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Reply to "Continuing Saga …"

I got the side entry walls started. I'm building them connected so they're exactly the same. I will slice them apart when they're finished. I had to conscious of the junction points between these two walls and those to which they attach. I held the front entry wall up to them to make sure I knew how they would join and did the same for the main front wall.

RH Entry Side Walls WIP

Re: the Cletrac project: They're done. One has the back frame broken so I gave my client a discount.

Cletrac FinishedCletrac Finished 2

And the Chess Pieces… The mold worked terribly! Everything that could go wrong did. My entry sprues were too narrow and the resin couldn't pass fast enough to prevent air binding or premature setting. Our of four sloppy tries, I only got one complete part and it was basically junk. I bit the bullet and re-purchased Smooth On-00 silicone. The Chinese stuff just didn't cut it. Even with mold release the two halves of the mold bound together so tightly that I almost had to destroy it to break it apart and release the master figure.

Chess Piece Test PourChess Piece Test Result Fail

The model had tons of air entrainment, and a big missing chunk from an air bubble.

Chess Piece Test Article

The new silicone arrives on Tuesday. Interesting: Price directly from Smooth-On was $27.25, but then there was $21.28 shipping plus KY sales tax so total was $51.45. The same product was available on Amazon. It was more expensive @ $38.94 plus KY tax, but free shipping so the total was $41.28, $10 less! It pays to do your homework!

I'm going to re-mold the figure. This time I'm going to mold the entire figure and not worry about trying to isolate the base. That was more trouble than it was worth. I'm going to make much larger feed sprues and air vents. And I'm going to use Smooth-On silicone which cures more completely and doesn't stick to itself when you use mold release. I'm asking $50 for this job and have already surpassed it just in the cost of silicone alone. I'm now doing it for the accolades, since I will make no money. I suppose I could present my case to the client since she thought I was going to charge much more anyway.

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Images (6)
  • RH Entry Side Walls WIP
  • Cletrac Finished
  • Cletrac Finished 2
  • Chess Piece Test Pour
  • Chess Piece Test Result Fail
  • Chess Piece Test Article

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