12-04-2010, 10:10 PM
Learning to make molds and then cast objects in those molds is not for the faint of heart. I must commend you for a job well done, especially for your first attempt! I mean, I took a semester-long class during sophomore year (forty years ago) and I have to concentrate and pay close attention to what I'm doing when I build a mold! (I don't think I've done a mold for model railroad stuff in probably 12 or 14 years!)
Three summers ago I built plywood reinforced fiberglass molds so that I could lay up some wicked-looking fiberglass "blistered" fenders for the "pocket rocket" that is still an "in progress" project in my garage. It was a long, difficult, stinky project that rendered my garage uninhabitable without a respirator for weeks! But as difficult and itchy and hot and sweaty as the project was, the end product gave me an immense feeling of satisfaction! My guess is that when you watch your model with the custom cast shell roll down the track, you'll have a similar feeling! And you deserve to have that feeling!
You have obviously learned a lot of the "secrets" to successful mold making and subsequent parts casting! Keep it up, Big Guy! It's a talent and skill-set well worth developing ... short run cast parts can be profitable ... just ask a man named Westerfield in Crossville, Tennessee, who started out making cast parts for his own scratch-building projects.
Three summers ago I built plywood reinforced fiberglass molds so that I could lay up some wicked-looking fiberglass "blistered" fenders for the "pocket rocket" that is still an "in progress" project in my garage. It was a long, difficult, stinky project that rendered my garage uninhabitable without a respirator for weeks! But as difficult and itchy and hot and sweaty as the project was, the end product gave me an immense feeling of satisfaction! My guess is that when you watch your model with the custom cast shell roll down the track, you'll have a similar feeling! And you deserve to have that feeling!
You have obviously learned a lot of the "secrets" to successful mold making and subsequent parts casting! Keep it up, Big Guy! It's a talent and skill-set well worth developing ... short run cast parts can be profitable ... just ask a man named Westerfield in Crossville, Tennessee, who started out making cast parts for his own scratch-building projects.
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln