Casting and moldmaking all even spincasting ect.

[CSXect]

Anyone into molding and casting???

I have made a mold of a freight car(gondola) and made a few castings just for grins and to build modelmaking skills. Mold wore out after half a dozen castings. My intent is to be able to make a model from scratch and then make a mold of it and possibly make some reisn "garage kits"(garage kit is a small outfit usally a moldebuilder who makes small runs of models)

Would be interested in anyones experience with moldmaking and casting or any related topics.

And no Chief and Buckeye spincasting has nothing to do with fishing It is a technique where the mold is spun at a very fast rate as resin or metal is poured into the mold.

[csxt30]

FG & J on the forum here has done a lot of castings. I think for your type of spincastings, you will need a Centrifuge !! My good friend Kurt on the forum here can enlighten you more on that I think !! Also I know a guy that had a lot of coal car resin kits, but I don't know if they are still being made .

Thanks, John   

 

[ChiefEagles]

And no Chief and Buckeye spincasting has nothing to do with fishing It is a technique where the mold is spun at a very fast rate as resin or metal is poured into the mold.

Dang, fooled me.  

[csxt30]

And no Chief and Buckeye spincasting has nothing to do with fishing It is a technique where the mold is spun at a very fast rate as resin or metal is poured into the mold.

Dang, fooled me.  

Those guys south of that Mason Dixon line can easily be fooled !!

Thanks, John

[daan]

Well, not much experience here, but I have made a few truck sideframes with diecast metal, in my case a lead alloy. I used an old plastic truck sideframe and clay, pressed the plastic truck in the clay and poured the molden lead in the clayform. But that is not a type of casting wich can be used on a train, I used it for a scrapyard, but lead is not stable enough to take any load, it sags and deforms..

For rocks on my layout I use a rubber mold, but that is plaster. I guess resin will produce heat while setting, so a rubber mold is not the way to go either. I know that jewelery is cast in plaster forms with a centrifuge, but you need to make the thing you want to mold in wax first, then attatch it to a "tree" which needs to be covered in plaster. The process is probably known, but it is a lot of work..

[Buckeye Riveter]

And no Chief and Buckeye spincasting has nothing to do with fishing It is a technique where the mold is spun at a very fast rate as resin or metal is poured into the mold.

Dang, fooled me.  

Hooked me, too.

[FJ and G]

I cast in metal, resin and epoxy and in various other combinations.

Here are some wheels I did. Also, the V-tipper skip car shown below was entirely case using the squish method.

I'm surprised your mold wore out after just 6 castings. What product did you use? Was it at least 1/2 inch thick? Describe how it wore out. Cracks?One method to make it last longer is to bake the mold. See the links in Smoothon.com.

I pour hot metal in my molds for castings and that seems to make the molds last longer. Some I've cast 50 times with no sign of wear out. 

 

I've been using the cheap 1:1 product that you don't need to weigh or vacuum the air; but I understand that the pricier stuff lasts even longer. 

 

I’m doing a writing project right now so I’m on a hiatus from all of this.

be happy to answer more questions as I've casted rails, bridges, trains, rocks, walls, you name it

 

 

 

[CSXect]

I cast in metal, resin and epoxy and in various other combinations.

Here are some wheels I did. Also, the V-tipper skip car shown below was entirely case using the squish method.

I'm surprised your mold wore out after just 6 castings. What product did you use? Was it at least 1/2 inch thick? Describe how it wore out. Cracks?One method to make it last longer is to bake the mold. See the links in Smoothon.com.

I pour hot metal in my molds for castings and that seems to make the molds last longer. Some I've cast 50 times with no sign of wear out. 

 

I've been using the cheap 1:1 product that you don't need to weigh or vacuum the air; but I understand that the pricier stuff lasts even longer. 

 

I’m doing a writing project right now so I’m on a hiatus from all of this.

I have been using two different product lines micromark two part reisn and mold material my first mold was a simple two part mold but it had some undercuts and lost a little of the detail with each casting and then when I used the alluminite brand it set up hard and fast and destoryed the mold by the way alluminite sets even faster when used in 90+ weather as it is being poured. If I can find pics of mold and castings will post them.

I am still in the learning phase, do you know anyplace that has plans for building a spin caster?

[CSXect]

Here is a casting of a gondola

http://modeltrainjournal.com/photopost/data/500/thumbs/bfttest2.JPG

[kpolak]

[CSXect]

http://modeltrainjournal.com/photopost/data/500/thumbs/mold_part1.JPG