WANTED : mold making advice !

[vetteboy1982]

Hey guys...I have a 1/144th scale aircraft carrier that I am in the process of building the aircraft for. A few of the old kits that I collected of F-14's and FA-18's included people, towing tractors, and fire engines. Since these kits are now longer available, I was hoping to cast these parts .The only problem is....I don't have any expierience AT ALL with molding things. I talked to the local hobbyshop and purchased a kit by allumilte for molding and casting in resin. I went to YouTube and watched some video's and it seems that there are a multitude of different "TYPES" depending on what you're molding. Here's a few photo's of what I want to replicate. The parts are still on the sprue's and there are a couple of finished models. would I be better off molding the finished models for the tractor and fire engine? what about the people? Better to leave them on the sprue? Any and all advice will be appreciated !!!

 

[PepMaster]

Those would be injection molded pieces so not sure if you can make a mold and cast pieces.

 

[jedimaster]

It's always best to cast off the sprues if you can. They way half the process is done for you. The thing with silicon is that it will get everywhere. Every little gap in between pieces will get silicon and when you are de molding this can cause tears. So if you are molding the built tractors for example , your life will be a whole lot easier if you can for example remove the wheels. You need to clay up the pieces for a start. If the piece has a flat surface on the bottom then you can get away with a one piece mold but if you are molding figures or full pieces you're gonna need to go two piece.

 

[vetteboy1982]

Thanks ! The guy at hobbytown said it was childsplay...that may be the case after you've already done it, but for someone that has never done it, it is very intimidateing. Not to mention, I don't want to waste the $70.00 I spent buying the kit without getting some useable finished product !.

 

[jedimaster]

If ya only need to cast two or three pieces you could do a single piece mold and then slice the mold with an exacto to pull the piece out. Them just put a rubber band around the mold for your next pulls. I cast all these blue pieces last night in less that an hour from start to finish. All single piece molds. The pilots were cast with permission before anyone jumps down my throat.

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[vetteboy1982]

That sounds great ! However, The pieces I want to cast are quite small. 1/144 means that the people are 1/2" tall and the tractors ar 1"" in length. i would like to get 10-15 tarctors. If buy luck I find a kit on ebay, I only need the people and tractor, the FA-18 goes unused. So it's really a waste.Hence the reason I wanted to cast my own, besides, I want to learn how to do that anyway ! Thanks for your help ! Nice looking snow speeder pilots !

 

[robn1]

They're available in that scale, a little pricey though.
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If you want to cast 'em yourself, as jedimaster said you can mold them after assembly. Mold the whole thing at once and cut the mold to get it out. You can get translucent silicone to make that easier.

Otherwise you'll need to make a two piece mold of the parts still on the sprues, and that's very intricate work.

 

[vetteboy1982]

Thanks Rob....I saw Century Wings products first hand at the hooby show here in Chicago 3-4 years ago....the planes are very nice but $50.00 each, I bought one. The people and tractors are not so nice and as you said, pricey.

 

[Beaker]

Here is a step-by-step... Casting Custom Scenery For a Model Railroad

 

[vetteboy1982]

Wow Beaker...thats really cool. That makes it seem easy. Thanks evryone for your advice...I guess now I'll have to just bite the bullet and try it !