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Car Casting Question for the Experts
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If you can pull off making a 2 part mold, it is doable. <br /> <br />Figure if you were going to buy 50 cars at $7 apiece, that would be $400. <br /> <br />I spent that much making something out of resin that weighed 8 or 9 lbs, and I didn't spend that much. <br /> <br />I would go with a good quality silicone rubber. The good thing about silicone is that you don't need a mold release when you make the resin duplicates. <br /> <br />I THOUGHT I didn't need a mold release for an original piece, but I had problems with the rubber sticking to my master on a few pieces. <br /> <br />Silicone rubber comes in several "flavors" - from really stiff to very flexible. If you use something more flexible, you don't have to worry about undercuts (as long as you exercise some caution in demolding). <br /> <br />I would think a "squish" mold would work best. Then, you have the bottom half of the mold, you fill it with some resin, and then put the top half on, squishing out the excess resin. <br /> <br />There are several different resins. They have different hardnesses, and setting times. For something that size, I'd go with something that sets up in 3 - 7 minutes. It doesn't take that much time to make a copy, and you'll appreciate not having to wait 60 or 90 minutes to de-mold. <br /> <br />A recommendation - use some talcum powder and a small makeup brush (the kind that comes in a lady's compact) to VERY LIGHTLY dust the interior of the mold. This seems to break the surface tension of the resin, allowing it to flow into fine details. <br /> <br />If you work carefully, you don't have to worry about vacuum degassing anything or pressure casting anything. <br /> <br />It IS difficult to paint the resin afterward. You will need to lightly rough up the surface of the casting, and make sure you prime it well. <br /> <br />If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me - Rob(AT)sandcrawlerworkshop.com <br /> <br />replace the (AT) with @ <br /> <br />Rob <br />
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