Falli's question thread. Aussie costumers, help please!

[fallimar]

Hey all, I thought instead of asking random questions on other people's threads, I might collect them all here. I'm Australian, and so ordering a lot of overseas products is pretty hard with our weird import restrictions on some liquids and chemicals, and I'm trying to avoid buying heavy materials overseas to cut down shipping costs.
Right - so basically I'm looking for some products and some help. If you're Aussie or know any of the products that are available in Australia that work, I'd love to hear from you!
I'm a beginner at using this stuff, so I'd like to get the right products to start with.

1: I'm looking for resin to harden EVA foam pieces. I'm looking for something that'll brush on in layers, sand up nicely and help give me a good, shiny finish. I'd prefer if it wasn't too flexible and didn't crack or deform under normal wearing conditions.

2: Resin for brushing/slush-casting the interior of pep models to form a nice solid shell.

3: Expanding foam. I'd like to be able to fill pep models, or parts of, to help keep their shape. If I'm slush-casting resin it's not an issue, but I'd like to know what kind of specs I'd be looking for in an expanding foam product. I don't want to explode my nice, clean pep models

4: Silicone for mould-making. I'll be sculpting Krogan parts in oil clay for an upcoming Mass Effect costume and I'll need to learn to make moulds. My reasearch has pointed me to silicone with a mother mould of hydrocal/ultracal. I'd love a recommendation for the silicone to be used - I'd most likely be casting in liquid latex or poly foam, though ideally I'd love to use hot foam latex if I can find a way to make it work safely.

Before you ask, yes - I am doing my own research, youtube tute-surfing, thread-searching and looking at the 405th for tips too. Still, nothing beats asking someone with first-hand experience. Even a recommendation for tech specs would be fine (viscosity, work time, hardness, chemical type, etc.), I can always inquire with a local store to see what they have that matches my needs.

Thanks!

 

[lubre53]

Fallimar
hey, how do? i'm in brisbane. I'm still fairly new to casting and molding but i've done alot of costuming and papercrafting. Here in brisbane the best place to get easycast resin (sets in 2mins) and other resins and silicons is Barnes. I think they are in most major cities also. Bunnings sell Selleys expanding foam. it is called selleys no more gaps.
chun li papercraft by ~lubre53 on deviantART

hope this helps

 

[fallimar]

Hey lubre53,
Sweet paper work! Chun li creeps me out with her crazylegs but DAMN, that's impressive!
I'm actually looking at Barnes - they don't have an outlet in WA but I can order online. The shipping will be a bit pricey, but better than overseas!
I'm not sure Selley's expanding foam would work, I've got a feeling that stuff would expand like mad and just blow apart anything I stuck it into. I'll have a look, they might sell less expansive foam products. hm!

 

[P4r4dox86]

There is a Smooth-On retailer here in SA who supplies for Australia: | International Stocking Distributors | Mold Making and Casting Materials Rubber, Plastic, Lifecasting, and More

I've dealt with these guys in person and they were very helpful I'm not sure about their shipping costs etc as to how much it would add to a product, but I emailed them initially asking about Smooth On 65D sizes and prices and they got back to me within a day or two. Check out the Smooth On site for products etc that seem to fit your bill, then just email and ask them what they have in stock etc and prices.

In Adelaide we also have a place called Adelaide Moulding and Casting: Adelaide Moulding & Casting Supplies which is where I have picked up fibreglass cloth and resin in the past for fibreglass stuff, also where I'm planning on picking up some RTV Silicone for mold making in the near future. Again, not sure of shipping prices as I buy direct, but it can't hurt to ask, and you might be able to find a similar place local to you.

 

[Steampunch]

Another Brisbanite and learner here.
I also have tried Barnes for resins. I am currently trying the plastic coated foam method for an ironman build. I am using a Barnes product called Rotothane, its a 2 part resin used for rotation casting, sets fast and self levels really well. Basic mixing rules 1 part (a) 1 part (b). 2 minutes to apply. Sets white. Sands well.

So far I have done a few test pieces and have completed a shoulder peice for the mark 7 armour.
I brushed Rotothane on in two layers 15 minutes apart. Then sanding, primer/filler, sanding, filler, sanding, filler....eventually painting.

(Crappy quality pic I know)

Still early days, I am going to try more complicated larger pieces this weekend using this product and method, but so far Rotothane seems to be working well.

I also recommend 'plastic primer filler' i got some at Supercheap auto, it bonds well to the urethane and seems pretty tough.

 

[fallimar]

There is a Smooth-On retailer here in SA who supplies for Australia: | International Stocking Distributors | Mold Making and Casting Materials Rubber, Plastic, Lifecasting, and More
...
In Adelaide we also have a place called Adelaide Moulding and Casting: Adelaide Moulding & Casting Supplies which is where I have picked up fibreglass cloth and resin in the past for fibreglass stuff, also where I'm planning on picking up some RTV Silicone for mold making in the near future. Again, not sure of shipping prices as I buy direct, but it can't hurt to ask, and you might be able to find a similar place local to you.

Awesome, thankyou! Great to find more distributors all over the place. I've heard good things about smooth-on products, but they seem to be a bit tricky to get yourhands on if you're not a business. Oh well, no harm in enquiring. Thanks heaps

Another Brisbanite and learner here.
I also have tried Barnes for resins. I am currently trying the plastic coated foam method for an ironman build. I am using a Barnes product called Rotothane, its a 2 part resin used for rotation casting, sets fast and self levels really well. Basic mixing rules 1 part (a) 1 part (b). 2 minutes to apply. Sets white. Sands well.
...
I also recommend 'plastic primer filler' i got some at Supercheap auto, it bonds well to the urethane and seems pretty tough.

Oh, sweet! Cool to see some stuff in action - that sounds like it works pretty well. Also, spray filler? Ooh. Convenient!
Does the rotothane have a really long work time? I'm a bit worried about getting terribly bored standing there rotating a thing and running off to do something else whilst it oozes uselessly into a corner, haha. I might see if I can get something with a short gel time, match my tiny attention span.

Looking nice and shiny there too.

 

[Steampunch]

Once again I am only a beginner with this technique as well & have only worked on small uncomplicated pieces so don't take my word as gospel.

Rotothane sets fast and seems to work as follows:

Once mixed together you have about 2 minutes of work time to brush, it starts to gel after that. Once it starts to gel up for the love of god don't try to push your luck by trying to cover that last little bit you might have missed, it will clump up and look terrible and you have to start again.

After brushing and gel starts happening I would say keep the peice rotating (moving around) for about 5 to 6 minutes. When the rotothane had turned white I applied the second coat. I applied 2 thin coats to mine and it seemed to work ok (but I then used 4 or 5 coats of that primer filler later).

Tips I have discovered by trial and error:
Only mix very small amounts, as you only have 2 minutes to work and that time goes fast, I had just enough time to brush the suface of the shoulder part before it started to set and that wasn't a huge area to cover.

You can't rely on sanding your errors away as you can with body filler with this coating method, you need to get the application as smooth as you can.



Also the paint I used was "duplicolor Metalcast" with the 'groundcoat' underneath. Never used it before now but Dear god that stuff came up so shiny! Don.t know how well the yellow colour will come out yet but I hope its as good.

 

[fallimar]

Thanks again Steampunch

On another sort of related note, using rondo sounds like an incredibly good idea for both strength and workability. I've looked around and getting your hands on actual bondo seems to be pretty tricky over here - would any old body filler work? I've got some lightweight body filler and standard fibreglass resin. I'm guessing to make the rondo itself you'd mix up small amounts of both the fibreglass resin and filler, then mix them together and work. I also hear that the higher the percentage of resin the stronger the material ends up being... or something?
I'm guessing the reason for using it is more the spreadability and ability to smooth and shape the material as you work rather than having a thin resin layer with little structure. Kinda like using margarine instead of oil or hard butter to spread on toast. (lol@chef) I also hear bondo/filler on its own can be brittle, and the resin helps to temper it a bit.

Have I got this right or am I speaking bollocks again?

 

[fallimar]

Working on my Grunt idea - first thing I have to do is get proportions right - so I'll be getting a friend to take photos of me front and sides, which I'll pop into photoshop and superimpose character references over to see what kind of scale I'm looking at. I can't go 1:1 me:grunt as I'm too short, too wide in the hips and have really short legs. I'll go with stilts and neck vision, I think.

In the meantime, I'm collecting references, reading tutorials and researching materials and suppliers, hence this thread.
I made a rough pep model of Grunt's little face as a blocking out ref for when I start my sculpt - say Hi to mini-grunt.

Credit here for the model.

 

[P4r4dox86]

Thanks again Steampunch

On another sort of related note, using rondo sounds like an incredibly good idea for both strength and workability. I've looked around and getting your hands on actual bondo seems to be pretty tricky over here - would any old body filler work? I've got some lightweight body filler and standard fibreglass resin. I'm guessing to make the rondo itself you'd mix up small amounts of both the fibreglass resin and filler, then mix them together and work. I also hear that the higher the percentage of resin the stronger the material ends up being... or something?
I'm guessing the reason for using it is more the spreadability and ability to smooth and shape the material as you work rather than having a thin resin layer with little structure. Kinda like using margarine instead of oil or hard butter to spread on toast. (lol@chef) I also hear bondo/filler on its own can be brittle, and the resin helps to temper it a bit.

Have I got this right or am I speaking bollocks again?

I used Rondo on my step daughters Mk VII to coat the foam. I used 2-3layers of PVA/Woodglue to seal the foam, then Rondo. It's basically 1:1 resin and bodyfiller, I used a lightweight body filler from Autobarn (I think) and it worked well, only use the bodyfiller hardner, you don't need to use the resin hardner. As an aside, if you can manage to avoid Rondo I would probably do so, mostly because it's messy, more toxic than other methods like plastic coating, and on the edges of the pieces the Rondo never really hardened properly. Of course that last part may have been due to my mixing or something else at my end. You can see the results I got with it in the link in my signature.

 

[fallimar]

Ah, lovely to know. Hm, maybe a little more hardener, or use the hardener in the resin anyway perhaps? Oh well, not to worry, I've got plenty of time to figure it out. I expect I'll try using easycast resin on the foam to harden it up first, then if that fails I'll try rondo. Thanks, so nice to hear form someone who's worked with materials personally.