The moulds for the floor and ends have cured, the masters extracted and the first copies have been cast.
Laid out before you now is, effectively, a home grown kit for a WHR DZ wagon...
The type of resin I'm using means it's a bit of a race against time to get the stuff poured into the mould before it begins to go off and becomes too stiff to flow into all the places you want it to go.
You have about 90 seconds, according to the instructions. So while you want to work as swiftly as you can you also want to take care to do it as neatly as you can, to ensure it flows into all the right places and is as smooth and even on top as you can get it. (It doesn't necessarily level out perfectly because it sets so fast.)
I think I must be getting the knack a bit, though, because I managed to cast the floor, the ends and these wee brake bits from a single mix of resin.
Now the real test will be to see how well it goes together. Come back here in a day or two and I hope I'll have something to show you.
That is looking great Rob, I look forward to seeing it put together for sure!
ReplyDeleteRob
ReplyDeleteWith regard to levelling the top(back) of the casting.
On all my open castings I slightly overfill the mould and use a piece of clear plastic sheet, slightly bigger than the mould all round lowered onto the mould, starting at one side, to displace the excess resin, don't press down too hard or else when you take you fingers off it will spring back and pull air back under the plastic.
This is left on the casting until it has cured and peeled off just before you demould the casting.
Some of clear plastics stick to resin but I have found the best is marketed by "Javis", easy to recognise as it has a slight blue cast to it.For most of your castings 30 thou thick sheet would be about right. After a few casts the plastic may start to stick to the casting, when this happens a dusting and polish with a cheap aerosol furniture polish(30p a can from ASDA) will restore it. It has to be a cheap one, all the expensive ones are "wax free"!
I've used this method to achieve flat backs to all of the castings I make for my Port Wynnstay Models range for the past 15+ years.
Just as an aside I'm the caster making the DZ doors for EDM models 7mm version,but I'm showing off and casting them in a two part mould to get detail on both sides and, boy, are they thin.
regards
Phil Traxson