Moulding & Casting the Sea Lab III

[JAWS]

There is alot of need for this kits parts on alot of scratch builds so I have decided to mould & cast parts as requested. These parts are for the XWing.
   
This picture supplied by beas of the RPF.
1. I was thinking of doing these in a 2 part mould so layed a bottom of modeling clay flattened out with a spray can.
   
2. I did this rather than alter the pieces as I would cast these as a one piece mould first to see how it would turn out.
   
3 I did the same for the clear part. The box is made from spare plastic styrene sheeting(if ya can say any is spare cause its all useable) It has been filled with modeling clay to form a barrier against the rubber otherwise it would just get incased with rubber!
   
4. The First test casted pieces using the one mould technique. These are ok but theres always room for improvement. They were pressure cast & are smooth & bubble free.
   
5. Unfortunately not all worked so well. Some modification required to the mould. I have left this piece as was made. Not all the piece is required though do not want to alter the master.
   

So that was the first run of most of the required parts. They are good but think I will proceed with the second part of the mould to make the 2 part mould. The clear bell houseing is still in rubber awaiting curing(hardening of the rubber) before being pulled out. I will definately make a 2 part mould for that piece. I may even cast it clear The cage parts need to be 2 part moulded also for them to be identicle. If its not neseccary someone please let me know.

[JAWS]

Round 2 & all the parts ore good. Still want to the 2 part mould. These parts will just require the backing to be sanded to the right level. Its far from 'easy' to get 'good' casts & takes up time, energy & reources. Especially for a beginner... Oh well gotta learn somehow

[PB BB1]

And I'd say that is a fantastic start!

Not sure if it matters, or if there's been any clarification... but I thought it was the shower part (#39?) used for the wing mounts. Probably the exact same size/shape anyway.

I feel silly saying this (especially considering what is on the way to me) but I should have just gotten some resin parts from you, Jase.

But hey I'm after the full experience, and I DO know how lucky I am to have anything from the sealab. What kind of rubber and resin are you using?

[JAWS]

Hmmm I couldn't see the piece clearly in the picture of beas. I thought I saw the squiggley line... No prob, can do another mould. Im using Smooth-On Mould Max 30 & Smooth-on Smooth Cast 321. Have had great success with minimal failure with these products. The resin has a 9minute pot life so theres plenty of time to get sorted.

[JAWS]

Well did a couple more casts after work today. Its damn hot & sweatn my ass off Had been trying to give up drinking for a while but its just not the time of the year for it, if there ever is a time... Just a couple So other than the 'Cage' piece & the 'Bell' houseing Ive got one set & some spares for the next. Might make up another mould of the whole set required (called a 'Gang Mould') to fasten the turn around. Ive actually had a few requests for these which is fantastic. Just a bit of work to get done. The 'Bell; houseing is inits second part of rubber & will be ready later tonight but will get to it tomorrow.

[JAWS]

Okly dokly heres the 'Bell' houseing done in a 2 part mould. Im happy with the results. Got number 2 in the chamber. I should have 4 done by tonight then its just the wing mount(as I moulded the wrong piece) & the cage. No problemo. Its all practise for my big job!

[erospawn]

Im very interested in how you do this as I have some kits I need parts from, but would like to have the original parts intact so I can still build the kit.

[JAWS]

The best thing I can suggest is go to the Smooth-On site & read all their info & watch their movies. Thats what I did. Its really not that hard, just costly. But compared to destroying a kit well worth it. I will do a basic tutorial as that was the main focus this topic.

[erospawn]

Yeah I know.. I just need to get started.. I've seen most of those videos too.. A basic tutorial would still be good though.

[JAWS]

No worries it would be as simplified from a dummy(me) as possible.

[JAWS]

Ok nearly got all the pieces wrapped up. Just got to mould the last 3 pices & a 4 piece gang of the filler caps I thought Id chuck in aswell. All the pieces are 98-99% perfect.

[bwayne64]

Jase, looking good man. Very inspiring. I can't wait to start casting parts I need for the Big G. How did you pour the long cylindrical looking parts. Was the pour spout from the end of the part, or from the middle. Hope you get what I mean. Thanks for sharing, Cheers,

Joe C.

[LastBattlestar]

Good going there Jase. I only do one piece moulding, so am looking forward to getting some of the trickier castings from you!

Mike

[JAWS]

I look forward to doing them!

[erospawn]

I look forward to seeing how you do it

[JAWS]

Ok last parts moulded & test cast done. As expected the cage parts are going to be the challenge. First ones ok but took some muckn about to get out. Resin was still tacky(small parts set slower than big parts.). Next run should be ok.

[JAWS]

Well the cage parts are a pain in the behind!!!! But theyre comin out 95% good. Im noy too worried about the 5% but thats my target to beat. The cage pieces can be sliced off the plate pretty easy. The resin was still tacky & bendy so just gotta remeber to let them sit for a while too harden up This is a 40 piece Sea Lab piece set required for the studio scale X Wing.

[PB BB1]

Still in awe of this! Great stuff.

[JAWS]

Well the cage parts aren't great... The rest is good with just a couple of imperfections that are very minor.

[erospawn]

Im still not sure how you did the cage parts though.. I think the way I'd do it is maybe make an "L" shaped mold maybe?? I dunno, I haven't done anything yet but will be practicing over next weekend I suppose.

[JAWS]

Heres some mail going out. Im happy with all the pieces bar the cage bits... Going to redo them sometime soon, but not this week.

[tous566]

hi!
I need some sealab parts.
can you sell me resin copies?

thanks!

[JAWS]

I don't see any problem with that. What are you after?

[Richard_2001]

(01-18-2010, 06:51 AM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: I don't see any problem with that. What are you after?

Jason,

Did you happen to mold the sinks?

Richard

[JAWS]

Richard you want the G parts don't you. I think thats 4 sets of sinks & a wall or floor piece under the front chin? I can & will be along with most of the other kit parts for the G. Moulding starts pretty soon I believe.

[Richard_2001]

(01-18-2010, 01:50 PM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: Richard you want the G parts don't you. I think thats 4 sets of sinks & a wall or floor piece under the front chin? I can & will be along with most of the other kit parts for the G. Moulding starts pretty soon I believe.

Jason,

Yes 4 sink castings and flat wall or floor, Part #74 is what i have listed but it may be wrong. I can supply a pic to determine the correct one.

Richard

[JAWS]

No problemo. Could you post the picture I just want to make sure we're all right? Are there any other Sea Lab parts on the G? Is it just 5?

[Richard_2001]

(01-19-2010, 12:48 PM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: No problemo. Could you post the picture I just want to make sure we're all right? Are there any other Sea Lab parts on the G? Is it just 5?

Jason,

As far as I know it is just the 5 parts.

best views I could find that were postable. :-)





Richard

[JAWS]

Yep no worries. MR had a good naked shot of the parts on their site also. I'll get these done this week.

[Richard_2001]

(01-20-2010, 08:01 AM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: Yep no worries. MR had a good naked shot of the parts on their site also. I'll get these done this week.

Jason,

Sweet!

Richard

[JAWS]

Ok just got back to some M&C yesterday after a break. Cast up 2 sets of X parts & ones in the mail in the morning. The other ones ready for that person who asked The only reason it wasn't ready sooner is because it was mine & my sons birthdays & needed a break So as promised the Sea Lab G parts. There are 2 parts required. One once the other quadruple.
Parts selected.
   
   
Mold box made
   
going going
   
gone.
   
The bubbles will disapear as the rubber was degassed in the vaccuum chamber
   
Mold will be ready in morning & parts will be cast.

[Richard_2001]

(01-26-2010, 05:29 PM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: Ok just got back to some M&C yesterday after a break. Cast up 2 sets of X parts & ones in the mail in the morning. The other ones ready for that person who asked The only reason it wasn't ready sooner is because it was mine & my sons birthdays & needed a break So as promised the Sea Lab G parts. There are 2 parts required. One once the other quadruple.
Parts selected.


Mold box made

going going

gone.

The bubbles will disapear as the rubber was degassed in the vaccuum chamber

Mold will be ready in morning & parts will be cast.

Jason,

Sweet! Happy Birthday to you and your boy as well! No problem on the G castings being slow I am not in a hurry on this project ;-)

Richard

[JAWS]

Its habit. When someone asks I act. Its gotta get done anyway. Those & another million pieces that will be getting cast for a mate & mines upcoming build. I'll most probably have alot of stuff you'll be interested in if your building a G.

[erospawn]

Are you spraying over those parts with a sealer to prevent the "inhibition" of the rubber?

[JAWS]

I probably should have & usually do but since you said that I just realised I forgot... No worries. The rubber only took 5hrs to cure. Its pretty hot & humid here at the moment so is good M&C weather. These came out no worries. The Mold Max 30 is great stuff. Soft but firm. I could have cast these up last night but had an early one. Its my sons first day at school.

[Richard_2001]

(01-26-2010, 07:45 PM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: Its habit. When someone asks I act. Its gotta get done anyway. Those & another million pieces that will be getting cast for a mate & mines upcoming build. I'll most probably have alot of stuff you'll be interested in if your building a G.

Jason,

Yes I am building a Battlestar :-)

Richard

[JAWS]

Maybe you would like to show us what youve done so far? There are a couple of us that are going to embark on that project quite soon. We would love to see what youve done.

[erospawn]

I'd like to building a battlerstar too.. Hint hint

[JAWS]

You will need to acquire a set of plans unless you think you could do that yourself? I pretty much rekon you could Ron, with your abilities. The Galactica is a tough one though & it would come down to how accurate you want it to be. Charles Adams plans are a great start but they have been noted as lacking in some areas. Charles himself had stated the plans were now somewhat dated with the new information that had been found from working on the Custom Replicas build & the access to the original model. That information has not been passed on in the plans to date. Unfortunaely these things matter to me as I am just getting my scratch building feet & need plans to be as accurate as possible. I have a set of Charles's plans & highly recomend them as they are the best you will get at the moment. You would easilly be able to correct or add whats missing with your eye for detail. The G has a special place for me(as all that try to or have built it) & want it to be as accurate as possible considering what its going to cost to build it. I am happy to share any parts that I aquire that can be cast. I have a good mate that has spent thousands on kits that he is allowing me to mold which will jointly create an impressive inventory. I would also check out Custom Replicas as they have a comercial product of parts & pieces available http://www.customreplicas.com/Galactica.htm. The work done by Custom Replicas & Charles Adams is invaluable to a Galactica build. A few of our friends & heros also contributed to the work of that project. Great thanks goes to them & all who have helped reverse engineer this model to allow others not so talented to have a go with the chance of succeeding. Big thanks also to Sean Sides, Sean Corsini, Jim Creveling & all that have worked on their G's searching through thosands of kits to find part id's. I can personally say all these people are great artists & very generous contributors to the Scale Arts. Without the work these people have done I wouldn't even consider trying this at home.

[Richard_2001]

(01-27-2010, 11:11 AM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: Maybe you would like to show us what youve done so far? There are a couple of us that are going to embark on that project quite soon. We would love to see what youve done.

Jason,

for the last 7 1/2 years I have been collecting donor kits, reference material and reworking, tweaking and redrawing Charles Adams plans. I have also been building Balsa mock-ups of the ship sometimes 4 or 5 of them for certain areas.

I have also collected a bunch of steel pipe for the armature and plywood for the frame even bought a couple sheets of plex but I really don't have much to show at the moment except for my Google Sketch up 3d model and some balsa mock-ups.

When the weather turns warmer I plan on welding the armature and cutting out the plywood structure and you can be sure I will start a build thread on this beast. One here and on RI for sure, I am not sure about RPF or HobbyTalk, maybe there too.

Here are some of the mock-up pics though to start off.










These are about 2 1/2 years old and there have been a lot more tweaks to the plans to correct errors since I purchased Chris Pappas's picture DVD set. I have had better results fitting parts lately.

I will fire up SketchUp later and export some pics of the 3d Model for you all to see.

Richard

[JAWS]

Wow Richard that is beautiful. Thanks for the insite into your dream. i really appreciate you sharing this with us. Well here's some more pieces that will go on your beast once your ready

[Richard_2001]

Jason,

Those came out very nice! You do good work.

Thanks on the mock up pics! I still have some more pics to post but I really dont want to fill up your castings thread with a bunch of my stuff ;-)

Please let me know how much I need to send you for a set of those Sealab Galactica Castings.

Richard

[JAWS]

Thanks their ok. Just a little sanding on the back & the'll be good as. Lets say $30 shipped.

[Richard_2001]

Jason,

Sounds good! I will put the money in Paypal and let you know when it is ready to send :-)

Thanks!

Richard

[JAWS]

Sweet mate. Drop me a PM please when ready.

[Richard_2001]

(01-27-2010, 06:24 PM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: Sweet mate. Drop me a PM please when ready.

Jason,

Will Do! I started my own thread in the SS on the bench, feel free to move the mock up pics there if you like

Richard

[erospawn]

(01-27-2010, 11:57 PM)erospawn Wrote:

(01-27-2010, 01:59 PM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: You will need to acquire a set of plans unless you think you could do that yourself? I pretty much rekon you could Ron, with your abilities. The Galactica is a tough one though & it would come down to how accurate you want it to be. Charles Adams plans are a great start but they have been noted as lacking in some areas. Charles himself had stated the plans were now somewhat dated with the new information that had been found from working on the Custom Replicas build & the access to the original model. That information has not been passed on in the plans to date. Unfortunaely these things matter to me as I am just getting my scratch building feet & need plans to be as accurate as possible. I have a set of Charles's plans & highly recomend them as they are the best you will get at the moment. You would easilly be able to correct or add whats missing with your eye for detail. The G has a special place for me(as all that try to or have built it) & want it to be as accurate as possible considering what its going to cost to build it. I am happy to share any parts that I aquire that can be cast. I have a good mate that has spent thousands on kits that he is allowing me to mold which will jointly create an impressive inventory. I would also check out Custom Replicas as they have a comercial product of parts & pieces available http://www.customreplicas.com/Galactica.htm. The work done by Custom Replicas & Charles Adams is invaluable to a Galactica build. A few of our friends & heros also contributed to the work of that project. Great thanks goes to them & all who have helped reverse engineer this model to allow others not so talented to have a go with the chance of succeeding. Big thanks also to Sean Sides, Sean Corsini, Jim Creveling & all that have worked on their G's searching through thosands of kits to find part id's. I can personally say all these people are great artists & very generous contributors to the Scale Arts. Without the work these people have done I wouldn't even consider trying this at home.

As for plans, I would need those but if they are not easily searchable then Im going to have to ask someone . I only have a few of the kits necessary, however if you're willing to share what you have I'd be grateful for that. I would offer compensation for time and materials as well.. I grew up watching the show too, but if I can get 90% accuracy then I'll be excited. At anyrate, thats interesting that CustomReplicas has a "parts" kit available for the G. It might be worth looking into..

[JAWS]

All I can say is reach out to those that you know have been involved with building the Galactica or any other build & they will most probably give you a hand. I have been so blown away by the kindness & generosity of so many people I think of as my modeling heros, just by contacting them & going about things the right way. Without them this site wouldn't be becoming as good as it is & will be for the benefit of all.

[bwayne64]

I can second the info on Charles plans. I have both sets myself, and there great. The second set is a work of art. It has the templates for every part of the body shell. I told Charles, that it's like " Paint by numbers in 3D " . I can't wait to finally start on my build. I've been collecting kits for over 12 years or so. I still need alot of kits. I'm hoping to get some parts from Jase, hint , hint, There are some kits, I'll probably never find. Like the D51, and Sealab. There are a few I've found, but can't afford, LOL. I'm still looking though. I have 50 or 60 kits I believe, just for this build. I still need 80 or 90,
I think I'll have to get parts cast for several kits. As I still like to eat and pay the bills while I model, Thanks Jase for offering to cast these rare parts. It's a great service to the builders. Cheers,


Joe C

[JAWS]

It joys my heart to be able to help. There are multiples of nearly every kit needed which makes this Extremely costly if all original kit parts are used. Casting duplicates is the way Im going to go.