Re: Thorssoli's Episode VII Builds (Finished Phasma Helmet on Page 7)
Let's talk about fingers for a moment. I'm making them with a smoosh mold. It goes like this...
A few days back I posted this pic:
Those things sat like that on the bench for a couple of days before anyone finally got around to building a box around them. Then I started pouring in the silicone:
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The box was tipped as far as I could balance it to one side in order to make it easier for any bubbles in the silicone to flow up and away from the edges of the parts:
The next day, after the silicone had cured completely, the clay was removed but the finger prototypes were left in place. Then the whole thing was given a couple of liberal coats of release agent before pouring more silicone into the hole left behind by the clay:
The mold was filled to the tippy-top and left to cure overnight:
It turns out that it must've been a bitterly cold night in the shop though, so the core wasn't ready to pull until fairly late the next night:
Et voila! Finger armor core removed:
With the core removed, it was time to remove the prototype parts. I started by making a "jeweler's cut" which I didn't take a picture of. Fortunately, it's the same type of cut I used to demold the handplates:
One the prototypes were removed, I set the molds up on a table and filled just the fingertips of the finger armor mold:
Then the core was pushed into place in the mold:
You can tell I poured in enough resin because a bit splooged its way out when I smooshed the core into place:
After the resin cured, it was just a matter of pulling out the core again:
Once the cast parts were plucked out of the mold, they were ready to test fit:
I still need to trim off the mold flashing, but I think they'll work:
In other news, we've been making more progress on the rest of the armor. At this point we have finished molding and pulled at least one copy of everything except for the right bicep, right thigh, buttplate, and the forearms. Here I am all tucked into the work in progress:
With the armor all in black and the helmet all shiny, it looks way too big. It also doesn't help that the chest is sized for the girlfriend who is both taller and thinner than I am. Still, it's coming together.
Now I've really got to get started on the rubber parts.
Stay tuned...