The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Wow! That's a useful skill to have!

Looking good!

David

This is looking great, Alan and I'm mightily impressed with your moulding of those additional Higgins boats. I never seem to find the time or bottle to do stuff like that!

David & Shaun

Making moulds with two part silicon is really easy, I use Gedeo Siligum Silicone Moulding Paste, it comes in 100 or 300 gram packs and is available from Hobbycraft stores https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/gedeo-sili ... 70131-1000

I bought the bigger size pack as it’s cheaper in the long run and it last well, as you only scoop out what you need and seal up the remaining for use later. You get about 15 minutes working time and it has the consistency of silly putty, for a two part mould you let the first half set then smear a thin layer of Vaseline on the contact area so the second mould doesn’t stick.

The final mould is flexible so it’s easy to get casting out as the resin or car filler doesn’t stick.

Terrific scratch building and the cast boats look great.

The moulding medium you are using Alan, can it be reused or is it one use stuff.
I got some stuff to try but have not got that far yet to try it, but it is reusable and works in the microwave

chrism wrote:The moulding medium you are using Alan, can it be reused or is it one use stuff.
I got some stuff to try but have not got that far yet to try it, but it is reusable and works in the microwave

Unfortunately it’s a one shot process but the moulds can be used for 50 times.

I have used a microwave reusable medium that I found for one copy was fine but tended to deteriorate quickly.

Thanks for the info, Alan. I really must stop being spineless and try some home moulding!

ShaunW wrote:Thanks for the info, Alan. I really must stop being spineless and try some home moulding!

Shaun you might like this Blue Stuff that Daz found for me

Dazzled wrote:I came accross this and wondered if it would be a good way to reproduce the Higgins boats as you already have two to use as masters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVZLXLaidjQ

I ordered some off eBay and now have had a chance to play with it.

I must say I’m quite impressed, you just drop it in boiling water, wait three minutes and it comes out as soft as chewing gum and is easy to press around the object you want to copy, when it cools you can repeat to make the other half.

In the example below I have used car filler spread on both sides and the squeezed together, the surplus gets squeezed out and forms thin flash this is easily broken off when you open the two halves.

Most effective

Working on the Call of Duty Lego type brick with play figure, I thought I might try to improve his suit to blend in with the base so I added some of the scatter grass I used on the base on his suit.

Car filler? You mean something like Bondo? Is the result brittle?

For very fine parts I think it would be brittle but for these one inch long Higgins boat It’s fine.

You could use Milliput or two part resin if you wanted more strength.

Nicely done!
Thanks for all the moulding info. I have made a few attempts with rubber and resin in the past; not enough to get skilled at it.
As we get older, it seems that easier solutions abound!

Cheers,

David