Topic: Mold-making question

[DocOutlands]

D'ye think I can tack a part down onto wax-paper with superglue to pour a mold?  My objective is to seal a plastic cup to wax paper using masking-tape/clay/adobe-mud/whatever so as to build a containment large enough to hold three BAD astromech domes.  (Nope, I didn't learn better the first time!)

[Clonehead]

I'm not sure exactly how you mean, Doc. Do you mean lining the bottom of the cup with the paper or would the paper be the bottom and the cup be the sides?

Also, you need to consider which is the best way to mount the bad dome, right side up, upside down, or sideways. It's a balance in between if you want to conserve on resin, how much cleanup you want to do to the castes part, and what is the best way to combat the trickey air problem.

[DocOutlands]

Sorry - a reread shows how unclear I was!  (perhaps I should stop posting at midnight-30??)

The approach:

Lay out a sheet of waxpaper on worktop.  Take plastic dixie cup and cut off bottom.  Place cup upside-down on waxpaper.  Tape/whatever around rim of cup to fasten it to waxpaper.  Spot-glue master to waxpaper inside "fortress" made by inverted cup.  Pour HS3 as normal.  Cure.  Peel away cup - I mean, those things are notoriously easy to peel, if you give one a starting nick.

I've got three BAD astromech heads lined up and thought I could do all three at once this way.  For simplicity's sake, I'd start out casting them as solid blocks.  I figure I can play around with them later to get a better position for hollow-casting them.

[Clonehead]

Try a test mold that is empty and fill it with water. If it doesn't leak, you should be good to go.I don't know if clay would work for the seal on between the cup and the wax paper or not. You would just have to try it and see.

[DocOutlands]

Once I get going, I don't stop for much.  New mold is curing right now.  Took 6oz of HS3 to get a decent depth.  I need more standard popcicle/craft sticks for this!!  Three astromech heads are under the mold.  Gonna pour up another attempt on the first mold after supper and see how that works.  Brought a couple of things in from the shop to put into another mold, as well.  All going well, I'll make two molds tonight and be a parts-casting FOOOOL tomorrow!!

I've already decided I need to make a new copy of my first mold.  I should have mounted the holocam differently, to facilitate cleanup and hole-drilling.

Parts to be cast tonight - removable Boussh helmet and flip-up commander visor.

One day, I need to figure out how to cast weapons...  maybe next Tuesday...   

[Clonehead]

I'll be wanting some of those visors, Doc.

[DocOutlands]

   I know...

I remembered to tape over the holes in the frames, even!

Oh, and I ended up with mold goop still in the cup, so at my buddy's encouragement, I grabbed a clean measuring cup and glued the McStarkiller head in it.  So I made THREE molds today and cast FOUR PARTS!!  That holocam eye is just gonna cause problems.  I also need to work the mold a bit while casting the lamp to get the air bubbles out of the fin recesses.  The first lamp today had a bubble in the exact same spot on all four fins!  It was a failure, but a highly functional one!  The bubbles were all the exact same size in the exact same place.

I also need to get more mold-making HS3...

[DocOutlands]

...still tacky...

[DocOutlands]

Boushh helmet/visor mold has firmed up.  I peeled it and it now has resin sitting in it.  We'll know shortly.  The large lump that is R2 heads...well...I think it may be days before that one cures.  Note to self - next time, do the heads separately.  Taping the plastic cup to the wax-paper worked well until I moved it, tho!  Maybe next time I'll use toilet-paper tubes, cut down to fit better, and just cast one head at a time.  I bet they'll tape off to wax-paper, too.

[Clonehead]

Now doc, I know you are excited but don't get impatiant with the hs3. Sometimes it takes a while to cure up.
On the toilet paper tube idea, perhaps line the outside of the tube with tape to make the wall more waterproof.

[DocOutlands]

...shortly...

The visor was a bust - literally.  Came out in pieces.  Also turns out I'd forgotten to remove the masking tape from the mold.  oops.  I'll try again later, maybe tonight.  The details looked good, tho.

The Boushh helmet... *sigh*  





Damn near perfect.  I plan to keep trying and WIN on that air bubble crap.  I'm not going to let a bloody air bubble turn this newest facet of my hobby into a chore!  Thankfully, the resin for making the parts is relatively cheap, so I can keep at it until I like my results.

And we'll see about that visor, while we're at it.  Now that I pulled the tape pieces out *and* added some slits in the mold, I may have a better chance of getting a functional result!

[DocOutlands]

Now doc, I know you are excited but don't get impatiant with the hs3. Sometimes it takes a while to cure up.
On the toilet paper tube idea, perhaps line the outside of the tube with tape to make the wall more waterproof.

Hey - a Doc with no patience is unemployed!!  *looks around*  ...ahem...

Yeah, the two bulkier molds are sitting there still curing.  I'd found another cig-box alongside the road and used it for the helmet and visor, so it was ready. 

And yeah - I'm thinking a good layer of tape on the tube is in order, for sure.  I'm pretty ticked at myself for NOT thinking of that approach before using so much HS3 on the droid heads.  Otherwise, I'd have a lot of molding compound left!  As it is, I'm starting to run low.  Guess I'll have to focus now on learning to use the molds I have to their fullest!!

 

[DocOutlands]

How do you mold, for example, that Republic Commando blaster, Clint?  (or anyone else on here who molds)  Just like we've been doing the heads or is it a 2-part mold or what?

[Clonehead]

Doc, that RC blaster has been the most troublesome mold that I have ever made as far as holding airbubbles. I can thin of at least three places on that gun where air loves to hide. Were I to try it again, I would probably suspend it within the mold slightly with strips of blister plastic like those gunship missiles that I have been doing. It could work better if you mounted it upside down so that the pistol grip faces up when pouring as it's one of the places prone to air bubble entrapment and use the blister sheet to extend up along the rest of the guns body.Even that way, you still might have to pour part of it, let it set, and pour the rest. Either end of that cylinder on the one side are also bubble areas. I made some more slits on that jetpack mold and vibrated it throughly, today but still it formed without the top cones or the backpeg. I may give up on that one.

My molds are done, by the way. I made a succesful first run with only a couple of problems. I will show you in my casting thread. That white resin is so bright that I can't see the bubble holes if there are any.