Voyager Molds are almost here!!!!!!

[erospawn]

I just got some pictures of the Voyager molds.. its getting closer now! It feels pretty good to see someting you spent so much time on come to fruition!

[dbhs]

Looks great !!!

I'm assuming roto cast .... or will it be fiber-reinforced like the big REL kits?

LOL

[JAWS]

Wow happy birthday! So that was a brush on rubber reinforced with fibre glass? Looks good. Congratulation Ron.

[modelnutz]

Actually, to get all technical...
Mold Max 30 using fast catlyst and Thi-Vex

First 2 coats...straight Mold Max....to capture details
3rd coat...Mold max thickened with Thi-Vex to smooth out all pockets and build a 3/8 inch layer
When cured...a Plasti Paste jacket was troweled to 3/8 inch thickness and allowed to set for 24 hours
Master/Mold turned over...clay removed...vaseline thinned with mineral spirits brushed on to exposed silicone and above steps repeated for bottom half.

The plan is...Glass reenforced but using translucent urethane instead of polyester resin.....don't want brittle parts !

Questions ???

Class over

[JAWS]

Thanks! You the man Mr Modelnut.

[427 Cobra]

I just watched the video on the severed head cast last week. The Thi-vex is what they used at smooth-on for the outer jacket. This is slow curing liquid plastic. I think I'll use that when it comes time to make the mould for my X-wing fuselage.

This is excellent, Ron! Now I see why you weren't replying to our questions, you were too busy moulding this! Once again - excellent! I'm glad to see that after all your hard work this will finally become reality, and not just a basic plan, or master. I hope this will be a popular kit.

[modelnutz]

Don't mean to be contrary....but...Thi-Vex is a liquid additive for RTV silicone....used for thickening said silicone.

The outer jacket can be made from Plasti-Paste ( as I did...had some laying around ;-) or you could use another Smooth-On product called Shell-Shock....a thickened plastic developed for jackets.
Then again, you can also go low cost- old school and use plaster
( ultracal's best ) and burlap as reinforcement.

Just the facts, folks....just the facts.

[427 Cobra]

Sorry, I'm not very familiar with this line of products, but I'll be using them soon enough. It doesn't matter much, I'll be using both products listed in each post. I just hope I don't ruin my master in the process!

[modelnutz]

(04-01-2010, 11:31 PM)427 Cobra Wrote: Sorry, I'm not very familiar with this line of products, but I'll be using them soon enough. It doesn't matter much, I'll be using both products listed in each post. I just hope I don't ruin my master in the process!

Well, I look at it this way...if you're carefull to make the mold correctly...you no longer need the master

Among all the products listed...I'd actually reccomend going with the Shell-Shock as the jacket material....it's much more rigid...much sooner.
The Plasti-Paste can deform some if you try to push the cure time.
It's fine if you can leave it alone in a 70 deg. temp. for 2 days...then it's real solid.
The Mold max 30 with the fast cat. worked real well...I could lay up the entire silicone portion in only a day.....gotta work pretty fast though...
you might want to go with the standard catlyst if you're a newbie.....might take longer...but you can take your time and still get a good mold.

On thing I didn't mention....
On the bottom portion of the mold...I decided to add keys to the silicone.
The bottom of the hull is kinda flat panel(ish) so I was concerned about getting the silicone to sit in the proper location on the jacket.
To solve this issue, I cut some strips from an old mold so I could make blocks... 1/4" x 3/16" x 1" ( or so )...then, while the last coat of silicone was still "wet", I placed the blocks in a random pattern all over the surface.
Then, when I applied the jacket material, I made sure there were no air pockets around these blocks.....when everything cured up, I pulled the jacket off and Ta-Da! locators ! Now the silicone skin "snaps" right in to it's proper location.
The top half of the mold was, in effect, a deep bowl....so this step was not required.

Whew.....class over

[JAWS]

I love the MoldMax 30. Its soft but firm so can do fine detail well with minor undercuts.

[modelnutz]

I agree..it's pretty good....I typically use Mold Max 40 for my production molds....less likely to distort under pressure.
I used the MM 30 because it could be thickened with the Thi-Vex....and, Smooth-On offers a fast catlyst which cures the silicone in a lot less time...like 4 hours !
Allows me to do multi layered molds in one day.

As a matter of fact, I just finished applying the last layer of rubber to the Voyager's main hull about 2 1/2 hours ago and it's already time for the shell

[427 Cobra]

I thought Ron was casting this. As long as this is in production that's all that really matters.

[erospawn]

No Chris, I was taking a break while ModelNutz was working on this. I might use these techniques to mold and cast that Ent E thats been sitting around. I didn't want to start someting complex and then have to stop working on it when this got here. I have been working on the logistics of the next scratch build project. I've also been working on learning assembly language specific to PIC microcontrollers so I'll be able to offer lighting and control circuits ..so I'll be able to do custom lighting for a wide range of subjects etc. as I intend to start offering lighting and control circuits in addition to commision builds etc..

[427 Cobra]

OOOOO!!!!!! That sounds cool! It's about time we finally get to see the side of you that no one knows. I hoped that there was a reason for your absense from the board. I was hoping for good news, but this is great news! Thank you for the update.

[stingray1648442]

are you casting some off for sale I would like one

[LeeS]

Same here if it's Studio scale :-)

[Guard1an]

Any updates ? I just found this site and as soon as I saw a studio scale voyager I was hooked !!!

[Apophis]

voyager is one of the sexiest ships in star trek