Re: Lifesize ED-209 Build. Check it out. You have twenty seconds to comply...
In terms of detail quality, do you prefer silicone or gelcoat?
The two different materials have wildly different applications. Silicone makes flexible molds that won't stick to anything. Details are replicated perfectly and there's no need to use a release agent.
Gelcoat is the sandable, UV-resistant layer of a fiberglass part or mold. When you make a fiberglass mold it's not flexible, so you have to design your parts and molds to avoid any potential undercuts that could lock your parts into your molds. While it'd probably be fine to make fiberglass molds to lay up fiberglass stormtrooper armor, anything more detailed would make separating the parts from the mold much more difficult. Then again, there's no reason to go through the expense of fiberglass (and the extra weight) when you can make perfectly good stormtrooper armor with vacformed sheets of plastic.
I await the day we start getting charged to view thorssoli's post.
Was that an option? It'd make funding these projects so much easier...
UPDATE:
Tuesday I had a bit of help in the workshop and popped open the gun pod mold:
Then I had my helper trim the edges of the flanges to get rid of the hairy fiberglass bits:
Then the molds were thoroughly polished:
After three coats of wax and one coat of PVA mold release, the molds were given a thick layer of grey gelcoat and it was time to start laying up fiberglass:
Once the glass was laid up, the mold was bolted back together and the seams were glassed over on the inside:
At that point it was a bit late in the evening, so it was yesterday morning before I had a chance to pop open the mold:
It came out alright:
There will still be some cleanup to do:
In other news, work continues on the toes:
Soon:
The upper leg is nearly ready to mold:
The waist/pelvis section is shaping up a bit:
Even if I do need to adjust the angles a little:
More progress today. Stay tuned...
