The Ongoing Adventures of Mi57 (SA WW2) - Villains! [29/1/17]

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One of the joys of Salute is the raised levels of inspiration afterwards. I've been meaning to carry on with the remaining walls from the Garden of Morr kit, but there are so many skulls embedded in them that it's frustrating and off-putting. It turns out that it's far easier to create a new wall from scratch instead of making blood sacrifices to clean off all the skulls.



I rolled out a piece of air dry clay so that it was about the same thickness of the GW walls and once dry, carved in some bricks about the same height on one side. This is currently sitting in some mold rubber so I can make a plaster version and continue with the opposite side. The clay was good for starting with, but was becoming too fragile to even attempt the other side without losing the whole lot. For now, I've not made it a specific length so I have the ability to pick the neatest section to place between pillars and then top it.

So far I'm feeling rather pleased with these and have plans forming in my head for lots more matching pieces like this

[Mason]

That does look very good.
 

Clever idea too.
 

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Well that was a sad way to end the day... I got home all excited and prepared to demold the wall and cast up the first attempt at the second side... and was met with a sticky gloopy mess rather than some properly set rubber. Not sure what went wrong, but the rubber had turned into glue instead and basically destroyed the clay. Not a happy bunny

Time to start again *sigh*

Still. At least I now know what to do to make the next one.

[Klener Zorn]

Well that was a sad way to end the day... I got home all excited and prepared to demold the wall and cast up the first attempt at the second side... and was met with a sticky gloopy mess rather than some properly set rubber. Not sure what went wrong, but the rubber had turned into glue instead and basically destroyed the clay. Not a happy bunny

Time to start again *sigh*

Still. At least I now know what to do to make the next one.

the rubber reacted with the clay..... i had this once when i used some kind of putty from one of those cheap 1€ shops
the rubber didnt harden properly and i kept the mould to see when it hardened...it took 3 weeks not to be sticky anymore

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That makes sense. Time to make a little wooden box and cast up some locks of plaster then I guess

[Mr. Peabody]

Wow, that's gotta hurt. Your wall was coming along brilliantly.

It's surprising the things that can derail the reaction necessary to set up two part moulding compounds.

When I'm uncertain about the composition of my masters, I give them a couple of good coats of Future/Klear and then some quality release agent before I try to mould them. That way I can use a variety of materials, even porous ones, and still get good results.

I'm sure there are other acrylic finishes that could do the same job...

[Baconfat]

What brand rubber mold did you use?  I would prefer to not ever repeat your experience.

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When I'm uncertain about the composition of my masters, I give them a couple of good coats of Future/Klear and then some quality release agent before I try to mould them. That way I can use a variety of materials, even porous ones, and still get good results.

Ooo thanks for the tips! It certainly hurt... there was a fair bit of cursing when I realised what had happened. I'm just glad we don't have kids, otherwise they would have learnt some very colourful words and phrases last night

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What brand rubber mold did you use?  I would prefer to not ever repeat your experience.

To be fair I think it was either the conditions that I was attempting to work in (new house, cold garage) or that the rubber was old and had gone off a bit because I've used it many many times before with perfect results.

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After last week's... accident... I have taken this long weekend to have a go at creating another wall piece and am much happier with how this one is looking as the brickwork is much more in line with the Morr walls. This is designed to interlock with other wall pieces in order to make it a bit more stable than the GW walls, with a lot less footing.

[Uncle Mike]

The new wall looks much better anyway. Not sure what your problem was but I use a product called Klean Klay (Pretty sure it has a funny spelling...) which has a very low water content as to not react with silicone. I find it has kept these incidents to a minimum. Possibly, as you say, the silicone could have been old or the moisture content could have affected the setting of the product. If it happens again I would recommend cooking the uncured mold in the oven on low heat for a couple hours just in case you can set the reaction off. Mind you, keep the windows open if you do this...I'm sure there are several good reasons not to do what I have suggested...

[Mason]

A nice result.
Very versatile.
 

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The new wall looks much better anyway. Not sure what your problem was but I use a product called Klean Klay (Pretty sure it has a funny spelling...) which has a very low water content as to not react with silicone. I find it has kept these incidents to a minimum. Possibly, as you say, the silicone could have been old or the moisture content could have affected the setting of the product. If it happens again I would recommend cooking the uncured mold in the oven on low heat for a couple hours just in case you can set the reaction off. Mind you, keep the windows open if you do this...I'm sure there are several good reasons not to do what I have suggested...

Thanks, I'm much happier with this wall, so I'm secretly glad of the problems.

I did consider trying to cook the original one, but as you say, baking rubber is probably not the best of ideas. This time around I've bought some of that instant mold/blue stuff...stuff to try. Hopefully as that is a one part, temperature set molding material it should be good for prototyping with the clay. There will be updates when it arrives

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A nice result.
Very versatile.
 

Thanks. I can't imagine who would find walls useful

[Mason]

Thanks. I can't imagine who would find walls useful

 
Give him a shout, you may be the answer to his dreams.