Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien)

sskunky said:
Yes, you are correct. You shouldn't even wear latex gloves when moulding in silicone.
Click to expand...

That's only if you're using platinum silicone. Latex WILL inhibit platinum silicone...but will not affect Tin silicone.

Keep any latex well away from platinum silicone. I've had platinum silicone molds fail because of latex gloves....besides, with all the primer, caulk and paint used on this sculpture....different glues and foams...I wouldn't be surprised if something else was going to inhibit platinum silicone.

Just stick with tin....MoldMax from Smooth-On is a good easy to use tin silicone.

David
 
Is that right? I was told when I worked in the prop industry that you shouldn't get latex even near condensation cure silicone. Which is the standard moulding silicone over here.
I could be wrong and they could just have been cautious.
 
OK, Thanks for the feedback on this :) you've saved me potentially making an expencive mistake (y)thumbsup:thumbsup
I think I'll play it safe & remake the tube in another material, not sure what material... but :lol:confused
Thanks again guy's :)

Edit:
Being an ex-car painter, I started out with cellulose based paint & moved on to 2k paints.
Working mostly on classic cars I'd quite often come across oil based (or Jam as it was known) aswell.
Using a celly paint over a Jam for example could end up with a nasty reaction causing blistering, crazing, cracking etc.
In order to stop this happening we would use an Isolator coat over any old paint during prep prior to primer.

As David has pointed out, I've used numerous different materials during the building of Bob, rubber tubing, plastic tubing, fillers, paints & different clays.
With this in mind I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea to use an isolator as a primer on Bob prior to an all over colour coat, before I think about mould building.

Whats peoples thoughts on using an isolator to reduce or even eliminate the possibility of reactions between materials here ??
 
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Heres a pic of the offending Latex part fitted:
525.jpg


:)
 
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You know folks are running out of superlatives, don't you? Lol!


I'll just say this is the best Alien sculpt i've ever seen........so good it makes me giggle like an idiot whenever there's an update!

Rich
 
A friend of mine has run into issues w/ silicone not curing over clear rubber tubing. I think and isolator coat or even a good couple of coats of primer would help.
 
I've heard of people spraying Krylon Crystal clear over their sulfur clay sculpts before molding with success. I'm sure you'll get some more experienced voices soon on this matter.

Nick
 
I wouldn't use an isolator, or a primer as the last coat before molding.

Usually those things are fine, but with all the gaps and undercuts you have in this sculpt, you're going to either miss areas with your coatings or you're going to get pooling. With pooling of chemical sprays like isolators, they wont dry up right away and WILL cause inhibition even on Tin Silicone's.

My advice is keep it simple. Don't bother with Platinum silicone...the clay around your latex tubing is already contaminated now even if you remove it...LOL, and btw it looks the bomb dude!

Just keep plugging away, use whatever materials you want, latex based or whatever...just keep going. Once you're done, as in DONE and prepping the sculpt for molding, hit it a few times with model-making primer to give it all a uniformed color. You can also hit it with an acrylic spray in any color you want if you need to go that route also...but, let it dry and degas out for a few days, then hit it with either gloss or mat Kryolan Clear Coat...couple of mist coats everywhere...then the FOLLOWING day you can start the Tin Silicone Mold.

So there you have it, my 0.02 cents worth, but since I want one of these, I'm considering my advice your Bible to follow moving forward on this....:lol:cool

David
 
DAVIDYR1 said:
I wouldn't use an isolator, or a primer as the last coat before molding.

Usually those things are fine, but with all the gaps and undercuts you have in this sculpt, you're going to either miss areas with your coatings or you're going to get pooling. With pooling of chemical sprays like isolators, they wont dry up right away and WILL cause inhibition even on Tin Silicone's.

My advice is keep it simple. Don't bother with Platinum silicone...the clay around your latex tubing is already contaminated now even if you remove it...LOL, and btw it looks the bomb dude!

Just keep plugging away, use whatever materials you want, latex based or whatever...just keep going. Once you're done, as in DONE and prepping the sculpt for molding, hit it a few times with model-making primer to give it all a uniformed color. You can also hit it with an acrylic spray in any color you want if you need to go that route also...but, let it dry and degas out for a few days, then hit it with either gloss or mat Kryolan Clear Coat...couple of mist coats everywhere...then the FOLLOWING day you can start the Tin Silicone Mold.

So there you have it, my 0.02 cents worth, but since I want one of these, I'm considering my advice your Bible to follow moving forward on this....:lol:cool

David
Click to expand...


Thanks for the kind words guy's :)

David thanks, I was hoping I could get away with it by isolating it with a paint.

This is the stuff I used to use in the trade:
Barcoat Quick Drying Isolator/Sealer - 1L | QPaints

I was thinking I could use a light coat of that through my air brush & then a coat of Humbrol Enamel again through the air brush just to be super safe. Obviously I cant leave it with just a primer coat as the primer's porous hence the use of the enamel.

What do you think of the Barcoat??
 
Leigh said:
Thanks for the kind words guy's :)

David thanks, I was hoping I could get away with it by isolating it with a paint.

This is the stuff I used to use in the trade:
Barcoat Quick Drying Isolator/Sealer - 1L | QPaints

I was thinking I could use a light coat of that through my air brush & then a coat of Humbrol Enamel again through the air brush just to be super safe. Obviously I cant leave it with just a primer coat as the primer's porous hence the use of the enamel.

What do you think of the Barcoat??
Click to expand...


I've never used that stuff so really I can't say for sure...and it might be fine. But, I'm concerned more about the sculpt causing the moldmaking problems more so than 'this' here per say...like I said, any uncured material sprayed on WILL cause the silicone to react in ways it shouldn't. If you're molding this in TIN silicone then you don't need a barrier coat or any heavy chemical to isolate the sculpture. So I guess I see that as a risky step, and one that just not needed anyhow.
Tin will set up against all the materials you're using, you just need to give one silicone friendly, uniformed coating of clear coat as your final 'barrier' coat without going into materials that 'may' cause mold problems.
Kryolan clear coat is tin silicone friendly...tried and proven over and over again. I would not use something that 'might', again...might create further problems moving forward when something off the shelf already works.

Maybe some of our RPF members have used that barrier coating already and they can chime in? Maybe I'm being too paranoid....:lol, but from personal experience years ago...I did have issues with huge and important molds that were inhibited by the silliest of chemicals and ended up having to redo the mold and in some cases even the sculpture.

With all of your beautiful organic shapes and undercuts, the 'unseen' areas to your sculpt are what worry me when you consider this barrier coat, but would love to hear from others here who may have more to offer on that stuff.

David
 
My vote's also "listen to David". :) If he's not giving good advice here then he's faking it pretty brilliantly. :lol
 
Well, I've done my back in :rolleyes
So that means I've spent some time on Bob the last few days :)

I wont be doing any more shape or pose alterations, I'm more than happy with the way he looks now :)
So I'm just focusing on the detail & some basic smoothing at the moment:
527.jpg




I've been smoothing & adding some detail on the ribs here:
528.jpg

529.jpg


I still have a fair bit to do on the ribs & chest area.

I have started to redo the wrinkles on the back of his neck:
530.jpg


Still working on these in between the other bits.

One thing I do want to do is add some extra height or thickness to the base by adding an extra peice to the bottom. It'll be an extra row of detail aswell so will hopefully look good :)
 
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OK, tonights little effort :)

I've got the rear neck wrinkles sorted but I cant get a pic up right now as the light's bad.
I've also detailed one side of the neck & I'm very happy with it :)
531.jpg

533.jpg


The low light pic's show the shapes in the detail quite well I think :)
 
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Ditto! What'd you do?

Latest updates look great. I expect your instinct is on the money for the stand/base, too, looking forward to seeing that.
 
Clutch said:
Looks killer! Sorry to hear about your back though.
Click to expand...

Nwerke said:
Ditto! What'd you do?

Latest updates look great. I expect your instinct is on the money for the stand/base, too, looking forward to seeing that.
Click to expand...

I've been suffering on & off for a few weeks now because I lifted a large concrete slab badly.
On Saturday I could hardly move, went to the hospital & I have Sciatica, serious pain all down my left leg, tightness in my calf & numbness in my foot :( I have lots of pain killers :D

Thanks for the kind words fella's :)

Yeh, I think the base needs beefing up a bit, it will make him taller but only by an inch maybe. I've reshaped the three spines on his back, they looked like noses :lol they now look right.
I'm working on a little fold either side of the base of the fin where it attaches to the back in an effort to show that its bent down to clear the head :)

EDIT: Heres a couple of pics also showing the rear neck wrinkles. I'm doing my usual, working on one side to get that right before I start the other :)
535.jpg

534.jpg


:)
 
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I'm unsure about the fold TBH. I can't tell whether it looks 'rubbery' or like flesh, but I'm not sure either is quite right for this beast. Wait, I know what it might be - you've got the spinal ridge underneath and on top with little clearance for that whole thing to bend at its base.

If this thing moves so that the head clears it - perfectly reasonable - seems to me that it'd more likely do it by bending along its own length. Since it *does* clear the head, that's already covered. Maybe? Just blathering here really - I certainly don't dislike it, I'd be open if I did.
 

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