Latex armor makers, have a few Q's

[cheech9898]

I know we have a few people making various latex armor (most batman stuff). I have a few Q's as I've got the supplies on the way to try and sculpt some stargate jaffa armor using my original pieces for reference. I'm still thinking it will be cheaper to do the armor in latex than urethane (but slower turn around). But I'm keeping the idea open to doing them in urethane (more experience with it) and using leather backing on them. I've gone through BOTB and Artsee's forums and didn't find my answers.

1) Shrinkage- When you start getting into thicker latex pieces I know this becomes an issue, what % should I factor so my pieces end up the desired size versus sculpted size?

2) When doing these types of thicker pieces is it done in multiple coats (like masks) or just as a couple hours dwell time to let the latex accumilate on the walls in the ultracal mold before pooring the excess latex back into your bucket?

 

[Smuggler]

Out of curiosity How many screen used pieces do you have ?

-Smuggler-

 

[cheech9898]

I have all of the following as screen-used: pair of the gauntlets, pair of leg/shin armor, a single front armor plate (front and back are suposed to be identical), and the shoulder-neck armor. I'd have to freehand sculpt is the belt/beltbuckle. Every piece I have has some set wear/tear which is why I don't just want to throw them under silicone... worried about the silicone sticking to the abraided/torn areas too badly & doing further damage and also getting release agent off those same areas or loosing the painted detail scrubbing the release agent off.

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Forgot I still had the pictures up on photobucket
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/cheech9898/stargateprops/