Titanic Rivet Salvaged - Custom Sculpt

[Prop-Builder]

Here's a simple little project that any beginner sculpture/molder/caster can do to learn the basics - a Titanic rivet replica. It is to be sculpted in clay and cast in resin and iron filler compound. MIght be interesting to those Titanic movie and shipwreck fanatics out there! :cool

I will start by sculpting the piece in an oil-based clay, using reference from a documentary on the tv that I recorded. Pics coming this week.

 

[rollerboi]

Are you talking about sculpting replicas of these, on their own? Or incorporating it into something else, like a hull section?

Either way, as a diver, I look forward to seeing this thread develop.

(Taken from this article.)

 

[Amish Trooper]

I have a nice collection of ship Models this would be kinda cool to go with them

 

[Prop-Builder]

Thanks for those reference pics! I will post pics of my progress hopefully tomorrow. I have started a rivet to display on its own, and made it as a cross-section piece, so one side will be polished flat.

This particular one is to mimic the recovered rivets that had been sliced in half during lab experiments for the testing of SLAG quantities. It's understood the amount of this material in the ship's rivets may have been wrong and resulting in them being too weak, which may have contributed to the disaster.

 

[Invicta]

Watching with interest, my wife is fascinated with all things associated with the Titanic.

 

[Prop-Builder]

Ok, so here we have my progress on the Titanic rivet:

I have started a sculpture in clay (wet clay) of a rivet from the main hull. It might not be quite accurate as it doesn't have the knobbly bit in the middle, but I may do another shorty anyway after I've mastered finishing these first attempts. The mold is made from a silicone rubber which will allow me to make many casts in resin.

I am now preparing to mix and pour the resin. I'm using a standard polyester resin (usually used for laminating) and will add a powdered resin filler which, in this case is iron. I just tip some into the resin and mix until I have a nice thick consistancy.

It will take about an hour to set hard enough to remove from the mold. Polyester really stinks so I leave the room I'm working in (garage) until it's cured and the fumes have subsided a little. This is to avoid death or possible heart desease. :lol Now that's cured (I'm back in the room by the way), I can pop it out of the mold and pick off any excess material.

Into the water it goes for the rusting effect to take place. It will take maybe a week or two to be fully covered. It'll look very red/orange when it's done and I'm guessing this is just how they would look when the salvage teams lift parts of the Titanic's hull from the water? The rust covering is on the surface only and not really permanent, so I have to seal it to avoid wiping it off accidently. It would be a good idea to embed it into a block of clear-casting resin to use as a paperweight or just as a display piece.