Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

PM sent

rapping ( no, not Rapping ) on the mold when filling should aleviate any air entrapment

Chris, one other note...when using rubber bands to hold your mold closed...be careful that you aren't over-tightening the mold...that can compress the rubber and pinch off air vents.

If there's no mold release on the top surface of the mold ( or, if you can slice off a bit or rubber to make a clean fresh surface ) you can easly add to the top of the mold...Silicone sticks to it's self quite well. That way you can increase the area of the reservoiers. Another trick is to fill the...

Polyfil ( pillow stuffing material ) will act as a light diffuser as well...lightly pack the interior to remove hot spots ( bright areas near the LED's )

The LED's make the polyfil glow quite evenly

There, now it's all out in the open :D The 1:35 mako will be available end of July..test castings have been done on all parts but the hull and the gun (still a bit of tweeking to be done on those 2 parts ) ..the SR-1 kit is now ( still ) available...and the SR-2 is coming soon(ish). From the looks o...

*Hack,Hack*

I was holding my breath !

And be sure to wear a good dust mask...tight fitting !!!!
Resin dust will put you in an early grave !

I have a certain ( anonamous ) friend with some super fine 3D meshes which I can refer to...other than that...I just picked a good "Shelf Scale "

Thank you Mr.Brown

You might try using short lengths of silicone tubing ( available at RC plane stores ) in place of the polycaps.

Umi, I agree...same cause for me as well...post curing was just an idea that I thought might work.

You could try post curing in a low temp oven for half an hour....let cool to room temp and check again.

Obviously, try this with an easy to replace part first.

I have a tip for skinning foam with Aves.
To help the Aves adhere to the foam, wipe on a thin layer of 5 min. epoxy to the foam. let the epoxy cure, then skin with Aves/Majic Sculpt

The epoxy acts as an adhesion promoter.
Without it, the Aves can pull away from the foam WAY too easily.

Ditto on what J-Crash said.

I've been here quite a while as well....and, I cast clear

Ever consider heat shrink tubing ?

Good chance you're dealing with alcohol leaching from the new molds.
Try baking the molds in an oven at 180 deg. for an hour....let them cool and apply a good coating of mold release.

Question...were you using a rattle can ?
How far away from the piece did you hold the can ?
Did you apply a full wet coat?

A powdery surface is typical for a dry application of paint...usually happens when the spray is held too far away from the piece.

How much do you need ?

Thanks Modelnutz... The thing that kinda scares me away from polyester resin is that it's supposed to shrink like crazy compared to other resins. Would the fiberglassing mitigage this problem? Working to a high glass to resin ratio helps limit the shrinkage...but...it's always going to shrink some....

A few answers for ya.... Polyester gel coat is used because the laminating resin most used is polyester....it's a compatability thing....polyester sticks to polyester really well. FYI...gel coat is standard resin with the addition of styrene wax...during curing, the styrene wax migrates to the surfa...

Having just recently developed a tool for vac-forming a large panel for a job I'm running...I'll share my lessons learned. First..anything you use to make a tool needs to withstand a minimum of 280 degrees F. I tried 'Fix-It' from Aves Studio....a real nice material to work with...but, it softened u...

Just so happens that I'm building up a very large Vac-Form pattern.
I'm using Aves Studio's Fix-It.
It can handle up to 500 degrees.

Vac forming can get up to 250 to 350 degrees with styrene.

I'll let you know how it works out in a few days time.

Contact Smooth-On for this material...they sell small "kits"...typically in the $30.00 range. smooth-on.com When you use this stuff...please be sure to have very good air movement or a good respirator...the fumes are not nice....and wear gloves....and... DO NOT TOUCH YOUR MOUTH OR EYES TIL...

You really can't go wrong with Smooth-On's SC-300 or SC-305.
Very user friendly.

It's my experiance that the Alumilite materials are "hot" and can shorten the life of a mold.

You need to be pretty close on the 1 to 1 ratio....the smaller the batch...the more critical it is. For small batches, I like to use low cost graduated medicine cups that I get from CVS. Also, make sure that you pre-mix part A and part B very well. On thin pieces, temperature matters...a cold mold w...

Look into a device called a "jack screw"....used a lot in the RC world for doing retractable landing gear on RC planes. Picture a long screw mounted to a small motor... that assembly is rigidly mounted to the model with a support holding the end of the screw stationary....now, picture a nu...

Have you looked at the "Bare Metal Foil" materials ?
They have quite a large selection these days....might have what you're looking for.

OK, I'll bite.....do you have the part(s) you want to copy ?
Still in fairly good condition ? Solid ? All the pieces there ?

If you still want it copied...send me a PM...I can help you out.

Yer welcome :D Of course..the very best way to make a super thin cape is to use toy maker's wax ( Azbro is one...Garyo's is another) Using that technique, you take fine cloth ( or even paper) and coat both sides with a thin layer of wax....trim to size...heat ( carefully) with a hot air gun and shap...

One trick picked up from a toy sculptor... go to Michael's ( or similar store ) and look for their thin mesh screening in the craft goods section...I've seen gold and silver versions. Roll out epoxy putty very thin and press the ( cut slightly undersized ) screen in to the putty...trim 1/16" pa...