Silicone Torso Comission For Smooth On Products

[ThePriest]

Ok Everybody, Over the summer i was contacted by a Represntative of Smooth On Products to do a Predator torso to display at there Booths and shows.
What i am going to show you is what my process was in making it. And i also Promised Alphatech That i would put up these pics.
So here goes The first pic is what they sent me to make it for them.
I started with making a dread ring because i didnt have one so i decieded to make one the cast is ultra cal the Silicone i used was Dragon skin Pro with there coloring agent to tint it black. The next thing i did was make the dreads using there flex foam 6 pillow soft foam with the black tinting to color them.
And now for the hard stuff .. I got out one of my molds for the head that is made out of ultra cal 30, they wanted to use dragon skin Pro for the skin on the project. That had many problems here is what i ran into. after using alot of release agent the silicone wanted to stick to the mold Normally it's not a big deal but for this project i had to fill the head with foam so it was a Nightmare to get it out of the mold with the foam inside of the silicone . But after a few hours or pulling kicking and screaming i was able to get it out intact.

 

[Metal Man]

Good luck , I'll be watching this one.

 

[Predasaurus]

That's really cool! Best of luck to you.


Eli

 

[ptgreek]

Very cool. I see they stocked you with Foam-it 4 black. We had them develop that for our headforms . ( until then they werent making a pre-tint in foam. ) Curious ..what were you using as a release agent on your ultracal mold?

Im sorry i havent been around much lately, but ill be watching this thread ..give a shout if you need any silicone pointers ..we do it all day long

 

[xdmray]

i never have done silicone, but isn't it a problem to run silicone in a mold after you have run latex through it?  

 

[ThePriest]

thanks guys. The only problem i ran into was it was sticking into the mold but with some gentle pulling i was able to get it out . If i had to do it over again i would use a fresh mold.

 

[ThePriest]

Here is the mask out of the mold and filled with foam. so far no problems. Now on to the paint. They sent me Psycho Paint and a set of colors to use Now i have never used this stuff before and it's a bit tricky but once you get the hang of it it's ok to use and the colors are so life like.
I did the usual color scheme on it for me. They wanted something a little different than whats out there so i made it a desert style hunter. Keep in mind these colors have to be sprayed on with in 48 hrs of pulling the mold so the paint will bond to the silicone. Here is about 5-7 layers of paint. Since i never painted with the stuff before i made a test piece of the face so i could try the paint on it because once you put it on there is no going back once it is drying. I used their Resin for the teeth and to get the mandables attached they sent me this stuff called sil-poxy. It will bond almost anything to silicone but it's 9.00 for 10 grams. It doesn't exactly go very far but i got a tip that if you use clear ATV gasket silicone from a autozone or Napa store its 4.50 for for a whole tube. and it's basically the same stuff. i am now on to the torso Now it's a fiberglass mold and has been used for latex but i soaped it out and sprayed there release agent into the mold letit dry BTW i put down about 4 layers of release agent in it. And built a PVC skeleton for the inside so i had something for the head to attach to and so i can put legs on it when i flipped it over.

 

[AlphaTech686]

Hey Dude, I saw this yesterday and was going to raz you a little today about the lack of pictures. I see this morning you FINALLY got some decent pictures up. This looks fantastic man. I will be getting in touch with you soon about the painting. 

 

[ThePriest]

Sorry man i am having a hellava time trying to load the pics i took of the project. But i am gonna get it if it kills me AAAARRRGGG !!!!

 

[Eaglewood]

Funny--my Smooth-on guy wants me to do a full Pred wearable in silicone--

 

[ptgreek]

the silpoxy alternative is GE Silicone 1 clear... sold at most home depots, You can paint with it too ... however if you want the maximum adhesion use Shinetsu

 

[NINJABIKER]

I use psycho  paint on all my silicone masks i use lighter fluid to thin it down works a treat through the air brush i use the little baby syringes what you get in the medicine boxes they are great for measuring out small amounts of A and B also a little tip on cleaning the airbrush after use with the silicone paint leave a little bit of the silicone in your brush over night in till the lighter fluid or what ever your using to evaporate silicone should be set.  Using some tweezers you can pull the hole lot out of the brush and have a clean brush with out stripping it all down to clean. 

 

[Shadowwalker]

Sick paint job

 

[ThePriest]

Here is a couple of more pics i was finally able to upload of the process of the torso and head piece.

 

[ThePriest]

Ok jeff here is some pics of the paint on the body there is actually a base coat on it that is an off wite with a bit of yellow and green in it. I only sprayed 2 layeres to do it and then i went with a deeper yeoolw and green to start the highlights and i painted the sholder belll a solid grey to make sure it wouldnt delaminate if i didnt get back to it. sorry for pics juming around still getting used to the site

 

[AlphaTech686]

Really ONE PICTURE?

 

[ThePriest]

here is a few more. the top picture was to see the transition from the layers of colors each color took about 3-5 layers of tint the more you spray the more you deeper the color goes but you have to remember once you have laid a color dowm don't over spray. it will just start to run and there is not really a good clean up option. this is not a slap on paint job it takes patience. but once it's tacky you can go back over it in the same spot just don't overload it. these tips are for you jeff.
Now the next part of the project was the armor i used Simpact 85 it is a rubber compound that you can tint in the casting process that will be posted next.

 

[Kithunter]

looks sick, man we have come a long way.

 

[Lowdmekon]

Looks the fricken nutz buddy. How much more expensive is silicone Vs latex?

 

[ThePriest]

a gallon kit is 180.00 so about 25.00 more than latex but it doesn't break down and never needs touched up on the paint and it looks so much like real skin and feels so life like