Here are a few of the molding photos. With rare exception did I take this much time showing every step of the molding and casting process, simply because I hate taking the time to light and photograph every step of the process, upload the photos, cut, cropand tweak them, just to show how I did a thing, or to prove that I did the work. Unfortunately, after being unjustly called a recaster by someone that didn't have a clue, I've felt that there are times when it is neccesary, so that there is no mistake and someone else doesn't try to take credit for something that I've put thousands of hours into.
At any rate, here's the blow by blow.... Before I put anyting into silicone I inspect it thoroughly and make sure that it's ready for silicone, then I sit down and plot out every move and take notes in my engineers notebook, so that if I miss something, or think of a better way, or even make a mistake, I can go back see exactly where I screwed up. I learned this method of "Quality Assurance / Quality Control" at the University and used the same method, when possible, in engineering, or when designing a new system.
After inspecting the part, especially something this big and detailed and complex to cast, I like to make sure I've got a good method locked in to avoid loss of time, effort and material.
For the engineering hull sections, due to the under-cut and the fact that it needed to be there, I had to come up with a complex mold.
This was the first time I ever attempted anything like this...
Moving forward, I traced out the profile of the part on a piece of 11X17 cardstock, so that I could use that to set my alignment keys before claying the part. I then centered the cardstock on a piece of 1/4 acrylic and taped it down. Next I layed wax paper down over the cardstock and used the weight of my clay to hold the wax paper in place. You can see what looks like a pile of junk sitting on my counter, but that's what I used to create my keys, cut my clay, create my vents and make my alignment keys. I took an appropriate size of schedule 40 pipe and plotted out the centerline, after cutting off the section I needed and then cut it down the center., that way I had two keys that would match up to each other and align the engineering hull so that parts would mesh and the under-cut would be there on the finished part to act as a land for the spine section, not shown. I then marked the engineering hull with a sharpie and used a pen to mark those points to be used later, to match up both halves and ensure alignment between the halves, so that when both came out of the mold, they would align one to another perfectly and there would be an opening for running lighting etc. I used a piece of dowl rod for the same purpose to align the shuttlebay deck and keep everything in reference to the centerline for both parts. More later.
At any rate, here's the blow by blow.... Before I put anyting into silicone I inspect it thoroughly and make sure that it's ready for silicone, then I sit down and plot out every move and take notes in my engineers notebook, so that if I miss something, or think of a better way, or even make a mistake, I can go back see exactly where I screwed up. I learned this method of "Quality Assurance / Quality Control" at the University and used the same method, when possible, in engineering, or when designing a new system.
After inspecting the part, especially something this big and detailed and complex to cast, I like to make sure I've got a good method locked in to avoid loss of time, effort and material.
For the engineering hull sections, due to the under-cut and the fact that it needed to be there, I had to come up with a complex mold.
This was the first time I ever attempted anything like this...
Moving forward, I traced out the profile of the part on a piece of 11X17 cardstock, so that I could use that to set my alignment keys before claying the part. I then centered the cardstock on a piece of 1/4 acrylic and taped it down. Next I layed wax paper down over the cardstock and used the weight of my clay to hold the wax paper in place. You can see what looks like a pile of junk sitting on my counter, but that's what I used to create my keys, cut my clay, create my vents and make my alignment keys. I took an appropriate size of schedule 40 pipe and plotted out the centerline, after cutting off the section I needed and then cut it down the center., that way I had two keys that would match up to each other and align the engineering hull so that parts would mesh and the under-cut would be there on the finished part to act as a land for the spine section, not shown. I then marked the engineering hull with a sharpie and used a pen to mark those points to be used later, to match up both halves and ensure alignment between the halves, so that when both came out of the mold, they would align one to another perfectly and there would be an opening for running lighting etc. I used a piece of dowl rod for the same purpose to align the shuttlebay deck and keep everything in reference to the centerline for both parts. More later.
