How to Mould soft scene used Defiance prop for replication.

Sandman1974

New Member
I'm looking for information on how to make a mold for a soft rubber prop. Think nerf foot ball material and then cast it in resin. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Re: Making a Mold of a Soft prop

Nerf football is pretty solid. Making a mold of one is no different than any other item. I know this because I have molded a Nerf football. The football was easy to mold and cast because it had no undercuts, was smooth, and required only two mold halves.

If you want advice on how to mold an actual object that is NOT a football, please include a photo for reference. How many pulls do you want from the mold? what is your budget?


Youtube is always the first stop for these questions. best of luck
 
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Re: Making a Mold of a Soft prop

I'm trying to copy a prop gun I bought. The material was said to be rubber so I thought like a hockey puck and it turned out to be more like a nerd foot ball. My concern is the weight of the molding material changing the shape of the gun and not making a good copy. Cost isn't really an issue and I'd make ideally about 100.
 
Re: Making a Mold of a Soft prop

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I'm trying to copy a prop gun I bought. The material was said to be rubber so I thought like a hockey puck and it turned out to be more like a nerd foot ball. My concern is the weight of the molding material changing the shape of the gun and not making a good copy. Cost isn't really an issue and I'd make ideally about 100.
 
If you press on a section of the gun, how much pressure do you have to apply for it to yield?
If it does not yield too easily, I think you should be okay to cast it without worry of distortion.

And if you are going to make around 100 castings, you will need to recast it a couple of times.
Even with the proper amount of mold release and proper care of the mold, a mold will only last for so long. Maybe 20-25 pulls.

Glad to see you are looking into this. I remember you saying something about possibly molding the prop in the Defiance thread.

Terry
 
It should be fine. You would need to make a ridiculously tall mold in order to create pressure enough to distort it. Even if you do a clay-up mold, it should be fine because the silicone on top should only be about a 1/2" thick. Sprue that baby up! and pour it up!
 
Re: Making a Mold of a Soft prop

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I'm trying to copy a prop gun I bought. The material was said to be rubber so I thought like a hockey puck and it turned out to be more like a nerd foot ball. My concern is the weight of the molding material changing the shape of the gun and not making a good copy. Cost isn't really an issue and I'd make ideally about 100.


That is a beautiful piece, and someone's hard work. You want to make a mold of someone else's work, and copy it 100 times? have you mentioned this to the person that made the gun? they might not be favorable to that.
 
Re: Making a Mold of a Soft prop

That is a beautiful piece, and someone's hard work. You want to make a mold of someone else's work, and copy it 100 times? have you mentioned this to the person that made the gun? they might not be favorable to that.

Thanks for pointing this out (would have done this myself, if you didn´t)...the previous posters might have simply "overread" this part ;)

@Sandman: Do you have permission to re-cast this gun? Who did you buy this from?
 
If memory serves. I think this was a screen used prop bought at action. so whats the problem with casting that? could have swore that was within our rule set...
 
If memory serves. I think this was a screen used prop bought at action. so whats the problem with casting that? could have swore that was within our rule set...

If that is the case, it should be no problem indeed.
The original post did not give any insight about the props origins, so -probably incorrect!?- assumptions were made.
That´s why I asked where the gun was purchased from...

But now you got me curious...what movie is it from? interesting design, a mixture of HALO/ GoW elements. :)
 
Re-casting aside, the issue I see with casting a piece like this in really soft rubber is the potential to lose details - IE they tear or get broken off during the de-mold.
 
First let me thank everyone who's trying to help me with my project. I'm sorry if I was unclear on this from the beginning. I bought this screen used prop when Defiance was cancelled as part of their liquidation sale. I'm try to duplicate the gun for others who loved the show like I did but without destroying the original. I want to create a quality replica but don't have the knowledge you folks do on this and that's why I created this thread.
 
Hope the good people of the RPF will jump in and have some great idea's here. I have taken a vacation from prop collecting but will surly go back to work for this one. are there no Defiance fans that have the knowledge to cast something delicate of this nature?
 
You probably also shouldn't use a pressure pot if it's foam (just in case you were planning to).


Whisky Tango Foxtrot ?




Honestly, I don't see any problem molding a foam gun, unless it has a porous surface that would trap and lock the molding material. If it has been painted, then it is sealed and ready to go. For safety's sake use a good mold release and silicone, and there should be no problem.

YouTube is the best source for molding videos
 
I thank all of you for helping me with my project.* Over the past month or so I have been researching casting.* Most of the research I've done has been watching videos on YouTube and Tested.* The things being cast in all videos I've watched have been hard.* As I've said the prop gun I bought is more like a nerf football.* Because of this fact it leaves me with three main worries.* First worry is you have to in case half of what your casting in clay in order to cast the first half of the mold.* I'm worried that the clay will either not come fully off or the paint will come off with the clay.* Second worry is that the skin on a nerf football is porous.* If you place it in contact with water it acts like a sponge.* This appears to weaken the skin and allows it to come off.* Lastly in order to create the second 1/2 of the mold you need you need to use mold release agent because when using silicone it sticks to nothing but itself.* I don't know if it will create issues with the paint or with the structure of the foam/ rubber.

So I've been thinking about solutions to these worries.* I would appreciate it if you folks who know about mold making and casing would review my solutions and let me know what you think.* Will it work, won't it work and can you give suggestions on how to make it work better.* Ok here we go.....

First in casing 1/2 of the prop gun in clay.* I was thinking about creating a "surround".* I will use thin plywood 1/8" or so and trace the out line of the gun on it and cut it out.* Then use the surround to create the barrier between the to halves of the gun to create the first half of the mold.* I will then use a 3" frame around the surround to create the walls for the mold.* I will also create an insert for the trigger and trigger guard.* Thus bisecting the gun there as well.* Then I intend to use minimal clay between the plywood and the gun to create a seal.* At this point I should be about to pour the first half the mold.* I figure by using minimal clay I'm going to limit the possible damage from the clay or the water cleaning up the prop gun.

Now for the second half.* I figure I'll pull the surround and inserts out of the frame and cast the second side.* Now like I said I understand that silicone only sticks to itself so I need to use mold release as a barrier between the two side.* I don't know if this will create problems with the prop gun so I want to find a nerf football and test it on there.* If no problems there, then I'll try it on a small piece of the gun.* Still no problem then I'm good to go.
 
Whisky Tango Foxtrot ?

Honestly, I don't see any problem molding a foam gun, unless it has a porous surface that would trap and lock the molding material. If it has been painted, then it is sealed and ready to go. For safety's sake use a good mold release and silicone, and there should be no problem.

YouTube is the best source for molding videos

What brand would you suggest? Price doesn't matter I'm looking for quality and something that won't destroy the original prop. Do you use the release on the prop gun or just the first side of the mold? Thanks for your help.

- - - Updated - - -

Hope the good people of the RPF will jump in and have some great idea's here. I have taken a vacation from prop collecting but will surly go back to work for this one. are there no Defiance fans that have the knowledge to cast something delicate of this nature?

Thank you.
 
Re-casting aside, the issue I see with casting a piece like this in really soft rubber is the potential to lose details - IE they tear or get broken off during the de-mold.

Good point. The only part I would be concerned about is the trigger. Any suggestions on how not to mess the trigger up? Thank for the help.
 
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