mslz22 Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Just stopping by to vent a bit, I am pouring the main body mold right now, looks like this mold alone will be about $140.00 worth of rubber Hope this mold comes out good, i would hate to have to do this twice.....
HWR MKII Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 EEEK ! I hope your able to keep the cost down. Not pulling out or anything just sayin.
Kylwell Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Gads that'd make me nervous. Keepin' my fingers & toes crossed.
mslz22 Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Don't worry, i won't change the price of the kit, no matter how much the molds cost me.....
Less than Super Ostrich Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 After doing a few casting of some small greeblies... i know how much that stuff costs. It AIN'T CHEAP!! Especially that Alumite stuff
Sdf-1 Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Yeah, that is the biggest problem if you'd want to play a little with casting stuff.
Sar Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Especially that Alumite stuff 378575[/snapback] You can get cheaper stuff than Alumilite that works at least as well; I've known some people rate alumilite pretty low, not just for cost... 'Smooth-on' comes to mind, but I could be thinking of mould rubber rather than resin, I get mine from a UK company so I'm not well-versed in US suppliers. I'm pretty sure I remember hearing good things said about Micromark's offering, though, whatever that is. Personally I do more sculpting than kit building, from figures to vehicles to little details, and I've got used to casting more or less everything I make; gluing together and painting the master makes me too nervous, these days... ;-) Admittedly, though, they're all an order of magnitude or two smaller than a 1/72nd Monster...
HWR MKII Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 lesser grade resins are good for small subjects and figures. The monster needs something a little more resistant to sagging over time.
Sar Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 lesser grade resins are good for small subjects and figures. The monster needs something a little more resistant to sagging over time. 378599[/snapback] Yeah, I was thinking more in the recasting-greeblies sense, since that's what LtSO was talking about. All the same, I was under the impression Alumilite isn't that highly regarded amongst the kind of people who do cast up crazy-big destroids either, but let me know if I'm wrong...
nightmareB4macross Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Just stopping by to vent a bit, I am pouring the main body mold right now, looks like this mold alone will be about $140.00 worth of rubber  Hope this mold comes out good, i would hate to have to do this twice..... 378329[/snapback] I\'m praying for you. I always get the jitters when pouring something this large. The worst episodes I ever had where when parts lock inside the rubber mold, due to me forgetting to use a parting agent to seperate the mold rubber. A real freaking nightmare. This has happened to me when I stay up way too late, trying to finish the job. Live and learn, never again. Or, at least I hope.
mslz22 Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Well i just finished pouring the mold....i lost track of how much i used but i bet this mold is in the $200.00 range at this point...i will weigh it tomorrow. The bad part about making something hollow is that the hollow part inside ends up needing to be filled with mold material. In the long run i will get more castings since the resin castings will be a lot less resin and not get as hot, therefore not burning the mold out fast. I went thru a few versions in my head as to the way that i was going to make the mold. I actually started to clay the whole thing up as a traditional 2 part mold, but once i started to do that it just became unreasonable for a number of reasons, and would have cost me even more than the way that i ended up with. I ended up mounting the monster to a mold box and poured it as a 1 big pour (in many many stages) , i added all the proper venting, and will cut out the pattern from the mold tomorrow, using a mold key knife and following premarked lines.....and i fully expect the pattern to be nearly destroyed upon taking it out.......all and all this is the toughest mold out of all that i need to make, so keeping my fingers crossed...it can only get easier from here.... mike
HWR MKII Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Id pour a test shot of that part before going any further on the rest. It would all be in vain to have the biggest part not work out.
Kylwell Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Would this be a bad time to mention that Sean & I would like a 1:35 scale version?
Less than Super Ostrich Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Would this be a bad time to mention that Sean & I would like a 1:35 scale version? 378745[/snapback] THat's because Kylwell's unbuilt kit pile is incredibly low!
HWR MKII Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Mine isnt but id still stop all subjects to build a 1/35 monster i could fit in and drive.
Chas Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 When I was back in Can. I worked at a tool and die shop in Windsor Ontario for a while where I was casting polyurathane resin prototypes for 8-12 hours a day every day. some of the parts were quite large, I'm talking 150lb+ silicone mould kind of large. We always poured our moulds as one piece and then cut them open and either removed the master or smashed it out. If you are interested in the technique shoot me a pm and we'll talk. It is rather complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say we would build a box for the molud and suspend the master inside it with copper wires which became the vents, and a copper pipe which became the sprue. The parting line was marked with scotch tape which was coloured black (so it could be seen through the cured silicone).
mslz22 Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 When I was back in Can. I worked at a tool and die shop in Windsor Ontario for a while where I was casting polyurathane resin prototypes for 8-12 hours a day every day. some of the parts were quite large, I'm talking 150lb+ silicone mould kind of large. We always poured our moulds as one piece and then cut them open and either removed the master or smashed it out. If you are interested in the technique shoot me a pm and we'll talk. It is rather complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say we would build a box for the molud and suspend the master inside it with copper wires which became the vents, and a copper pipe which became the sprue. The parting line was marked with scotch tape which was coloured black (so it could be seen through the cured silicone). 378937[/snapback] Thanks for the offer, while i've never made a mold that big, that is pretty much the method that i used for the monster body. I've used that method countless times before and often prefer it to the traditonal 2 part mold, but it usually depends on the part i am molding. Again, thanks for the offer... mike
mslz22 Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Ok, this morining i had a dentist appointment and then had to spend most of the rest of the day with my wife....ouch, i will let you guess which hurt more Anyway, i just cut the monster body out of the mold and ran thru the first casting...so here we go, the good the bad and the ugly....... The Good, very workable mold, first shot and i had no bubbles in the body, overall the first casting was good, some problems with the registration, but that was my fault for not using enough rubber bands and once resin starts to seap out of a mold, it is near impossible to get the registration back to 100% The Bad, well not really that bad but, the sockets for the main upper cannons will need to be drilled out instead of being molded in, the reason, being molded in locked the body into the mold so i had to cut the rubber in that section. that won't effect you guys, i will drill them in (as i did in the following pics), just more work for me .........Also, i needed to cut the mold in a way that i could get the body out, that ended up putting a seam line in some spots of the body that i would have liked not to have the seam line, but the mold good enough that the seam line is very easy to clean, i did this first casting clean up in about 15 minutes....also the casting is a bit heavier than i expected, when working with modeling board it is hard to determine how heavy the final casting will be, even hollow this one comes in close to 3lbs, not a big deal, still much much lighter than the other 1/72. The Ugly, this thing is huge, about $250.00 worth of rubber, and the pattern was destroyed so i will be taking a low shrink "protection copy" incase i ever need to remake the mold. without any further rambling.....pics for you....the panel lines are still not really showing up with the bright shop light but they are there....
Less than Super Ostrich Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Seam lines are no big deal... little more creative sanding never hurt anyone. The seam line on the SMT Monster created some problems on the 2 rear hatches... the mold slipped and created ovals, which had to be worked out. With the weight of the main fuselage... do you anticipate the model being too top heavy?
mslz22 Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Seam lines are no big deal... little more creative sanding never hurt anyone. The seam line on the SMT Monster created some problems on the 2 rear hatches... the mold slipped and created ovals, which had to be worked out. With the weight of the main fuselage... do you anticipate the model being too top heavy? 379044[/snapback] I'm not too concerned with any kind of tipping over, the feet are solid and heavy themselves, and the body is still hollow, as are most of the arm cannons, the main cannons etc. The thing that will be very important for modelers is to get a good glue bond between the upper leg part and the detail part that gets glued to that, mostly they need to be glued before painting. Also the instructions will show you how to add a 3/32 brass pin to that part.... the seam lines will not cause any type of distortion of the body like what you are describing with the SMT (keeps fingers crossed) , i think the worse will be needing to rescribe a panel line or such...
HWR MKII Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 seam lines dont concern me either. i still want to look into using really strong rare earth magnets to hold the assemblies together.
jardann Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 This is looking soooo impressive! I can't wait to get one, but my wallet can! HWR MKII If the magnets don't work, maybe you could use some telescoping tube,rod connections. Embed some tubes into the body and then have some rods in the legs keyed to slide into the tubes. Maybe use the magnets to keep everything nice and tight. Tight is always better than loose for your rod.
HWR MKII Posted March 10, 2006 Posted March 10, 2006 Good idea jardann. I just want to make it easy to transport to shows and WF when i get back to the states.
promethuem5 Posted March 11, 2006 Posted March 11, 2006 Man...that thing is gorgeous. You are truly a god Mike. I still wish I had the cash or space for one of these bad boys.... oh well.
jadefalconguard Posted March 11, 2006 Posted March 11, 2006 *thump* *faints* Mike this is awesome, I'm touched, deeply touched that you make the world a better place for us Macrossfans Can't wait to get my hands on this puppy
Viceland Posted March 12, 2006 Posted March 12, 2006 SNIPThe Ugly, this thing is huge, about $250.00 worth of rubber, and the pattern was destroyed so i will be taking a low shrink "protection copy" incase i ever need to remake the mold. SNIP 379033[/snapback] I was wondering, how come the master pattern was destroyed in this process?
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