Pieces cast in urethane?

[RedTwoX]

I may no longer qualify as a NooB for these forums, but I'm still very new to the hobby. I'm very familiar with styrene, ABS, PVC, resin, and fiberglass as materials and have worked with all of them. However, I keep running across helmets cast in "urethane" and I'm looking for information on the material. I have no experience with it at all, and would like some idea of what I'm getting into before I buy something.

Of course I've done some Google searches, and I've found some information. However, most of what I find is related to either coarse foams (such as impact absorbing helmet liners) or making flexible molds. There doesn't seem to be much on urethane as a material for the finished product such as a helmet shell... or I just haven't found the right search string yet.

Does anyone have any links to sites with information on working with urethane? What are your opinions on the material? Is it difficult to work with? Flexible or brittle? Any information will be helpfull.

Thanks in advance :thumbsup

 

[exoray]

The common casting resin used by many in this hobby is "urethane" one in the same, there are several different types though... Many with specific properties that make them better for one use or another...

 

[Fetthunter]

All of my casts are in "Urethane resin", which I think is the same material as what you're referring to...

"Urethane" = "Urethane resin" ?

 

[propsculptor]

As a Movie FX Artist I can also tell you that there are several kinds of Flexible Urethanes that many FX shops used to use for "Skin" on Creatures, Monsters, and Bodies. There are also Urethane Foams as well.

Rob Bottin's shop used a lot of it in the past, but when the stuff gets old it gives off some nasty chemical smells.

 

[fettster]

some people slush cast urethane resin to make helmets, you can also use a roto castor.

urethane resin is basically a two part mix plastic. you shouldnt have any problem with a urethane cast helmet as long as it was cast properly by someone who knows what they are doing because some casts can be very thin if the resin was low in viscosity