About a year ago I bought some Alumilite Hi-Strength 3 RTV silicone from my local Hobby Lobby. Various work and life commitments got in the way and I never got a chance to make any molds with it. Things at work have finally calmed down enough that I can get some hobby time in, so I decided to try out the rubber. Kudos to Alumilite; I've heard that most of these silicones only have a 6 month shelf-life but after sitting a year (sealed) in my closet the stuff is working great.
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| From top: mold, first cast, master sculpt |
Above is a picture of the master, the mold, and the first cast. I sculpted the spaceship master using the press-pour method
I've detailed before, but this time poured it with an integral flat base, like a bas-relief. I then set the master on some sulfur-free modeling clay and built a small box around it using scrap polystyrene. I mixed up the silicone, using an old gunpowder scale to ensure accurate measurements of the catalyst to rubber ratio. I mixed the silicone in a vacuum bottle from a
small kit designed for bleeding brake-lines in cars. I hooked up the hand pump and evacuated as much air from the bottle I could, therefore forcing most of the trapped gas from the curing silicone. I poured the silicone into the box, allowing it to flow around the master.
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| Mold box and curing silicone |
I set the whole thing on top of my clothes dryer and threw in one pillow, then turned the dryer on for 20 minutes. The single pillow caused enough imbalance to agitate the silicone and shake loose any remaining air bubbles. I let the silicone cure for 48 hours then removed it from the box and separated the master and the mold. I poured more water-putty into the mold and took a previously made bottom hull section and carefully placed it on the putty in the mold. Durham's water-putty loves one thing more than anything else: more water-putty. The putty in the mold and the bottom hull section fused into one monolithic mass.
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| A piece of an old sculpt provides a convincing lower hull |
After about 90 minutes I removed the cast from the mold. A near perfect replica (of the top section at least). I'm not a huge fan of this ship design, but really I knocked out the sculpt quickly... I wanted a proof-of-concept ship I wouldn't mind losing in case of mold failure. Maybe I'll throw some wings and engine nacelles on it or something, to give it some pep.
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| War In Space SDS... very attack-centric design |
So, where could I find water putty?
ReplyDeleteI buy Durham's Rock Hard Water-Putty at my local Lowe's home improvement store here in the USA. Any hardware store should carry it. I get the 4lb can for less than US$7.00, and that's enough to make well over 100 spaceships.
ReplyDeleteWow this is good stuff! Would you do some custom ships for a new card game?
ReplyDeleteThank you, glad you like it.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm utterly swamped with work and grad-school. During the holiday slow-down between Thanksgiving and Christmas I might be able to do something for you, if that's not too long a wait for you.
Not a problem for me. The game is Dog Fight: Starship Edition. http://www.dogfighttcg.com/
ReplyDeleteYou can contact me via our facebook page, linked on the game's website. I'd like to at least mention some details for you to chew on in the mean time.
Whoa brother, it looks like you have a serious commercial venture going there; pretty cool... I'm just a guy who pushes pieces of spaghetti into blocks of polymer clay. Are you sure you want one of my crappy spaceships?
ReplyDeleteI went to the facebook page but couldn't find any contact information. I apologize but I'm probably the last person on earth who refuses to have a facebook log-in. Is there another way for you to get me the details?