Started my own casting today, amazing stuff, I can't stop casting all my shit. I must have made 30 alternator skids heads.. lol. Anyway, at first, I was having problems getting bubbles in the face, especially at the wrong spots (ie nose/chin) When the resin is curing, bubbles form.... I looked online for solutions and tricks, many "pros" recommended vacuum boxes, though they are costly. Some others recommended vibrating pads or surface. One even showed a "do-it-yourself" process which seemed cheap and simple. I looked around for ideas. Found none. Then I listened for ideas, and it struck me - My computer's speaker system has a subwoofer box which when lots of bass is coming through it, it vibrates wildly. I put a mold on there and pumped up some Metallica (example) sure enough - ZERO bubbles. A few minutes ago, my girl was doing laundry. While the laundry machine was going, I set a mold on top of the machine - NO BUBBLES! thought I'd share this with you casters out there.
That's a funny trick to do it. A pressure pot is probably the cheapest route to go though(compared to vacuum kits) and is what a lot of people that I know(myself included) use. Get that and a couple of fittings and caps depending on your air compressor set up and your good to go. Pressurize everything you make(including the molds) at 40 PSI and all air bubbles will be gone and the molds will be denser and last longer too. Have to have a meaty compressor that can fill up the tank in under 30 seconds or it doesn't do much good though. Bubbles will be a thing of the past though if used correctly.
I tried myself to do some head casts with epoxy a couple of months ago, I was told to use a fish tank air pump as it vibrates apparently. I hadn't one at hand so I used the drier and while far from perfect the results were much better for shifting the bubbles out.
If this was a infomercial I would be sold. "Freny_Rumble's Bub Be Gone kits" Great find. Any plans on doing a tutorial? The one we have is a translation and the pics are really tiny.
There are some good tutorials on this site as well as around the web. If you buy the "kit" I did, it has good step-by-step instructions. I might just make one though,
Ahhh ok I never looked in the table of contents on the Tutorial page. What would you say is the most difficult part of casting?
The waiting. lol. I am impatient. It's best to follow the directions, you really need to let the rubber mold dry. I put mine under a full spectrum heat lamp, and they are dry in about 2 hours, but several other sources say overnight. The package says 4 hours until dry, 24 until fully cured. Another pain/difficult part is mixing your stuff. The containers they supply you for the rubber solution are poorly designed, and it's tough to pout from a giant jar into a tiny cup. I've read several people use boxes or something they custom build to start the cast (where you place the object you'll be casting) I've been using the caps for the Testor's "half sized" spray cans (about 3" in diameter) they seem to be working great for me.
no problem SQ. I hope to one day (soon) take on a cast for upgrading / addons to popular figures. I have a couple ideas I haven't seen available on a large scale (here's one: Weapon packs) No limit to where this casting goes. My ultimate plan (MUAHAHAH) is to provide TF fans with "fan based accessories", and if that goes well, fund even larger scaled fan based projects, such as kits and upgrades (eg clip on armor for TFTM prime similar to the Ultra Magnus I built a while back)
Hey F_R... Those look great! I wanted to try casting some heads myself, but the ones I want to do will be for projects I want to start soon and I really can't afford to spend the money on all the necesary supplies right now. Would you happen to have any interest in casting a couple for me? They're not actual TF heads (yet), and they're kind of odd shapes. I could send you some pics if you want. Let me know whatcha think.
