Female Yautja build - (wip)

[kristen jones]

Resin without a doubt. Latex isn't suitable at all for gauntlets... too flexible. especially for a wrist blade gauntlet. Mine will have moving parts inside so resin is the way to go.

 

[DMTDeadpool]

I concur. Bracers should be made from resin rather than latex. Latex ones don't look nearly as good as resin ones. and as sevenstar said, they are too flimsy especially the blade bracer. and you can't make the computer bracer open. In my opinion only the skin should be latex, all armour and such should be resin or foam.

 

[spgfx]

Thanks so much for your opinions. If things all work out it will be able to test both. I did some testing on the latex that I was very pleased with. I was able to build it up thick enough to be pretty stiff. I filled it with with expanding foam and ended up with a pretty stiff test "sleeve". The blades for this gauntlet will be very light and non-movable. I'm planning on building the latex gauntlet with a thinner bottom section so I can have a bit more stretch to put it on without a seam that needs closure. Another features i'm looking for is a tight fit. The blade gauntlet from my original build is pretty light weight made from foam and even with velcro straps very tight, I could not stop it from rotating. I'm hoping with a nice tight fitting latex gauntlet will not rotate. As you can tell I have high hopes for the latex but having the the actual item in both materials will make the decision easy.

 

[spgfx]

Here is a shot of the final mold.

NOW - This is the moment I have been waiting for did I have a nice mold and sculpt or just a very long learning experience ?

Started to peel back the latex slowely - Things looked really good !

Then TA - DA the latex peeled off perfect even in the inset areas and the sculpt was intact.

Now just let everything dry really good and on to the next step.

I built up the latex really thick and it does seem really floppy ! I still plan on making a hard mold of this sculpt to practice for the 1/2 mask sculpt but it's looking like the resin gauntlet is the way to go.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to use for the resin ? If poss. I would like something with a bit of flex. I have worked with polyester fiberglass resin quite a bit. It would be nice if I could get a relatively solid resin that I could just pour without adding the fiberglass mat. I'm going to be hard pressed getting fiberglass mat in this mold. I would also be nice to have the single seam and some flex in the resin to get the gauntlet on.

 

[predtrooper]

You could try using gell coat instead of normal polyester resin its not so runny and then just add some strands off fibre glass in places you might need strength. I did this before on some stormtrooper armour and it came out strong but with a bit of flex

 

[MikaPred2]

Interesting that you used a loose mold instead of fixed/ boxed style 2-part mold. Don't get me wrong...It looks fantastic. Just never seen anyone use a mold/negative without a reinforcing shell.

 

[spgfx]

This is my first experience with any of this stuff and I went with what I saw on the Utubes. There is a plaster 2 piece reinforcing shell around the latex mold. You can see it in the first picture. What would are the advantages of having a box be ? I assume that your talking about building a retaining box around the sculpt and pouring plaster over the sculpt with the latex on it.

I've been playing with it to see how things fit and one mistake I did make is there are no "keys" or larger features in the latex to hold it solidly in place in the plaster outer mold. It fits in there nice and the deep texture kinds of holds it but I would use some larger protruding features in the latex to sort of lock it in the outer shell better.

The sculpt is in perfect condition so I might scrap this mold and just make another based on any suggestions from you guys and gals so keep em coming.

 

[MikaPred2]

Just meant that I usually see folks do a two part silicon (as opposed to latex) mold that once the mold cures has a boxed shape. The main advantage of that is that you have the space to set in registration keys so the two halves "lock" together.

 

[spgfx]

Ahhh. Got it. I'm not that advanced for silicon yet but I plan on ordering some soon. I went with your advise for my next mold and built a "box around the object and poured in the plaster with the keys. It worked a lot better. Thank you for getting me thinking.

 

[MikaPred2]

my pleasure. I'm planning a one piece mold for a small item that may turn into a two piece should I decide to make a hollowed variant. Even for that one I going with a boxed frame and registration keys. It may just be a matter of preference.

If you're in the US, I heartily recommend using Smooth On Mold Star 16. It's easy to mix with a 1:1 ratio by volume and has a great cure time of around 30 minutes.

 

[MikaPred2]

Noted you wanted suggestions on resins in the other female build. Again Smooth On has good urethane resins. The Smooth Cast line is really good and take dyes well. I use the Onyx series so I can skip using dye.

 

[predtrooper]

Have you made a decision on what resin to use yet ?

 

[spgfx]

I'm getting really close. There is just so much to factor in. Hardness, Viscosity, working time. color, price, shrinkange. I want to learn as much as I can about this to help with future projects so I'm trying to gain a very good understanding off all of these factors.

I'm either gonna go with Smooth-on smooth cast 65d or Specialty Resins Flex-it 70. I'm concerned about the hardness of the smooth-on. I'm looking at about $40 for each resin, so trying different ones is to expensive. I need to get it right the first time.

 

[predtrooper]

Iv just watched a few videos on youtube about both products. I might be wrong but it appeared that the 65d was more flexable. I couldn't find anything with a direct comparison

 

[spgfx]

I went do to my local paint and fiberglass supply shop to pick up the Ultracal for my 1/2 mask mold. They stock a few different products from Polytek. I picked up some Easyflow 60 casting resin. I figured at least I could give this a test and see how everything goes. I slush casted the mold with 3 coats. It went really easy. The material set up in about 6 minutes and after 15 minutes everything de-molded great. Here is the final product.

The part that came off the mold is really nice, every detail showed up. It's a nice hard shell. I split the piece at the mold seam at the bottom and there is a bit of flex to it. Hopefully enough to get it over my daughters hand. I would say that the 3 layers of the resin has a good thickness but I will try 2 layers on the next run. For my 1st time making a piece from a clay sculpt and casting I think it turned out really well and I learned A LOT. This opens up the door for many more molds in the future.

 

[predtrooper]

Are you going to use this for all the armour or just for peices that are not on the main torso.im thinking more about using worbla for the chest armour to get a correct fit and resin for other parts

 

[spgfx]

I did a 2nd mold using 2 coats and trying to get a really even coat. The 2nd part came out a lot better. With the slit at the bottom on the mold seam I'm able to slip it over my daughters hand and on her arm. I just need to figure out what to do with the seam now.

I have really figured out what else I'm going to use the cast resin on. At this point I'm just exploring different materials and techniques. I do agree with you about using the Worbla or something that will hold a solid form on the chest area for a proper fit.

 

[predtrooper]

Another option iv thought about is moulding the worbla on her then moulding from that as if it was the clay

 

[MikaPred2]

If your wanting to hide the seam try using a small flap of painted latex and spirit gum. Hope the info I gave you was helpful in some way.

 

[spgfx]

So what your basically saying is glue the seam closed with a flap of latex. I think I'm going to need some kind of adjustable Velcro closure to make it fit tight. I could work this inside the gauntlet and then cover the seam