans to make these currencies.

Hi! Actually I don't own a 3D-printer myself. I had the casting-masters printed by a professional company. The printing process they used is "SLS", (selective laser sintering). It was the most cost-efficient method for my purposes (around 20-30 Euros per piece, depending on the size). But if you plan to make molds, you should treat the surface in some kind to make it smoother (see my older posts for details).

The program I used for the meshes is an old animation-program called "Lightwave". I originally bought this several years ago to take my shot on 3D-Animations. Didn't go very far, but the modeller was okay for doing the meshes. I just had some issues with converting the files to a printable format. So if you are just starting with modelling I'd go for one of the free open source programs you'll find on the net, because those are usually easier to use.

 

[thegnome]

In the Star Wars movies what do you think the chips were/are made out of? Metal with plastic or only metal or only plastic? Thoughts?

 

[Potroclo]

In the Star Wars movies what do you think the chips were/are made out of? Metal with plastic or only metal or only plastic? Thoughts?

Actually that’s exactly what we did for the movie. I should know because I had to cold cast a whole bunch of them! I think we did copper, brass and aluminium versions of all the metal tokens.

The resin we use for coldcasting is just general purpose polyester fibreglassing resin with a ratio of about 2 parts powder to 1 part resin.

Coldcasting is a technique where you dust the mold with metal powder, then carefully fill the mold with resin to form the piece, which gives it the appearance of being made out of metal, so "metal with plastic".
I'm curious Seaniiie, does the mix ratio means you also added powder to the poured resin? I've only done/seen coldcasting by dusting the mold and dyeing the resin a dark color. It does make sense for something like tokens, where wear and tear will eventually scrape the surface enough to show up the resin underneath. I'm assuming you dusted the molds too, I've tried molding only by mixing resin with metal, no dusting, and the resin texture is too noticeable.

 

[Seaniiie]

Coldcasting is a technique where you dust the mold with metal powder, then carefully fill the mold with resin to form the piece, which gives it the appearance of being made out of metal, so "metal with plastic".
I'm curious Seaniiie, does the mix ratio means you also added powder to the poured resin? I've only done/seen coldcasting by dusting the mold and dyeing the resin a dark color. It does make sense for something like tokens, where wear and tear will eventually scrape the surface enough to show up the resin underneath. I'm assuming you dusted the molds too, I've tried molding only by mixing resin with metal, no dusting, and the resin texture is too noticeable.

Generally when cold casting I would always mix the resin with metal powder as it provides not only a metallic look but also a realistic feel and weight. Also if you’ve only dusted it’s REALLY easy to accidentally buff through the powder and expose the resin underneath, especially if you’re going for a highly polished finish.

 

[thegnome]

Coldcasting is a technique where you dust the mold with metal powder, then carefully fill the mold with resin to form the piece, which gives it the appearance of being made out of metal, so "metal with plastic".
I'm curious Seaniiie, does the mix ratio means you also added powder to the poured resin? I've only done/seen coldcasting by dusting the mold and dyeing the resin a dark color. It does make sense for something like tokens, where wear and tear will eventually scrape the surface enough to show up the resin underneath. I'm assuming you dusted the molds too, I've tried molding only by mixing resin with metal, no dusting, and the resin texture is too noticeable.

What is the metal to resin ratio may I ask? I have heard about a type of spray that makes the exterior harder, its the same with guns. Wouldn't that work?

 

[Seaniiie]

What is the metal to resin ratio may I ask? I have heard about a type of spray that makes the exterior harder, its the same with guns. Wouldn't that work?

If you’re going for a highly polished finish you want to mix roughly 2 parts metal powder to one part resin. At this ratio it won’t be at all pourable, it’s more like a paste that you have to smear into the mould being really careful to avoid bubbles. It’s still possible to get fairly good results using less powder which gives a more easily workable mixture. For larger objects you can do a layer or two with the metal mixture and then fill with normal resin or back with fibreglass.

 

[generalvenduu]

Can’t wait to get the rest of these coins ...coming along nicely. When you offering a run?

 

[enaswede]

Can’t wait to get the rest of these coins ...coming along nicely. When you offering a run?

Yea... what he said...