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Post by xiombarg on Aug 18, 2005 21:20:27 GMT -5
I came across a couple of web sites about resin casting and I was wondering whether it's something worth trying out to make custom figures. I've taken a bit of sculpting classes where we made plaster casts so I'm not concerned about the design end of things, but I would like to know how involved it is to work with resin for the beginner. Is it something you have to spend a thousand dollars on and several practices before you can get good results or is it fairly straight forward to work with?
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Post by dme3o on Aug 18, 2005 21:40:22 GMT -5
Yup. Definitely needs some practicing, patience and a bit of dough.
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Post by Jerilock on Aug 18, 2005 23:18:56 GMT -5
actually...micromark.com sells a resin casting kit for around $80 that has everything and it is pretty straight forward.....I was able to make several good castings using it, you just have to be sure to get the mixtures right (everything in it is a 1:1 ratio)...hope this helps
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Post by xiombarg on Aug 19, 2005 9:25:31 GMT -5
What did you use to for your model? I would actually like to do a sculpt and was thinking of using Sculpey, but is there something that would work better?
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Post by hypnotator on Aug 19, 2005 10:58:52 GMT -5
I do a lot of model kits and I've been meaning to look into this. I've successfully made small rubber moulds using masking fluid, bought from an art materials, shop which is basically liquid latex, the same as "Copydex" (in the UK anyway) glue but you get a good bottle full. I've cast very small parts using two-part modeller's putty mixed with a little water, but this is far from ideal. A guy I used to talk to on the phone about models recommended that for larger castings I use stuff that you patch car dents with, from a car parts shop, as the casting medium, but I have never got round to it, although I have made moulds for parts for an incomplete Imai Macross kit. Hopefully someone else has tried this and can advise or recommend?
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Post by diecastjunkie on Aug 19, 2005 12:19:20 GMT -5
I have tried to cast missiles and other parts for my robots. There are two main problems: bubbles and colour. It's hard to get rid of bubbles in a two part mold unless you have a vacuum system. I've yet to figure out a way to get colour into my stuff. The paint reacts with the polyurethane mixture and never comes out right.
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Post by Chen on Aug 19, 2005 12:23:26 GMT -5
What about using some kind of dyes like food colouring? Or the colour dyes you can get for your clothes.
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Post by dme3o on Aug 19, 2005 12:58:54 GMT -5
Usually, there are "pigments" that are made for the specific type of resin you are casting...
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Post by xiombarg on Aug 19, 2005 16:24:09 GMT -5
I've been told that one cause of bubbles is from using silicone. Silicone has to be vaccuumed, but rubber is supposed to be ok without it. When I get off work I'll post the site that talks about this, but I don't have on hand at the moment.
I was also wondering is anyone knows where to get ball joint parts and other such parts? I've been looking a few custom doll sites but nothing seems to quite fit the bill that I've found so far.
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Post by mcfitch on Aug 19, 2005 17:49:11 GMT -5
If you don't have a vacuum system you could always "spin cast". Take a fan motor and secure to a table top, or plywood with the motor pointing "up" (fan laid on it's back). Secure the mold to the spinning part of the fan motor. Turn the thing on and pour as it's rotating. The centripetal force will eliminate all bubbles.
Do a google search for spin casting for diagrams and such.
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Post by ronin777 on Aug 19, 2005 18:14:39 GMT -5
I'm not a casting afficionado but I can give you a name whom to ask. In macrossworld.com forum there is a guy named Rhobby. Him and a handful of people do great resin recasts. I bought a set of the 1/48 Yamato valk mickey mouse hands from him and they were great. I also bought a few shoulder cannons for my Takara Binaltechs and I have been happy with his work. He actually at one point in time had made a recast of the gbp-1s armor for the 1/55 bandai valks. Hope this helps somewhat.
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Post by xiombarg on Aug 19, 2005 20:58:51 GMT -5
Here's that site that talks about mold materials like silicone and rubber. It's cool that they took the time to talk about each material, giving the positives and negatives of each. There's a lot of useful information on this site in general, with how to's and other such stuff. www.smooth-on.com/howto1.htm
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Post by mcfitch on Aug 20, 2005 22:36:13 GMT -5
Smooth on is what I use for resin, and mold making rubber. They're also very helpful if you ask them questions.
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