Plaster Of Paris

[IceTray]

Understandibly I'm a cheap person. =]

Alright, so I spoke with a friend who does molds and the like, he casted a mold of a rather large concrete bird bath, very nice. He's also done smaller things, etc etc.
The thing that hit me was if it could be used to cast a mold of the armor. I asked him personally, but without having something to test with, we failed to determine a proper answer, but the assumption was "yes."

So my question is, can plaster of paris actually be used to cast a mold for finished pep armor? I realise it might not be able to replicate a lot of detail, or maybe it can, I dont know.

I would like to know if its possible though. Its pretty cheap, can be bought at most hardware stores too, so I figure maybe someone who has a peice or two laying around, could look into it, unless someone already knows.

Input is appriciated.

 

[Demonic Crim]

I'm not sure myself, but I would like to find out if that is possible too.

 

[Tater Mane]

Do you mean casting the parts in resin, or just making plaster molds?

 

[IceTray]

Tater Mane:
Make a peice using pep, resin, fiberglass, add all your details.
Using that peice, and some plaster of paris, create a mold that can be used to create more peices, identical to the one you made.

..For some reason I have issues explaining things, sorry about that. =P

 

[NZTK]

Yes, I make most my waste moulds from pop.

 

[Tater Mane]

I don't see why you couldn't be able to use it.

 

[IceTray]

NZ-TK:
What do you mean by "waste moulds"?
Also my other question, which might be a little, not smart, or I'm just uneducated; after you've made a casting mould, what do you fill it with to create the object inside?
Thats probably worded terribly too. =P

 

[NZTK]

waste moulds are quick moulds you take of a sculpt, so you can cast a tooling copy

Here's some examples for you

the Hayabusa mouth sculpt in clay, after being preped for moulding

the cast copy after some clean up and tooling.

you can mould anything with plasters. as long as you have no undercuts.

 

[Shade88]

Ok question, if you make the cast with the plaster of paris, what do you use to make the actual mold?

(Sorry I'm a noob.)

 

[NZTK]

I think you have your terminology confused

The mould is made from plaster, there are a lot of different types, pop is not the best one.

The cast is what you take from the mould, it can be what ever you want to duplicate your work in.

 

[MegaMan303]

I would layer your entire piece in latex. Allow to dry overnight and then come back with plaster of paris on top of the latex. Remember to make keys in your molds so that your lines will line up good. This creates a hard shell housing your more detailed latex mold. The Plaster of Paris gets pretty good detail but has been known to leave air bubbles and is really hard to rip apart molds with.. If you are looking to cast a negative mold of something with just a single stage i would go with Cal 50. This is like plaster but mixes better and does not leave behind air bubbles. You can find this stuff online or at any costume shop. Also remember to use some kind of release agent like canola oil or wd40. Hope this helps.

 

[Shade88]

I think you have your terminology confused

The mould is made from plaster, there are a lot of different types, pop is not the best one.

The cast is what you take from the mould, it can be what ever you want to duplicate your work in.

Oh sorry, well what do you use to make the cast?

 

[Dreadnought]

POP is a good for 1-3 (If your lucky) casts usually, but it is pretty weak. Thing with POP is that if you make it too thick, you get less detail and lots of air bubbles. Make it too thin and it will most likely crumble. Anyway you make the molds from casts. Casts are the actual object you wish to duplicate. You can make this from Pep, or your can actually go the expensive way and make the cast from clay. Once you make the clay model you grease it up and cover it in POP. Of course you can also use Hydrocal, silicone, and other things but it is more expensive. I could make a long extensive essay on how to make it and what to do, so if you need any more help Ill be glad to aid.

 

[Ixius]

I know you want to use Plaster of Paris, but check out Ultracal. It's an extremely strong type of plaster used for molding, one that we use at my university as well. It's very good, durability-wise and can stand up to many pulls.

Ixius

 

[IceTray]

I know you want to use Plaster of Paris, but check out Ultracal. It's an extremely strong type of plaster used for molding, one that we use at my university as well. It's very good, durability-wise and can stand up to many pulls.

Ixius

Thanks for that info, although I cant seem to find it at any hardware stores. Would it be one of those things thats only purchased online? Or is there a retailer with it somewhere?

 

[Rob]

Understandibly I'm a cheap person. =]

Alright, so I spoke with a friend who does molds and the like, he casted a mold of a rather large concrete bird bath, very nice. He's also done smaller things, etc etc.
The thing that hit me was if it could be used to cast a mold of the armor. I asked him personally, but without having something to test with, we failed to determine a proper answer, but the assumption was "yes."

So my question is, can plaster of paris actually be used to cast a mold for finished pep armor? I realise it might not be able to replicate a lot of detail, or maybe it can, I dont know.

I would like to know if its possible though. Its pretty cheap, can be bought at most hardware stores too, so I figure maybe someone who has a peice or two laying around, could look into it, unless someone already knows.

Input is appriciated.

Hi, we at Westerfield Studios use it all the time to make the Vac-u-form molds.

I am making a Tut on the ODST part we are do now.

Good luck.

Rob

 

[Ixius]

Thanks for that info, although I cant seem to find it at any hardware stores. Would it be one of those things thats only purchased online? Or is there a retailer with it somewhere?

As far as I know, it's purchased online. Try searching for 'Ultracal 30' and see if you can find anything

 

[pablofiasco]

ultracal is nice,
but may i humbly recommend merlins magic?
its a very strong (compressive strenght of 14,000 psi) self de-gassing plaster that hold even the tinyist(sp?) details
ive used it quite extensivly in making miniature terrain (hirstarts stuff if that means anything to anyone)
aviable threw clint sales (they dont have an online cart or anything, google search should get you thier site and a phonenumber, the pricing i think is on teh dental supplies section)

again, its very nice stuff, i have literrally dropped a small castle made of the stuff down a flight of stairs, and while a couple of the glued joints failed the actual plaster tiles and walls themselves were tottally unharmed, I would almost consider making the armor Itself from this stuff, except for weight and heat issues which im sure would arise

 

[leegrisham]

I have been kicking this idea around a little here recently. I want to mold and cast some nice plastic replicas of my helm when I'm done but didnt want to spend infinity money to do it.... I hope someone can try this out and maybe post pics/vid of the results - Heck it might even be me if I get done fast enough.

 

[IceTray]

leegrisham; we're hoping to have it underway as soon as possible.

So I was wondering what the more 'chosen' filling is, when creating the replica? Basically, what do you fill the mould with to create the replica inside?
I've also been looking at some peoples moulds and wondering, how you get the material inside the mould, like, to fill it.
Sorry, I've never done moulding before, so I do have a fair share of questions. =P