Silicone molds and resin casting

[Mr Bowcat]

Hi Guys,

I fancy trying my hand at making silcone molds of some small parts (packs, blankets, ammo crates, etc) and have been looking online at starter kits.

I found one place that does the silicone (1kg) and resin (2kg) components for around £50, just wondered if this was a reasonable price.

Cheers,

B

 

[eddiesolo]

Sounds about right, there are different casting grade resins some more expensive than others. Also, bear in mind that without a vacuum chamber you will get voids and air bubbles trapped.

This pic is of a guy on a RC tank forum that is doing barrels in 1/16 scale, as you see even at that scale it can be hard.

He makes them for his vast army of tanks and depot he has so they are just for personal use.

Good luck hope you get some nice gear from having a go.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers for that Si. I already have a plan in place for removing air bubbles. I have a vibratory cleaner that I use to clean my bullet casings, I think if I rest the mould on top after pouring the vibrations should dislodge any air bubbles.

 

[john i am]

Hi Guys,

I fancy trying my hand at making silcone molds of some small parts (packs, blankets, ammo crates, etc) and have been looking online at starter kits.

I found one place that does the silicone (1kg) and resin (2kg) components for around £50, just wondered if this was a reasonable price.

Cheers,

B

Not used this stuff myself but it gives good results and you can use milliput with it.

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

Hi Bob,
I've been doing my own castings for a few years now and built up a selection of silicon moulds for barrels, boxes, K-rails etc. I order all my silicon and resin from Slymasta there very reliable and fast delivery and come in around the same price as you've seen for 1kg of each. I've recently been using the clear resin for casting warp nacelles, rear engines etc with some great results.

I pointed out the Bluestuff to John in his post above as I ordered some earlier in the year and found it great for one off's like figures, weapons, the bonus is its reusable the down side is its from Spain, but again they are very fast with dispatch and if you look on their website they have a lot of useful items such as cobble stones.

With regards to air bubbles, I don't have any fancy tools to remove them I simply tap the moulds for a few minutes to help release them and 9/10 the cast is perfect.

Here's a few things I've recently cast, the S.H.I.E.L.D is for my up coming MARVEL builds

Adrian

 

[rickoshea52]

This has pricked my interest. I got the new tool Airfix Seakings which have pretty poor renditions of the EAPS/SNIPS intake filters. However, the same filter assembly in the older tooled Sea Kings are fairly decent, I've held off building these kits until some AM appears but no luck so far, maybe i should try to make my own using the old filter as a master.

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

This has pricked my interest. I got the new tool Airfix Seakings which have pretty poor renditions of the EAPS/SNIPS intake filters. However, the same filter assembly in the older tooled Sea Kings are fairly decent, I've held off building these kits until some AM appears but no luck so far, maybe i should try to make my own using the old filter as a master.

I'd do it Rick. I have copied some engines from an old Monogram Buck Rogers kit using clear resin so I can light it up.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Thanks for all the replies gents, most helpful.

 

[monica]

some very useful info guys,
this is one thing that has never real worked for me ,never real happy with,
the results,
and for trying to use cornflour and silicone,as a mold has not worked so well,
they tend to be to firm,and course,