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Armor/AFV: Canadian Armor
Discuss all types of Canadian Armor of all eras.
Hosted by Darren Baker
Casting resin parts
sauceman
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Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 08:36 AM UTC
To finish my Canadian Centurion and Coyote I required some spare road wheels and more fuel jerry cans.

Used this product from my LHS.



Resin poured into the molds.



Final product



Not as difficult as I thought. Last time I tried using the woodlands product latex for moulds, did not turn out at all.

cheers
CMOT
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ARMORAMA
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 09:05 AM UTC
Looks promising Rick what sort of price does it come in at?
Shift911
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 09:10 AM UTC
Judging from those stickers a little over $60?

Nicely done, I may have to explore this a little in the area of fuel cans, I'm running a bit low.
sauceman
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 09:23 AM UTC
Darren, It was just over 70 bucks with tax. I used the rubber road wheel you sent for part of the master for the Centurion road wheel . For the gas can I used one from AFV Clubs' Stryker.

cheers
redleg12
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 01:16 PM UTC
Smooth-On is an excellent product and molds very well. That $70 will save you twice that in AM items your can mold yourself.

Check out their website

http://www.smooth-on.com/

If you cannot get it local, they take mail orders....I usaully get it direct.

Rounds Complete!!
CMOT
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ARMORAMA
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 01:42 PM UTC
Thank you for the information.
didgeboy
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 02:46 PM UTC
These guys also make a "trial" kit that has the molding material, resin and all kinds of stuff for $50. It should be enough material to last you quite a long time even if you are making a lot of parts, so they tell me. I think I might be picking up my trial kit this week. Cheers.
mother
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Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2011 - 03:02 PM UTC
Great castings Rick, nice and smooth. Rick what is the play time with the Liquid Plastic and how long did the mold take to set up.

Let me add something as well. For those who have a Hobby Lobby sign up and get their email coupons worth 40% off savings. They sell a great rubber/resin set. I use it all the time and cast just about all the time large or small. For a 1 pound rubber container cost $30 and the same for 32oz. of resin (a lot). Now use the coupon for each and save big time. Here in Buffalo using the coupon whould cost me $18 dollars each, total $36 dollars. For the best one piece casting use the Alumilite high strength 3.

Alumilite

Happy Modeling,
Joe
sauceman
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2011 - 12:42 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Great castings Rick, nice and smooth. Rick what is the play time with the Liquid Plastic and how long did the mold take to set up.

Happy Modeling,
Joe



Thanks Joe,

The rubber molds take about 6 hours to set up. You can get the resin in 3 different speeds, a 3 minute, 7 and 15. I'm using the 7 and it seems to be working well so far.


cheers
trahe
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2011 - 01:56 AM UTC
I've used the rubber and resin from Micro-Mark with no issues...
sauceman
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Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 - 04:30 AM UTC
Does anybody know if the resin can be thinned out?



cheers
tankmodeler
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Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 - 06:30 AM UTC
It's already pretty low viscosity.

Generally, you need specialised chemicals to thin out resins without really hurting their properties. You can thicken them with chalks, powders and the like, without affecting things too badly, but thinning usually does bad things. Things like grossly extending cure time, causing resin breakdown, causing inability to cure, causing chalkiness or foaming. All really bad things. Now, most of the resins in their purset forms have short pot lives and need extenders to lengthen the pot life and those extenders tend to thicken many commercial resins.

If you want a realy thin (low viscosity) resin, use the shortest pot life version. In this case, the three minute stuff will be similar to Alumilite, but you're not going to get much time to work out the bubbles with that stuff.

Why do you want lower viscosity resin? I've used the Smooth On products and the longer pot/working time more than compensates for the slightly higher viscosity. You can get a toothpick into the mould and really work out the bubbles from the corners withuot much difficulty.

Paul
sauceman
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Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 - 07:08 AM UTC
It's just that some of my molds such as cable ends and D rings have small holes to flow the resin down into.

Maybe I should try some 2 part molds?!?


cheers
redleg12
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Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 - 02:27 PM UTC
Thinning is not really possible. To force bubbles out and resin into small details you need a pressure pot. With that you can put the resin under 20 to 30 psig pressure. This is the method most small to medium size resin manufacturers use.

Rounds Complete!!
05Sultan
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Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 - 11:44 PM UTC
I like the Smooth-On Oomoo grade molding compounds also. Nice flex and pretty good tear strength. Takes hot, abrasive plaster batches well.
windysean
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Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 01:13 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I've used the rubber and resin from Micro-Mark with no issues...


Thomas, thanks! That's reassuring. I asked for and received Micro-Mark's big package as a gift a couple years ago, but I've been nervous about trying it. I'll make that a goal soon.
thanks,
Sean.
jasmils
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Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 03:21 AM UTC
nt
jasmils
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Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 03:27 AM UTC

Quoted Text

It's just that some of my molds such as cable ends and D rings have small holes to flow the resin down into.

Maybe I should try some 2 part molds?!?


cheers


I HATE two part moulds. Out of the 800 or so moulds I have, I only have about 10 that are two part. Problem is you will have a lot of flash with a two part.
Polyurethane resin can be "thinned" with GP paint thinner to about 10%. But it will make the resin part very brittle and will leach out the thinner over time. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!!
Try this.

Or if that does not work try this one



Great way to get a mould done!!!

Cheers Jason
sauceman
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Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 03:53 AM UTC
Thanks Jason,

That's pretty much what I have been doing, trying to cut open the molds. Maybe I just suck at it


cheers
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