M-Bot's Customs logo by M-bot2011
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Interesting insights. Are both blue stuff and the white stuff thermoplastic and can be reused by simply heating again?
Any figure that comes with swords demands wrist articulation.
Yep. I have made a few mistakes, and some of my failures just ended up being re-heated and re-used, without any apparent degradation or deterioration that I can see.
The only issue with this is whatever I make may not stand up to high temperatures, but most of my collection and figures are displayed in a cool room, no direct sunlight or anything that would re-heat them.
M-Bot's Customs logo by M-bot2011
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PART 3: IN WHICH MORE MISTAKES LEAD TO SOLUTIONS
Next step was to try the Plastimake for Rumble's gun. Using small amounts for such a small piece meant that the cooling/hardening process was ridiculously fast, so getting it into all the small corners of the mould was tricky and took a couple of goes, none of which was successful.
I then tried a different approach - moulding had the gun at a time, with a view to sticking the two halves together. I also did a seperate mould for the rear prongs, as they were one of the bits that came out best the first time around. I tried to resolve the problem of the potential rubbing on the weapon's handle by embedding an appropriately coloured peg (red) I cut from a junker in the mould and placing the Plastimake around it.
Didn't work out. The two halves of the gun (top and bottom) needed significant trimming. The Palstimake, as opposed to the epoxy putty, is not sandable or fixable, it need to be cut with a hobby knife. Was not working out for me at all, so I pulled out the old Dremel, which was a far more effective cutting tool on the Plastimake. Only problem is the speed and friction from the Dremel re-melted the Plastimake and basically made a mess. And the barrel of the gun was way too fiddly to Dremel effectively anyway. On top of that, the handle slipped out of the Plastimake too easily to be effective.
Then, a brainwave: I had an almost perfect gun that I made with the epoxy putty, the only issue with it was the rear prongs, which broke, and the handle, which was skew. I cut the rear part of the epoxy putty gun off, trimmed the Plastimake rear prongs and glued the two halves together. The prongs would now have the flexibility that the epoxy lacked, while the bulk of the gun was well formed and neat. I cut off the epoxy gun handle and glued the red peg on to it as the handle - now centred and not vulnerable to paint wear.
Came out looking pretty nice. I taped the handle and painted, using SMS lacquers through the airbrush. Tremendously happy with the results.
It's not *absolutely* perfect, when compared to the original gun (here modelled on it's donor, Rewind), you can see the difference. But in a busy display, there's no way anyone could pick out which Transformer weapon is not the actual one if they weren't't already aware.
More in part 4, coming this weekend if time allows.
M-Bot's Customs logo by M-bot2011
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You might want to look at recycling HDPE videos on YouTube and set up a mild that you can pour the HDPE into?
M-Bot's Customs logo by M-bot2011
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PART 4: NEW PROJECTS, MORE SCREW UPS
After painting Rumble's gun, I decided to find out how the Palstimake would take paint. No point in investing more time, effort and money into something that wouldn't cope with the next step.
I took a chunk of the next (failed) attempt at using the Palstimake (see below) and painted it black, using SMS lacquers (my preferred paint at the moment). Went really well (although it brings out a bunch of details that prove why this particular attempt at casting was a bust).
I used the previously cast Horri-Bull titan master face to prime using Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer through the airbrush. That which looked good in the original Plastimake by the naked eye was revealed to be quite the disaster once I primed it and the detail became evident.
It would work as a "battle damaged" piece, but not for a pristine custom.
(This gives me a superb idea: If I disassembled an MP OP and/or Megatron and cast it using this method, I could make an amazing battle damaged model of their battle in TF:TM... Or even a very convincing looking "death of OP" model...)
Just prior to the painting, I did try and move onto another test project - something bigger this time. I tried casting a Perfect Effect Combiner Wars add-on foot (donated by Defensor, in this instance). I figured I didn't need a fully transformable foot piece, just something I could use for display purposes.
This was obviously a bigger piece than anything I've tried so far, so I was curious to see how it would go.
Once I had a mould, I used the Plastimake to line it. The larger amount of Plastimake was retaining heat and staying soft for longer than the small amounts I'd used previously, but it was cooling and hardening insanely fast once it was in the mould. I had figured I could fill the inside of the foot in later once I had a usable shell.
It was too flawed. Again with the battle damaged look. I think that part of the problem was droplets of water stuck between the parts I was trying the duplicate and the Blue Stuff that I made the mould with, and then between the Blue Stuff mould and the hot Plastimake, as I used boiling water to heat and soften both, and both were used straight out of the water. I did try and dry it as best I could, but tiny droplets were obviously still present.
When I first saw the Plastimake in use, the vendor that was demonstrating it's use used a heat gun to soften it. As she told me at the time, the heat gun is effective but it's very easy to burn your fingers on the sticky hot Plastimake. The water (even though it is also hot) acts as a kind of buffer that makes handling a bit easier (or at least less injurious).
I never the less, decided to try a smaller part of the PE foot, thinking if I did it in sections, I would have less of the Plastimake to try and jam into the mould at once and I could always Frankenstein it together later.
But I had much the same result.
I then had an idea: instead of heating with boiling water, I tried a hair dryer, on the hot setting (which is skin-scaldingly hot). I had the mould pretty much already, so I heated just the inside (the piece that would be encasing the original PE foot) until the Blue Stuff was soft again. Then I put the PE foot back into it to make the mould over again, and then heated the outside to make sure it was as good as I could make it.
I also tried using the epoxy putty (Milliput superfine, white) in the new mould instead, thinking I would have more "work time" before it hardened.
Again, flawed, although better this time. Unfortunately, the Milliput is not re-usable like the Plastimake, so this piece is relegated to the scrap heap.
Coming in part 5 - could resin be the saviour?
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Dang it! Just work you silly plastic stuff!!!
"I am not a gun. I'm hitting people with a hammer. On Mars."
The Iron Giant / David Wildgoose