ShadoKat's Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 3) helmet sculpt - WIP

[ShadoKat]

Castellan_Craft: Oh, yes, the BlueRealm sculpt and Thorssili's threads are wonderful! I've referred to them a lot during this project. In fact, I think Thorssoli's was one of the first things I saw on this site, and I've been following his thread since before I joined. Yes, I did see how BlueRealm used primer before molding, but I need to recover the clay afterward, and I'm afraid that may not be possible with primer all over it. The way carnage stated it makes it sound like it may be a more critical step than I thought and I'm hoping for more input.

Sorry for all the questions and bumping... It may not seem like it from this thread, but I actually read WAY more than I post... I have done and continue to do a lot of research. I'm kind of absentminded and scatterbrained, though, as well as... hmm... let's say "enthusiastic"... which makes it seem like I jump in without thinking (which is kind of ironic considering how I'm fretting over this project). I love how everyone uses different methods to get such great results, and I love the wealth of information and experience, but sometimes it just feels like information overload... it's like some bits of learning crowd out others, and I have a tendency to either miss, overlook, or just forget the simple and obvious things. The only way to make it stick is to screw it up myself

Unless someone stops me, that is. Please keep those suggestions coming!! I appreciate you!

 

[ShadoKat]

My first cast evar!!!!

Hello again... Okay, this is a really lame update, but it made me super happy... like "giddily jumping up and down and laughing like a madman" happy... I pulled my very first cast today from my kitty practice mold. The air pocket voids that formed on the surface are quite evident, and there's a strange thin spot in one of the legs from my weak attempt at sluch casting, but it gave me no end of joy. Apparently I used too much resin. When I tried rotocasting inside the tiny mold, something strange happened... I was sloshing it 'round, like I've seen in numerous tutorials, and it just set up... It happened MUCH more quickly than I anticipated and, quite suddenly (in the space of less than a second, in fact) it had gone from a clear liquid to a white semi-solid! At that point the weight of the plastic caused it to cave in upon itself. It was weird and strange and cool all at the same time. Fortunately, I was able to recover (mostly) with a second batch of resin. Below are pics of the experiment...

Also, for those who have never used Plasti-Paste, a word of advice... To save yourself some time and effort, and to preserve the longegivty and aesthetics of your mother-mold, use a coarse rasp to smooth it down before trying to cast with it. If you don't, you may be left with a very sharp, prickly surface, which will, in turn, tear the ever living $#!% out of your hands... they you'll just get blood all over it and ruin an otherwise beautiful mother-mold. Just a tip.

Having never worked with any of this kind of stuff before, I have to say I'm ECSTATIC!!! This stuff is just so frickin' neat! Some of you may be jaded toward all of this but, since this is my first time, I can totally be impressed... you know the quote, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," and that's just what this is to me... Chemistry is AWESOME!

Hopefully I'll start my second attempt at the mold tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

P.S. Incidentally, I was wearing latex gloves during the entire silicone application process of the kitty mold. No cure inhibition or any problems of any kind... So what gives? What's the deal there? Is silicone just THAT fickle? There are only two possibilities that I can think of: 1) The Rebound 25 I was using for the kitty mold was 1.5 years old, whereas the stuff I was using for the helmet was brand new
2) The gloves I was using for the kitty mold were of the "powder-free" variety, unlike the gloves I was using for the helmet. Eh, whatever... May never know what the difference is.

 

[Surmainey]

Even if you did primer it first that would only ruin a fairly thin layer of clay on the surface wouldn't it? I would look more into it. If it helps a lot and only ruins a little bit of clay I would say it's worth it.

 

[Anjose]

wow that looks great

 

[ShadoKat]

Round two... Fight!!!

Okay, so I have now laid down about five layers of silicone and all appears to be going well so far. The first layer went down MUCH more smoothly this time, mostly because I got over my fear of brushes. I was, nevertheless, VERY careful, and I didn't didn't detect any scratches or stray bristles while I was working, but the proof will be in the first casting, so we'll see... Even better, NO cure inhibition so far. I did run into a little trouble with the under side, though... It's curved inward, and I think I might run into a problem in that area with the mother mold. To try and compensate, I flipped the whole thing upside down and built up a wall of thickened silicone down there. We'll see how it turns out! I also put in a bunch of registration keys (using Ben Streeper's "cheese cloth" method) but I'm not sure I placed them properly. (There's a question about that in another thread.) I may add a few more, as well as another layer of silicone, before starting the mother mold. I have a few pics, but I'll upload them tomorrow. Between work and marital duties I don't get much time for this. One of these days, I'm going to have to figure out a way to avoid sleep... it just sucks up too much time!!

Even if you did primer it first that would only ruin a fairly thin layer of clay on the surface wouldn't it? I would look more into it. If it helps a lot and only ruins a little bit of clay I would say it's worth it.

You're absolutely right, of course... there's no reason for me to worry so much about such a minor thing relative to the project as a whole. I tend to get hung up on trivial things like that, though. In retrospect, I should have just done it. I may yet pay for it in the casting. Oh well... you live, you screw something up, you learn from it, right?

I know I've said this before, but I hope to have my first casting by this weekend... Wish me luck!

 

[Tayl0r]

Nice casts! And good luck!

 

[ShadoKat]

Pics of round 2 of the molding process at this point...

First coat of Rebound 25 silicone, the print layer...

I did a second, un-thickened layer, but neglected to get pics of that. This is layer 3, the first thixo-layer:

Let me tell you, those flanges were a PAIN to fill in!!! I'm sure there are some major bubbles in this layer, I just hope they don't show up in the print layer. Fourth coat is below. I didn't so much add silicone to the entire model as try to build up a wall at the bottom and fill in the space between the hose-housing and the beak that I was afraid the mother mold might catch on. I also took the opportunity to make some registration keys!

So, layer 5... Now for the parting seam/fin/mohawk... To get it started, I was able to use a plastic container from a Subway sandwich platter that I found. I originally used strips of plastic taped together, but my hands are too clumsy to hold them on, and they ended up very crooked, left huge gaps between the silicone and the plastic, and shifted around a lot, so I figured that a larger strip might be easier to work with... It was. MUCH. I used the taped-together version as a template and made corrections on the big one. Plus I didn't have to worry (as much) about possible cure inhibition from adhesive from the tape.

And the 5th layer of silicone, along with some more registration keys, which are on there kind of at random. Any tips on how those things are supposed to be placed are appreciated.

And that's where we are now. I think I'll add one more layer of only partially thickened silicone to smooth it out some before starting the mother mold. Thanks for looking!

 

[Otakon08Ikari]

Looks awesome, can't wait to see it all finished.

 

[this is haji]

Nice! glad you had better luck this time. Looking foward to seeing a finished cast

 

[Castellan Craft]

*Crosses fingers* Good luck! Your thread has become a reference for noobs now too. ^_~

 

[kenster1000]

Sweet, the mold looks really good so far. I cand wait to see your first cast pull. Good work and keep it up.

 

[Surmainey]

Great Work, I'm right behind you. I'll be molding Sunday. Yes, you did help out in that I realized that my clay was in too thin a layer to use your method or blue realms. lol = ]

 

[Altair651]

WOW! I was impressed to see the end product of the sculpt, and how well this came along! Looks like molding is coming along good too! Cant wait to see some casts come out of this soon!!!!!!

 

[Zonbi]

Amazing sculpt. I can't wait to see it done!

 

[ShadoKat]

Pulled the first cast tonight

OH I'M SOOOOOO HAPPY!!

 

[Will Turner]

I would very much like to own one of your casts..

 

[Castellan Craft]

Duuuuuuuuuuuuude... congratulations! All the headaches so feel worth it now, don't they? Hope my projects turn out this well! Seriously great work, all your meticulous efforts show in the final product.

 

[markanator13]

That cast looks sooo good!
Great Job!

 

[AceNat]

that is one sweet looking cast!!
i love your name thats on it your very talented with sculpting!

 

[gmstrowabarton]

The cast looks great your hard work has paid off greatly