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The making of a 1/72 Tacticar Pod Graug--the musical!


captain america

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Oh, one other thing: would you guys prefer Quamzin to have the helmeted or unhelmeted head? IdeallyI would've done both, but frankly, I'm pushing 20 molds and about 100 parts as it is. :unsure:

I may be in the minority but I prefer the un-helmeted head, makes him seem more wreckless to me!

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I would prefer it helmeted, this way I'll do the standing Kamjin unhelmeted.

In fact, being Kamjin the Glaug's pilot, he MUST wear a helmet when he's riding the Glaug.

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Today's update: Prelude To A Finale!!

As usual, I've been up to my armpits with molding and casting, and today, I will touch on some of the more noteable points of the mold-making process.

Disclaimer: the techniques I use are those that I've developed to work with my own style & habits for my own particular needs; these techniques may or may not be optimal for everyone. Anyhoo, on to the good stuff...

Pic 1: the first thing that needs to be done is the attachment of vents and gates to all parts. This is a very time-consuming step, as it requires lots of careful studying of the part, and gate placement is critical, lest ye be happy with half-cast or improperly cast parts. I like to use hot glue to attach the gates, since they can be easily removed while doing little damage to the master.

Pic 2: depending on the shape and geometry of a given part, it's sometimes necessary to fill-in or cover certain openings to ensure a succesful molding and casting. I like to use a bit of diluted white glue to seal-up little cracks and gaps, the kind you get when you glue two parts together. Otherwise, the mold rubber will leak into the gap and rip your master apart upon demold. Not fun.

Pic 3: Once all the sprues & vents are attached, the master is placed upside down on a hard, flat surface and glued with hot glue. Depending on the complexity of the shape, you may want to make some markings to guide you when you slice the mold open later.

Pic 4: Once the part is securely fastened to a base, I construct a mold box to go around it: my material of choice is plexiglass, which I glue with CA at the corners. Once the box is done and secured to the base with hot glue, it's just a matter of pouring the rubber.

Pic 5: these are my two pressure chambers, that are used not only for casting, but the small unit also does double-duty as a vacuum chamber.

Pic 6: once molds have been opened, masters removed and allowed to dry out, actual casting can begin... This is what I've done in about a week, and this is just the beginning!

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RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I want I want I want....any idea when payment is due :)

Possibly by the end of next week; I will have about a dozen kits done by then. Be warned though, the shipping charge might be on the staggering side: so far, one kit (partially molded) weighs in at about 1.1kg--just resin, no box or packing material; with full parts, we might be looking at over 1.5kg of solid resin, plus packaging.

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I cant wait to see the pics of the first build up of this all painted and finished. I wonder who it will be? I also think it would be cool to start a thread where people could post pictures of their built Moscato models. Any takers?

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Possibly by the end of next week; I will have about a dozen kits done by then. Be warned though, the shipping charge might be on the staggering side: so far, one kit (partially molded) weighs in at about 1.1kg--just resin, no box or packing material; with full parts, we might be looking at over 1.5kg of solid resin, plus packaging.

:wacko: That's one huge chunck of resin. It'll be a blast to build ! Looking forward to it

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I cant wait to see the pics of the first build up of this all painted and finished. I wonder who it will be? I also think it would be cool to start a thread where people could post pictures of their built Moscato models. Any takers?

Yes please, I posted in the Commanchero thread that I was looking for more finished builds.

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I have a preference for silicone molds and polyurethane resin casting material; the resins I happen to be using for this project are all Smooth-On products, as pictured below.

Can you reccomend a clear urethane/acrylic that I can use with a silcone mould? I'm told that the clear urethanes I've found from Smooth-On are quite toxic to use (not really for hobbyists, I guess) and that clear plastics don't work well with silcone.

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The clear urethanes aren't any more toxic than the opaque ones. And you should use a platinum based silicone instead of tin. But I've been told by a caster that after a few castings in a tin cured mold the clear parts should turn out ok.

But for sure acrylic is VERY nasty. And super expensive from what I've seen.

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The clear urethanes aren't any more toxic than the opaque ones. And you should use a platinum based silicone instead of tin. But I've been told by a caster that after a few castings in a tin cured mold the clear parts should turn out ok.

But for sure acrylic is VERY nasty. And super expensive from what I've seen.

+1 what Cobywan said.

The closest thing I use to a clear resin is Smooth Cast 327, which is actually a hazy amber color, and still very tempermental to use, but it does seem to work well with my tin-based Bluestar silicone.I've tried virtually ever clear resin by every company that my distributors carried, and I hate them all; always very tempermental mix ratios, soft castings, even after post-curing, highly viscous, unmanageable gunk and unGodly long demold times.

Edited by captain america
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