Predasaurus
New Member
I can't wait to see the whole cast! And I was wondering, are you gonna be using 20 for the whole suit, or a different silicone/latex for the body? Thanks
Eli
Eli
The Topknot Build. New photos of torso life cast build. 05/07/2015
- Thread starter AlphaTech686
- Start date
AlphaTech686
Active Member
I am going to use the 20 on the rest of the suit. I didn't get a chance to practice my painting yesterday as I had to install a new water heater. It's always something. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon. I just ordered the silicone today. Crap I might actually finish this thing.
AlphaTech686
Active Member
I spent the last couple of days preparing the mold for pour. Here are the photos.
I decided to tilt this thing forward on the face to pour it. I figured that would keep most defects in the pour to the back of the head.
I am drilling the holes for the pour tube and I decided to put a second one either for pouring or for air release. I'm playing this by ear.
Here is the piece with the tubes in place.
Next I started to assemble the mold around the plug.
That white putty you see is where I had to repair air bubbles.
I did plug those little hole with clay where I had the mandible pieces pinned on.
You can see how the real tusks fit right where the silicone ones were.
I ended up having to take it back apart right here as I discovered the top had to go on first.
I decided to take a couple more pictures so you can see how the core looks in the mold.
I stuffed clay all around those tusks to stop any silicone leakage.
I was really happy with how it went back together. At this point I stuffed all the pry points with clay and hot glued all the edges.
There's that line where I had to cut the mold. The hot glue worked great in filling it.
I decided to tilt this thing forward on the face to pour it. I figured that would keep most defects in the pour to the back of the head.
I am drilling the holes for the pour tube and I decided to put a second one either for pouring or for air release. I'm playing this by ear.
Here is the piece with the tubes in place.
Next I started to assemble the mold around the plug.
That white putty you see is where I had to repair air bubbles.
I did plug those little hole with clay where I had the mandible pieces pinned on.
You can see how the real tusks fit right where the silicone ones were.
I ended up having to take it back apart right here as I discovered the top had to go on first.
I decided to take a couple more pictures so you can see how the core looks in the mold.
I stuffed clay all around those tusks to stop any silicone leakage.
I was really happy with how it went back together. At this point I stuffed all the pry points with clay and hot glued all the edges.
There's that line where I had to cut the mold. The hot glue worked great in filling it.
AlphaTech686
Active Member
I poured it a couple of hours ago. You can see the clay plugging the seep holes.
I calculated it would take 160 oz's. It took around 170. You can see there was very little waste.
Later this afternoon I will attempt to demold it. I have no idea what I will find in there. Wish me luck
I calculated it would take 160 oz's. It took around 170. You can see there was very little waste.
Later this afternoon I will attempt to demold it. I have no idea what I will find in there. Wish me luck
predator666
New Member
very exciting to see the process
AlphaTech686
Active Member
Demolding went very well. Only a couple air bubbles on the back of the neck. Now I have to get right at the seams.
I should have listened to ptgreek who advised me to tint the silicone. As I see it now he was right. I guess it just means more paint.
The first time I got to see the mouth open. Time to get back to work.
I should have listened to ptgreek who advised me to tint the silicone. As I see it now he was right. I guess it just means more paint.
The first time I got to see the mouth open. Time to get back to work.
ThePriest
New Member
don't sweat it on the tinting the base coat.
On a big piece like that and it being the first one this will give you time getting used to pianting with silicone and how the colors work. damn nice work on the mold you wave convinced me to make the mold in several pieces on my next one. Did your mouth open like you wanted it to? and and is your harness gonna fit inside the silicone? i know you wanna put it on don't ya... LOL
On a big piece like that and it being the first one this will give you time getting used to pianting with silicone and how the colors work. damn nice work on the mold you wave convinced me to make the mold in several pieces on my next one. Did your mouth open like you wanted it to? and and is your harness gonna fit inside the silicone? i know you wanna put it on don't ya... LOL
annastasiacospl
New Member
This looks amazing!
AlphaTech686
Active Member
Thanks all and I am going to answer a few questions here. Last week the day I poured and pulled this all was good. At 2 am I woke up wondering how heavy this was on the underskull on my head. Well it was ridiculious. I knew about how heavy it would be but I did not know how that would feel on my noggin. I went back to bed to try to get a grip. I woke up at 6 am and started in. I cut the face off and placed it back in the mold and began to lay up silicone/cabosil with a brush to the back of the mask.
This piece I cut off was 7 pounds of the 11 that the mask weighed. There were maybe 3 airbubbles on this.
I figured I could lay up the silicone and build the fiberglass underskull adding maybe a pound and a half back to the mask.
I was racing the clock as I was advised to get paint on this with in 72 hours. I spent 15 hours on it that day. Here is the underskull work.
That last one is looking in the neck. I did as much as I could with the back of the mold off. From this point on it was laying up fiberglass with a brush on a stick. Here is the new underskull for the back of the head.
This all worked well enough but I was very dispointed that I was having to do it in the first place. So, on with the story.
I then placed the mask on the new underskull and placed that on the original underskull. I had to cut of the back of the old underskull to do this. I began patching. That all went well too untill I realized certain areas were not curing properly. At first I thought I had just not cleaned the mask well so I cleaned it again in a naptha bath. I Still had the same problem. The 4 areas around the madible tusks would not take a patch. I decided to just try spaying some paint on it. I did it before bed one night. When I woke up I thought all was well. It was not. The tusk areas the paint just rubbed off. On a side not the face was already 4 days old and took the paint great. I could not figure it out then it hit me.
Here is the picture that solved the puzzle. This was taken as I assembled the mold to pour. Do you see that brown substance on the grey area by the tusk
Here is when I was molding those to make the silicone copies.
That is regular oil based clay. Not clean clay. Not the clay that allows silicone to cure against it. I forgot to scrub those tusk before I placed them in the mold. STUPID. This is all I can think it can be. That clay inhibited the cure enough in those areas to cause problems. At first I thought I would just repour those pieces and cut the old ones off and attach the new ones. After much deliberation I decided I had to call it on this mask. I am placing this one to the side and chaulking it up. That is 180 dollars in silicone. That is a hard bite to swallow. This all started when I thought I was so smart I could build a plug first then sculpt on that. BAD IDEA. I have not given up. I remembered I still had the most important part, a good mold of the sculpt. I am now going to do this the right way and use the mold to build a new plug. This will give me precise control of the silicone thickness. I know this is how it should have been done in the first place. So this week I will be working on that. I was fairly stressed out last week then I sat back and made myself realize this is suppose to be fun. My take on this is I learned a lot the hard way and if at first you don't succeed try try again. I remembered how many failures I had on my spear before I got that to work. That's my story of last week.
This piece I cut off was 7 pounds of the 11 that the mask weighed. There were maybe 3 airbubbles on this.
I figured I could lay up the silicone and build the fiberglass underskull adding maybe a pound and a half back to the mask.
I was racing the clock as I was advised to get paint on this with in 72 hours. I spent 15 hours on it that day. Here is the underskull work.
That last one is looking in the neck. I did as much as I could with the back of the mold off. From this point on it was laying up fiberglass with a brush on a stick. Here is the new underskull for the back of the head.
This all worked well enough but I was very dispointed that I was having to do it in the first place. So, on with the story.
I then placed the mask on the new underskull and placed that on the original underskull. I had to cut of the back of the old underskull to do this. I began patching. That all went well too untill I realized certain areas were not curing properly. At first I thought I had just not cleaned the mask well so I cleaned it again in a naptha bath. I Still had the same problem. The 4 areas around the madible tusks would not take a patch. I decided to just try spaying some paint on it. I did it before bed one night. When I woke up I thought all was well. It was not. The tusk areas the paint just rubbed off. On a side not the face was already 4 days old and took the paint great. I could not figure it out then it hit me.
Here is the picture that solved the puzzle. This was taken as I assembled the mold to pour. Do you see that brown substance on the grey area by the tusk
Here is when I was molding those to make the silicone copies.
That is regular oil based clay. Not clean clay. Not the clay that allows silicone to cure against it. I forgot to scrub those tusk before I placed them in the mold. STUPID. This is all I can think it can be. That clay inhibited the cure enough in those areas to cause problems. At first I thought I would just repour those pieces and cut the old ones off and attach the new ones. After much deliberation I decided I had to call it on this mask. I am placing this one to the side and chaulking it up. That is 180 dollars in silicone. That is a hard bite to swallow. This all started when I thought I was so smart I could build a plug first then sculpt on that. BAD IDEA. I have not given up. I remembered I still had the most important part, a good mold of the sculpt. I am now going to do this the right way and use the mold to build a new plug. This will give me precise control of the silicone thickness. I know this is how it should have been done in the first place. So this week I will be working on that. I was fairly stressed out last week then I sat back and made myself realize this is suppose to be fun. My take on this is I learned a lot the hard way and if at first you don't succeed try try again. I remembered how many failures I had on my spear before I got that to work. That's my story of last week.
ThePriest
New Member
oh boy. that sucks bro.. but i see what happened there . on the next one are you sure you need to cut it all up. with some help somebody can work with you to get the mask on the mandables and that would save you a shitload of trouble patching everything together and it is seamless. if you can i would try it . I was able to streatch my mask on an entire head armature when i did mine by myself.
i hope the next one works just trying to save you some valuable time
i hope the next one works just trying to save you some valuable time
AlphaTech686
Active Member
Hey Tony, there isn't going to be any patching. With the new plug I'm making I will pour it just like I did the first one only this time the silicone will be a uniform thickness on the entire mask. I don't know what I was thinking trying to make the plug before the mask. I will have to make a new underskull off the plug then retrofit it to the mechanism. No problem!
Similar threads
