Jupiter, a Caledonian macBrayne Ferry

Because he isn't quite as mad as we are Neil !!

gribeauval wrote:

Because he isn't quite as mad as we are Neil !!

i resemble that, lol

carlmt wrote:

Incredible work Neil

But I can reassure you, I will NOT be casting 1:96 fire extinguishers

I will!!!

Mark..

Windy wrote:

carlmt wrote:

Incredible work Neil

But I can reassure you, I will NOT be casting 1:96 fire extinguishers

I will!!!

Mark..

Glad to hear it!!!! I know where to come then when I need some

No problem Carl, after making a 1/43 scale accelerator, brake, clutch pedal & gear lever for the Austin, a 1/96th fire extinguisher is easy

Let me know when you need them.


Mark..

Agreed Why not Carl lol

You do like little castings Neil just to show ya can

has to be done Damien, but usually harder to cast than to make lol

these are little rollers measuring about 5mm diameter.......for the lifeboat davits.............will be a pain to cast, lol.

Coming on nicely Neil 

Faster 

just put in my order for resin and rubber so fortell a massive moulding and casting session coming on lol

I was surprised how quickly the rubber solution and catalyst get used up!!!

Will need to place another order myself soon..............

Looking good though Neil - plans for another soon?

dont know where you order yours from carl, but these guys are the cheapest i know, especially when you buy inlarger amounts......i have through my friend who i'm building for [he's having all moulds, copyright etc] a 10.5 kilo tub for the same price as tiranti's 5kg tub..........half price, and his resin is cheaper than cfs and northcoast resins as well.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RTV-Silicone-Rubber-Moulding-Kit-Fast-curing-/301613212816?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item46398c6490

I still use that rubber as well Neil, but now I only use it for making multiples of a single master I want to centricast or a short production run of parts now, I found it didn't last as long as the CFS rubber. To give an example I cast a batch of Bristol L5 coaches using the cheaper rubber & only got 35 castings before the rubber started to degenerate & pull (to be fair there is a lot of fine detail on these vehicle kits I am doing) but I had to make the another set of moulds to finish the batch run. The Austin Loadstar I moulded using the more expensive CFS rubber & I got 75 castings out & the moulds are still OK. I have never tried their PU resin I found what works for me & stick with it.... Might have to give it a try though..


Mark.

I had a bit of a problem with the last batch from cfs so will give this new supplier a try........but thinking of gettinga set of digital scales to weigh the small mixes so I get them bob on.

stern riding and running lamps and bases made but these won't be moulded

Hi Ho, Hi Ho
it's off to play I go!

just had 10.5 kg of RTV rubber and 6 kg of PU resin delivered to mould all the fittings with.........so that should keep me busy a while, lol

That looks serious Neil

Barrie

i'll have to eat my yorkie bar before I start this lot, barrie, lol

and adding to the lot are little masters for the life rafts stored on top deck.....made from obeche' and scored planking with a ss rod they are ready for sealing with cellulose sanding sealer like the vent ducts also have to be.

thank gawd for Lego.......115 small items of fittings now entombed in plastecine and lego moulding boxes.
 
In the main most of these are surface cast fittings, but three boxes will be split moulds.

more boxes yet to fill, but some, being made from timber will have to be sealed with cellulose sanding sealer first before moulding, and others being quite large will need to be fitted in their own boxes, and all remaining will be split moulds.

Admit it Neil !!!  You just like playing with Lego.

yep, matey........loved since i were a kid, lol


got a lifeboat plug on its way from another lifeboat nutter......wants me to make him some mouldings from the plug.........so am going to have to make a mould..............interesting one at 55 inches long..........let you figure out which it is. neil.

nhp651 wrote:

yep, matey........loved since i were a kid, lol


got a lifeboat plug on its way from another lifeboat nutter......wants me to make him some mouldings from the plug.........so am going to have to make a mould..............interesting one at 55 inches long..........let you figure out which it is.  neil.

Only one I can think of is ON404 Queen, a 55ft steam powered lifeboat.

Severn class is 55 ft 6in, Other steam lifeboats were 56 ft long.


Mike

that's the one matey.......the QUEEN..................need some plans now and hopefully some pictures of her plating lines

Thanks for showing me my future Neil

I havent even really started on this casting lark yet....and I have totted up that there are over 50 different fittings on the FEV - of which one of them has 47 examples of it!!!

I think I need a larger lego collection

Looking forward to seeing how these fittings of yours turn out

well, here's the rubber nicely curing whilst I have a well earned piece of chocolate cake and a bottle of 6.0% strong guinness

The cake looks good, but I will 'pass' on the Guinness!!!

Do you put your moulds in the airing cupboard to cure Neil?  The bumpf I had with my stuff says that it cures best at temps in excess of 20degrees or so, and takes over 20 hours before you can touch it.

it's all down to relative humidity and temperature carl, and i tried it in the airing cupboard when we had one and it was ok but as you said took about 20 hours..........then a guy from tiranti's who i contacted told me the best thing was to "add" the humidity to the mix by adding cold water  in the same amount as the catylist.........and i have never had a problem since........those moulds last night hardened within about 3 hours, fully  cured.....and just about to separate them now as been out this morning buying some digital scales to get the mix bang on instead of by eye, lol..........no wonder i have so many disasters, lol

So much to learn in this game................
Looking forward to getting down to see Mark soon - methinks that wont be a waste of time

the moulding goes on and every time a mould comes from the lego it has to be trimmed and cleaned up..........plenty more to go but will now cease putting monotonous shots of moulds up on the thread as they are basically now all the same, lol

finally got down to somwe casting, and not in my usual style of looks ok, will be ok, I actually invested in a small set of digital scales that cost me 7 quid from asda. I also invested in a couple of jugs which I marked A and B for the two resins and plenty of margarine, chream cheese and other assortment of little mixing pouring pots.
I was fed up of not mixing the exact amounts of each, giving rubbery or bubbly castings because of the imbalance of resin to hardener that I was judging by eye...........

and guess, what.............the mixes went great.

I am also using a new resin ( polyurethane none brittle) from another company and it is far less viscous that the stuff I was using from CFS and actually pours very well.........almost like water up until it goes off..........and hopefully this will help when I pour the split moulds with the large and small thin parts.

It also sets white rather than cream in colour.

Now then...............I have just pulled the first castings out of the  moulds........and was very very pleased with how my new resin has cast..........the replication of the small detail that I am these days capable of working at 1:43 scale is excellent.........might not please some, but I am happy with the outcome........so onwards and upwards and will now knuckle down to making the three sets needed for me and my friends, who are needing them.

Nice looking casts you have there Neil. Seems to give better results than the other stuff, where is it from??



Mike

from here mike........and thanks for the plans........received them this afternoon. cheers.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301613212816?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=600492544764&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

That looks real good Neil, your casting seem to be coming out a lot better with the new resin. I reckon I will have to give that resin a try...

Mark..

cheers mark..........it feels a lighter resin as well.......just one thing i noticed though is that there is a very slight shrinkage to it compared with cfs.............try and get a photo of it...............but it's only on the larger block items.

Nice casts!!!!

One question if I may.........how do you pour the rubber out of the large tubs without losing a good proportion?

The casting resin seems to pour ok, but my rubber solution is a right pain.......

I don't carl, exactly for that reason.........I use a piece of venetia blind slat and scoop small amounts of it up like you do honey on a stick and put it intio margerine tubs.

A simple solution........I like that!!!!

Cheers Neil - I guess a decent desert spoon would also probably do the job.  Why do I always make things difficult for myself eh?

the only problem with a desert spoon is I have to clean it before I eat my pud.........or let the rubber harden nd then peel it off. lol.

Earth to Neil...........

Any more news on the Calmac model???????

Hi matey...............been rather slack the last couple few weeks but have been casting fittings for my friend Andrew in Scotland and his friend.... want to get them all ready before I go up to Scotland for my holiday at the end of this month....once I have finished the fittings I can clear the decks and get building as all the fittings will have been done and will all be ready for painting and finishing.

it's a way I have worked for years......get the early stages of build ready.....then work on all the fittings.......and then do the final work.........seems to work for me, although I know that others work in different ways on their builds...............horses for courses I suppose. lol

I'll be back to building mid august........with a vengeance, lol

it's very hard to work in a s*** tip like mine when every worktop is covered with myriads of fittings lol.

Well I feel much better now I always thought my work space was a mess Neil after looking at yours matey mine is near pristine.

it was once likened to Tutankhamen's tomb, by a certain person on the dark side that we all love to hate...............only decent comment he ever made to me on one of my builds, lol

Damien wrote:

think he was a tad jealous of my "skills" lol

STANCHIONS..........the horror of any scratch builder's life............and these are no exception.

I need a multitude of 3 rail flat bar stanchions for Jupiter, and so decided to make some in plastic so that I could mould them in either polyurethane resin ( the none brittle type) or in white metal.

so I made some from 1.5mm plasticard and set them into a hand pour mould.

Tried casting them in the polyurethane resin a week or so ago with very very poor results.........not one came out.

the feed hole was far too small and when I tried to get what few came out in the mould, they just snapped in half.......the none brittle resin was in fact very brittle, and to be honest, I wouldn't use again preferring CFS resin instead, even though fractionally dearer.

So then I tried white metal.................

got the melt pot going this afternoon, and then brushed the moulds with carbon powder for a better feed for the white metal. Cut bleed holes in the bottom of the moulds for expelling the air, cleared off the slag from the top of the white metal when up to temp. and began casting.

the first photos are of the first cast without carbon powder on the moulds......second set of cast photos are with the powder.............

but disaster .........the moulds aren't playing ball...........and without making a round mould to fit my centrifugal caster for a faster forced cast it's a case of either going down a brass etched set or finding a manufacturer who sells them either in brass or white metal ........I have just enough though to clean up to go on the companionway under the car deck and so be able to put the next deck on where almost all the stanchions are positioned.........bit p**** off to tell you the truth.

Hi Neil, what height are they??

Mark..