Thought there weren't enough build threads lately and figured it was time to start one. I've posted on the fb group a number of times but will start updating here as well. I'll try to keep the items in order as well as cost to help give new potential judges ideas as well.
First off, zip cuffs:
The primed zip cuffs were printed from shapeways from the files provided by Ken Chung on the FB group. Total cost was about $12 (I had a free shipping coupon) and they were printed in sandstone. I made a 1 piece mold for them after priming them to smooth them out a bit and cast them out of smooth-cast 300, the originals have cut marks on them as sandstone is very easily marked. I do have a pressure chamber and vacuum chamber but with the the parts being so small and thin and the resin's cure time, I just went ahead and cast them up. This process gave me some nicely shaped pieces but bubbles here and there. They were then puttied with tamiya putty and small bubbles and pin holes filled in mr. surfacer 500. Some of the cuffs look great, others a bit rough when I got impatient with the whole process and just wanted to churn out as much as possible, for possible gifts or just as spares. The parts also did not take much resin to cast either, I have a gallon of smooth-cast 300 and these cuffs took barely $2 worth of resin each casting. I actually miscalculated too many times and ended up wasting a bit more resin then necessary.
Pieces were then primed, painted, and super glued together. Seems to be holding very firm now will now spray one more coat of black tonite then a protective clear coat using future floor polish and tamiya flat base to cut the gloss look down. I've also trimmed the zip ties and will epoxy them in.
First off, zip cuffs:
The primed zip cuffs were printed from shapeways from the files provided by Ken Chung on the FB group. Total cost was about $12 (I had a free shipping coupon) and they were printed in sandstone. I made a 1 piece mold for them after priming them to smooth them out a bit and cast them out of smooth-cast 300, the originals have cut marks on them as sandstone is very easily marked. I do have a pressure chamber and vacuum chamber but with the the parts being so small and thin and the resin's cure time, I just went ahead and cast them up. This process gave me some nicely shaped pieces but bubbles here and there. They were then puttied with tamiya putty and small bubbles and pin holes filled in mr. surfacer 500. Some of the cuffs look great, others a bit rough when I got impatient with the whole process and just wanted to churn out as much as possible, for possible gifts or just as spares. The parts also did not take much resin to cast either, I have a gallon of smooth-cast 300 and these cuffs took barely $2 worth of resin each casting. I actually miscalculated too many times and ended up wasting a bit more resin then necessary.
Pieces were then primed, painted, and super glued together. Seems to be holding very firm now will now spray one more coat of black tonite then a protective clear coat using future floor polish and tamiya flat base to cut the gloss look down. I've also trimmed the zip ties and will epoxy them in.
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