hez1
New Member
So I've been charged with a fairly tricky task, and would like to get some opinions on how I might go about it. My friend has a Battlestar Galactica (new series, not the original) pilots helmet, the only problem with it is that the sculptor got the scale wrong, and it's between 15-20% too large. He would like me to fix that, without having to resculpt it.
After exhausting a couple of avenues, I've come up with a somewhat arduous process that I think could work, but I'm not especially familiar with some of the materials, and would like some advice. Here's how it would go:
1) mold the original.
2) do a clay pour into the new mold.
3) make a 2 part ultracal mold of the clay pour.
4) Pour latex into the ultracal mold.
Step 4 is the one that I'm least certain about. I'm not sure how much latex shrinks (I've heard of people making their pred sculpts about an inch too large to compensate for shrinkage), and I don't know if the shrinkage increases or decreases when the thickness of the casting increases. Obviously I would need to make this fairly thick, and then probably foam fill it with at least a 10lb foam to support it.
If this wouldn't give me the amount of shrinkage needed, then I may need to repeat the process. Which brings me to...how much detail would I lose by casting with latex? Obviously a helmet doesn't have anywhere near the amount of natural texture of a pred head, but it's worth considering.
Thanks in advance for anyone who may be able to help out.
After exhausting a couple of avenues, I've come up with a somewhat arduous process that I think could work, but I'm not especially familiar with some of the materials, and would like some advice. Here's how it would go:
1) mold the original.
2) do a clay pour into the new mold.
3) make a 2 part ultracal mold of the clay pour.
4) Pour latex into the ultracal mold.
Step 4 is the one that I'm least certain about. I'm not sure how much latex shrinks (I've heard of people making their pred sculpts about an inch too large to compensate for shrinkage), and I don't know if the shrinkage increases or decreases when the thickness of the casting increases. Obviously I would need to make this fairly thick, and then probably foam fill it with at least a 10lb foam to support it.
If this wouldn't give me the amount of shrinkage needed, then I may need to repeat the process. Which brings me to...how much detail would I lose by casting with latex? Obviously a helmet doesn't have anywhere near the amount of natural texture of a pred head, but it's worth considering.
Thanks in advance for anyone who may be able to help out.