03-14-2014, 07:21 PM
Hi guys and gals. I have been hibernating in all the cold weather, Just not going to the train room much at all, but I have been learning new things.
I bought some Alumilite High Strength 3 RTV mold making material and hae been playing around making molds and plaster castings to use for background vehicles.
I have quite a collection of castings to fill my junk yard and finally have discovered the secret to making reasonably good castings. The molds are easy to make, you just have to be careful of air bubbles.
One of the buildings for the layout is a bus station and you need buses around a bus station, so I wanted buses, and milk trucks for the dairy, and more cars for the streets. You need cars for car dealerships and parking lots too.
I have been using ental stone for castings and it is hard stuff when set, but I wasn't getting the air out of the castings. I found a site where the fellow said to soak your molds in detergent water and be sure to get all of the air out of the molds while they soak, then to hit them when you take them out of the water to knock as much water out of the molds as possible. Then I made the plaster a little wetter with some detergent (a very tiny amount) and made the plaster about 10 percent runnier than the instructions call for. I finally got some castings I can show.
Lots of painting to do. but I have lots of time to do that.
Charlie
I bought some Alumilite High Strength 3 RTV mold making material and hae been playing around making molds and plaster castings to use for background vehicles.
I have quite a collection of castings to fill my junk yard and finally have discovered the secret to making reasonably good castings. The molds are easy to make, you just have to be careful of air bubbles.
One of the buildings for the layout is a bus station and you need buses around a bus station, so I wanted buses, and milk trucks for the dairy, and more cars for the streets. You need cars for car dealerships and parking lots too.
I have been using ental stone for castings and it is hard stuff when set, but I wasn't getting the air out of the castings. I found a site where the fellow said to soak your molds in detergent water and be sure to get all of the air out of the molds while they soak, then to hit them when you take them out of the water to knock as much water out of the molds as possible. Then I made the plaster a little wetter with some detergent (a very tiny amount) and made the plaster about 10 percent runnier than the instructions call for. I finally got some castings I can show.
Lots of painting to do. but I have lots of time to do that.
Charlie