Love your work, and your collection. Used to follow you on the hunterslair now I'll be following this thread here too
Love your work, and your collection. Used to follow you on the hunterslair now I'll be following this thread here too
Mold is looking nice! Wish I had used different colors between coats. It would make it a lot easier to get an even thickness!
Last couple layers of silicone before I add the Plastipaste mother mold:
And ending it with red:
Dont forget to make me one...........lol........
Very clean work on the silicone mold! Will you be adding registration keys? If so make sure the keys won't lock the mother mold on. Just point the keys in the direction that the mother mold will be removed. Learned from experience, haahaa
Mother mold is finished. I LOVE working with Plastipaste - this stuff is bloody awesome and perfect! Once it started to harden, I used my Xacto knife to trim the edges and hopefully eliminate any locking. If it does lock on, I can always trim it with my dremel.
Waiting for the mother mold to cool down and then pop it off!! SO ANXIOUS!!!
The whole process from start to finish. 6 layers of silicone and 2 layers of Plastipaste:
Last edited by PredatrHuntr; Aug 29, 2012 at 12:05 AM.
I was freaking nervous as hell pulling off the mother mold, but surprisingly enough it almost popped off with little effort! I then started pulling the silicone away carefully...the whole thing came off no problem! After inspecting every inch of the inside of the silicone, there are 2 flaws: there is a bristle hair (from the brush) on the surface of the dome; the side of the Bio rim has a small 5mm gap but that shouldn't even be noticed at all once the resin is in there. I'm blown away that there were no air bubbles trapped in there!
I'm just stoked right now...this is something I should have started to do a long time ago. To be honest, when I saw guys like Rob, Daman, Gene, Paul, Casey, and all the other countless Bio sculptors doing this, I thought it was way too complicated AND that their talent was off the charts. I didn't think I would be able to do it. All it took was a few of you guys telling me that I should start sculpting. That little bit of encouragement over the past 2 years pushed me to take a leap of faith and trust that I could do it.
I have to take a moment here and thank Rob, Casey, George, Gene, Paul, Lee and Bryan. Please forgive me if this is sappy, but **** you - this is a huge milestone for me and I'm thanking the people that helped get me this far.
Rob - when you sculpted your Bio and showed us pictures of the clay sculpt, I was blown away. Then the armature broke and the sculpt was crushed. Some people might have given up, but you started over and redid the sculpt. Then you casted it, and that was what started me thinking...
Casey - even though he may not be a member here anymore, he is still the king of making Bios. He's walked me through this entire process from start to finish. I remember seeing him sculpt Bios out of nothing but clay and wonder how the hell he always did such an amazing job. I am proud to be his friend after all these years and honored that he has shown me how fun making a mold can be!
George - you have given me advice on the phone, text and for that I thank you. I know taking time to answer questions can be a tedious pain in the ass, but you never complain and are always willing to take a moment to help me out. The P1 Stunt was my inspiration for sculpting this, and only hope that when I get one painted and completed, it comes close to the holy grail of my collection.
MeanGene - thank you for posting your progress on sculpting all your Predator stuff. Sometimes it may not seem like everyone is paying attention, but I was always watching and mentally taking notes. Your work on the Boars inspired me and gave me confidence that I could sculpt my own.
Paul - your tutorials on both sculpting and molding were invaluable to me. I asked you a LOT of questions back then not knowing 100% that I would have the courage to try it myself one day. Thank you for your in depth walkthroughs and photos...I've gone back through and taken notes more than a few timesI'm 100% a visual learner, so those pictures meant a LOT!
Lee - you are humble when it comes to admitting your talent, but **** you - I'm exposing you for the talented artist that you are! Your multiple head sculpts have convinced me that after I do Rob's Bio I need to sculpt me a Pred head. I have you to thank for that - thank you!
Bryan - after you sculpted all your Bios, it got me to thinking that if someone can do them in an assembly line like that, it has to be possible to do at least ONE! You're a Predaholic and I'm in awe of your collection/talent with sculpting/painting
Ok - enough with the sappy **** - onto the pictures!
This was right after I took the mold off. The clay is perfectly intact. While I dislike working with such hard clay, the benefit is that it retains it's shape quite nicely:
Thank goodness for the mother mold because the silicone is about as rigid as a floppy donkey dick!
Finally, here's the silicone with the excess drippings trimmed off:
Last edited by PredatrHuntr; Aug 29, 2012 at 1:59 AM.
WOW .... so this looks to be (so far) a really great alternative way to make a helmet mold.
Does this method work best (or only) for a half helmet/mask ... or can it work for a FULL helmet/mask mold/pull as well ??
This method wouldn't work for a full sized head since that would require a two-part mold. For the Bio, I only need the outside to look good - not the inside
How about for just a helmet - say, Captain America or Armored Flash ??PredatrHuntr said:
This method wouldn't work for a full sized head since that would require a two-part mold. For the Bio, I only need the outside to look good - not the inside
That would probably need a 2 part mold, but then again being that this is my very first mold, I really have no idea - I'm just making it up as I go
Here's the process so far:
Casting the little bio bits:
Trimming off the excess:
Hardened resin:
Castings:
Having a drink before I start pouring resin:
My sad face since the respirator and beer don't mix:
1st layer of resin:
2nd layer:
3rd layer:
4th layer:
Waiting for it to fully cure so I can see how it turned out...it's like waiting for Christmas morning while your parents are asleep and you want so badly to go in and wake them up by jumping on the bed!!!
Stay tuned for more...
OMG.....I think that is absolutely superb........nice job.......Clean cast....I WANT ONE......lol
looks awesome J turned out beautifully. Is that 1 mine?
Thanks guys! Once I get some casted I'll put up a for sale thread
Man the helmet cast looks really nice! Awesome job.
What did you cast the smalll bits out of? It looks like it was pourous, was that the look you were going for?
The first set of bit had some filler in it and caused it to be bubbly. No more filler in the bio bits!
Damn this is awesome! I love the mold its almost as beautiful as the damn sculpt
Cracking work.
Very clean lines in the sculpt and a clean and tidy mold.
Well done for taking the leap of faith. It's certainly paid off.
Cheers
After I lined these up I heard the Count in my head say, "FIVE! Five Predator helmets, A-ah-ah!!!" ...but there was no thunder after that
I've got the process down to about an hour and I spill less and less resin each time haha! The first one is an off grey because stupid me used black Silc Pig to try and dye it. Going to get some pigment for silicone this coming week
I love the grey look.........love it and keep em' rollin down the assembly line......lol
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