BigDaddyMy question for Mr Beasly. What I've seen in videos is the back of the Bragdon foam castings is lumpy. Do you try to shave that flat or just mount it to the layout as is?
Yes, the back of the Bragdon foam castings are lumpy. The molds themselves and the castings are both thin, so the back tends to follow the contours of the front. Ideally, the whole casting should be that way. You do have to work quickly once you've mixed the two-part foam, and if it starts to set up before you're done filling the mold, you will get lumps as the foam sets before you can spread it. The foam expands as it sets, resulting in the lumpy back.
In contrast, a Hydrocal casting is poured relatively thin, and the plaster all settles to a common level while it's still liquid, resulting in a flat-backed casting.
At times, I've had to cut larger lumps off the back of the casting to get it to sit flat. I've found a Dremel cutting disk is the best way to trim the castings.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasleyI've also used Bragdon Foam for castings. It is more labor-intensive than hydrocal, but I love the results. It's light and it will not shatter like plaster. The Bragdon molds are very high quality with a lot of detail, and the foam produces a casting that preserves the detail better than Hydrocal does.
The Youtube Terrascene guy thinks the Bragdon molds were made from a master mold that was pieced together from other molds because the texture is so varied and aggressive. He also found a fair number of flaws, air holes and parts of the mold were insufficiently formed in the production of the original mold, because the original rock had such deep holes or projections.
He actually pieced together his own molds, made a casting and then a master mold from the casting. He concluded it was very time consuming to create perfection and not worth his time and effort.
My question for Mr Beasly. What I've seen in videos is the back of the Bragdon foam castings is lumpy. Do you try to shave that flat or just mount it to the layout as is?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
UNCLEBUTCH Why not use foam and carve it ? sounds easyer, must be cheaper.every peice different,clean up with a vac.
Why not use foam and carve it ?
sounds easyer, must be cheaper.every peice different,clean up with a vac.
Because I watched the MRVP Canadian Canyons foam carving episode. Compared to my old hydrocal castings, it looked like someone slashed a piece of foam with a steak knife then smeared sculptamold on it, which is exactly what they did. Look at the quality of Mr B's casting.
Maybe it would pass the "good enough test" at a distance but not up close, at least for me. I don't suppose management would appreciate me capturing a screen shot of it.
Another technique I learned was to curve the flat casting around a form to get a curved rock wall.
I've made my own molds and bought a lot of them, too. I used Woodland Scenic latex also. I used a sheet of black garden mesh as a stiffener. I found that to work well.
My weirdest mold was for these hexagonal paving bricks:
I found a beekeeping supply place and ordered a sheet of plastic honeycomb. I pressed that into modeling clay, and from that I made a mold out of latex for the hydrocal casting. I was obsessed with the hexagonal cobblestones.
This is a casting I made from a tunnel portal. The portals themselves were much too thick for this scene, so I made a thin mold and poured these.
I've also used Bragdon Foam for castings. It is more labor-intensive than hydrocal, but I love the results. It's light and it will not shatter like plaster. The Bragdon molds are very high quality with a lot of detail, and the foam produces a casting that preserves the detail better than Hydrocal does.
I used Woodland Scenics latex about 40 years ago. Then 10 years ago I was getting back into modeling and bought another bottle of the same stuff. Found the old bottle when I was digging around, used it and it worked just fine. Did add a layer or two of the new, just in case.
I do use a piece of cheesecloth between the 2nd and 3rd layer for strength. Usually did 4-5 layers and the old molds were still useable.
Good luck,
Richard
I made my own molds 30 years ago and I don't remember what I used. Now there are single compounds and there are two part mixtures. What are people using these days and specifically what brand are they using?
I'm thinking abou using Bragdon's geodesic foam for the rocks, because I am contemplating a move and I have doubts about hydrocal surviving movers and the trip.
We will save "store bought" rocks for another thread