Inspect it to see if its ok before you remove the styrene from the vac
former!
If the styrene didn't vaccuum down completely, you may need to
let it heat/melt a bit more the next time. You can put this same one back
into the oven again and let it melt a tad more this time before you
vaccuum it. The oven heat will cause the used styrene to melt and relax
back to its original shape. You can heat/vaccuum the same piece of
styrene several times until its right. Just leave it sealed on the
vaccuum former until you're satisfied.
Also try using different thicknesses of
styrene. Thicker ones melt slower.
Improvements
For a more permanent, or more used vaccuum former,
consider making a top frame
from 1/4 inch square oak strips, and hinge it onto the vaccuum former box
you made. I route out a groove in the box top edges, and glue a
length of nylon window screen rubber grout into it to use as my
gasket/sealant. To use it, simply clamp the sheet of styrene down
with the hinged frame and use as above. No latex or rubber cement
is needed.
-- Richard A. Lewis
Using the Vaccuum Former to Make a Helmet
- Take a resin head you've cast, or a scrap commercial head
(it will be
destroyed most likely, so use a scrap one), and sculpt your helmet
master directly onto the head with sculpy or fimo.
-
Spot glue it with cyanoacrylate to a pizza pan or oven safe plate
- neck down, standing up, so it doesn't flatten on one side
if its laying down.
-
Bake it in the oven as the modeling clay package says,
- When its cool, sand it reasonably smooth. The finish on the master isn't really
important in vaccuum forming, but add more clay and bake it/sand it until
it's the correct size and shape.
-
If you used a resin head for your master, it will be ok to vaccuum form
directly over it. If you used a commercial plastic head, then gently
remove the melted head from your fimo master and fit that master down
over another head. It won't be damaged in vaccuum forming, so its ok.
-
Fix the head/helmet master to the inside of your vaccuum former you made
and have at it.
A single sheet of styrene runs about .50
cents, so that one helmet will cost about .50 cents to make.
If you decide to make several helmets from that one
master, then consider casting that head/helmet master out of resin a
dozen times or so. Glue all those resin masters on a piece of
particle board side by side, about an inch between each of them, and
vaccuum form them all from the same sheet of styrene. A 12 inch x 6 inch
sheet of styrene can do approx 12 helmets if vaccuumed all at once, so
those helmets are only about 5 cents each.
As the last step to producing a helmet, simply make an interior
webbing for the helmet and you have an accurate, detailed helmet of
any type/style you choose. As an alternative, simply stick a small
piece of sculpy on the inside of the helmet to keep it spaced up off
of the head realistically.
-- Richard A. Lewis
Casting a Head
The easiest way to do a mold is to kneed the modeling media until its
soft and flexable and encase the entire head in a ball of it,
making
sure to press it into the features. Talc powder is the only mold
release you need, but be sure to powder the head well before applying
the clay. Then sit it in a cool spot for an hour or so and the clay
will restiffen. Then take an xacto knife and cut along the sides of
the ball of clay all the way around to form a 2 piece mold. You then
fire it in the oven for approx 30 minutes for the fimo.
To use that mold you just made, wait for it to cool and then talc the
interior of it - front and back Take a small ball of softened
fimo and press it into the facial features. Do the same with a ball
of fimo in the hair part of the mold. Use an xacto knife to level the
fimo in both sides of the mold and press them together.
Rubber band it in place and sit it somewhere cool to stiffen back up.
After a few minutes, you pull the mold apart and you have a perfect copy
of the original head that is still flexible enough to sculpt.
When you're done with the modifications you plan to do, simply pop it
into the oven and cure it. After the piece is cured properly,
it will be
quite hard and very permanent, but still have a tiny bit of
give to
it so that it won't chip or fracture as resin sometimes will.
It's also not as toxic as resin or as messy and smelly
as latex and resin are.
Latex and resin are great if the head you want is pretty close to the
original, but sculpy and fimo allow you to modify the piece before
curing it.
-- Richard A Lewis
Sculpt your head with Roma Plastalina clay.
Sculpy tends to be hard to manipulate to exact specs.
Roma, an oil based non-hardening clay, is professional
modeling clay. It comes in big grey or white blocks and
4 hardnesses.
Cover your clay head sculpt with Clear Coat
(a spray that's sold in art stores
for pastel drawings) then cast your 2 piece silicone mold
over that. Then you
can cast hard plastic positives out of the mold
for a professional end product.
-- Sean
Using a Mold
If you have the master done then you can go two ways with
the molds, you can use silicone RTV rubber. This sytem will
require you to make a two piece mold so if you don't mind
cleaning up a seam then this is a way to go. I like it
because you don't need a mold release and pulling the finished
piece out is a snap. Call Alumilite Corporation (616) 342-
1259 and they'll tell you the best type of RTV to use, ask
for their booklet on how to make a two piece mold.
The second way is the one piece latex rubber It takes a while
to make because you have to brush on the latex in layers at a
time waiting for each layer to dry before each coat. If you got
the time this is a less expensive way to do it. If you havn't
tried it use Sculpey 3, FIMO requires some kneading before it's
workable. I recommend this for the beginning sculptor. Another
thing to keep in mind is you might want to make a plaster
support mold for the latex mold. This insures that the head will
not come out mishaped specially if the piece you want to
reproduce is large. Your local craft shop should also have a
booklet on how to make molds using latex rubber.
-- Robert Decastro
Rob Sorrels
Resin Casting Instructions
TOOLS, EQUIPMENT, AND STUFF REQUIRED:
1. MAKING THE MOLD
Safety equipment (glasses, mask, rubber gloves, etc), Disposable paint brushes, Liquid latex rubber, GI Joe head, Cardboard, Glue (Superglue, Elmers, etc), Baby powder.
2. MAKING THE RESIN COPY
Safety equipment (glasses, mask, rubber gloves, etc), Mixing cups (I use measuring cups for this), Popsicle-type sticks, Toothpicks (sometimes), Resin & catalyst.
3. FINISHING THE RESIN COPY
Safety equipment (glasses, mask, rubber gloves, etc), Hobby knives (X-acto or equivalent), Rotary tool (Dremel or equivalent) with selection of bits, drills, etc., Sandpaper, A template with a bunch of different size round holes in it (office supply
store should have them), Rubber O-ring (Size #91 - 11/16x7/16x1/8 for males heads), Wire, Acrylic paints, Clear (matt, semi-gloss, or flat) spray paint or lacquer.
Before getting into the "meat" of this article, let me caution you that some of these procedures,
equipment, materials, etc can be dangerous if you don't use caution. PLEASE be careful, use
safety equipment, and think about what you are doing before you do it. This should be fun, and a
trip to the emergency room is never fun!!!
I. MAKING THE MOLD:
1. Take the head (that you want to copy) off the body. Usually you can just twist and pull and it
will come off. You may need to warm it up to make the plastic a little more pliable. Marx heads
can be removed by first removing the spring holding the arms to the body. The Marx head will
slide out after you remove that spring.
2. Using your glue (I like to use gap-filling superglues), glue the head neck-down to your
cardboard. I like the cardboard to be about 6" square so I can pick it up easily as I work with it.
To duplicate Marx heads you will need to cut a hole in the cardboard for the neck to fit down into
since the Marx necks are about 2" long! I use electrical tape on the bottom of the cardboard to
hold Marx heads to the cardboard.
3. After the glue dries, start painting on the liquid latex with your disposable brush. Make the first
coat thin and make sure you get the latex into all the little nooks & crannies like the nose, ears,
eyes, etc. Be sure to cover the entire head and paint out onto the cardboard into a circle about
one to two inches around the base of the neck. Let this first coat dry for at least a half-hour.
Throw away the disposable paint brush, it's too much trouble to attempt to clean out the latex!
4. Keep applying thin coats to the head and the area around the base of the neck. Try to get even
coverage over the entire piece. Allow at least a half-hour between coats so the latex has a chance
to dry. Setting the piece in front of a fan will help speed-up the drying process!
5. Apply about a dozen coats to the mold-to-be. After the last coat, allow the mold to dry for at
least 24 hours.
6. After letting the mold dry/cure for at least 24 hours, dust it well with baby powder. This will
keep the latex from sticking to itself as you take it off the head.
7. Carefully peel the latex away from the cardboard around the edge of the mold. Peel it away up
to the head all around. Dust the freshly exposed latex with baby powder.
8. Now firmly grasp the base of the mold with both hands, put a thumb on the top of the head,
and peel the mold off the head. Pull on the base of the mold as you push with your thumb. Allow
the mold to turn inside out as you take the head out of it.
9. Dust the inside of the mold with baby powder. Turn the mold right-side out. The mold is
complete at this point.
10. To make the mold tougher you can bake it in your oven, but I've never felt the need to do this.
As you cast the resin copies, the resin curing will generate heat and cure the latex so that it'll get
tougher over time.
Eventually the mold will rip, tear, or just generally break down to the point you'll need to make
another one. Some of my molds have broken down after only six copies and others are still in
good condition after almost 20 copies.
11. To make a cardboard support for the mold, take two pieces of cardboard that are about 6"
square and cut a "U" shaped cutout in one side of each (see below for a crude idea of what they
look like) but smaller than the circular base of latex. Also make the "U" channels long enough so
that when you slide them together around the neck of the mold, they overlap a bit. When we turn
the mold upside down to pour in the resin, the mold will rest on these pieces of cardboard. I use
clothespins to keep the cardboard pieces together where they overlap.
II. MAKING THE RESIN COPY.
1. Put the cardboard supports around the mold. Place the mold, head down, on a cup, mug, or
other suitable (and sturdy) holder.
2. Mix the resin per the instructions that came with it. Use a popsicle stick to mix the resin in an
appropriate size mixing cup.
3. Pour resin into the mold until it is about half full. Turn and rotate the mold to get the resin in all
the ears, nose, etc. Take the popsicle stick that you mixed the resin with and poke it around in the
mold to break up any air bubbles in the nooks and crannies. Don't poke so hard you bust the
mold, just enough to get the resin into all the small spaces. The usual places air bubbles appear are
on the ears, nose, and chin. Finish filling the mold with resin. Poke around (massage!) the ears,
nose, etc to get all the bubbles out.
4. Let the resin cure for about a half-hour or so. The mold will be warm due to the chemical
reaction of the resin.
5. Remove the resin duplicate from the mold in the same manner as you removed the original
head. If you attempt to do this too soon, the resin will distort. If you do this after the mold cools
down, you'll have a greater risk of tearing the mold. After practice you'll figure out a good time
interval to allow before pulling off the mold.
6. Let the resin copy continue to cure. I usually let mine cure overnight. Put it on a piece of
cardboard, newspaper, etc to cure.
7. The first copy from a new mold is usually trash. The baby powder that you use to keep the
latex from sticking to itself is picked up by the resin and ruins the finish of the first duplicate. I just
plan on tossing the first head into the trash. The heat from that first copy cures the latex enough
so that it doesn't stick to itself as readily as fresh latex does.
8. Let the mold cool completely between casting copies. It will last longer that way. Remember
the heat toughens the latex.
9. I use cheap plastic mixing cups to mix my resin in, and popsicle sticks to mix it. After pouring
the resin into the mold, I just let the excess resin cure in the mixing cup. Once it hardens, you can
flex the mixing cup and the excess, now-cured, resin will pop right out. You can also leave the
popsicle stick in the excess resin and use it as a lever to help get the cured stuff out of the mixing
cup. If you wait for the resin to cure, clean up will be a breeze!
10. If you have too much resin left over from one head mold, and you don't want to waste it, you
can pour it into another mold and leave it there. Later when you have more resin left over, you
can pour it into the same mold, on top of the previous resin (now cured). A nice property of resin
is it will stick to itself so well you'll think it was poured at one time. I had my router grab a head I
was working on and it pulled the head out of my hand, spun it around a few hundred times and
threw it across the room. It ricocheted all around the hard floor and concrete block walls. It
turned out to be a head that I had poured from two different resin batches like described above.
No damage at all to the head! (This also illustrates why safety gear is required!)
III. FINISHING THE RESIN COPY.
(NOTE: mounting technique applicable to HOF and CC
Joes, others will require different techniques!!!)
1. If you use the same type resin I do, finishing the copy is fairly easy. The resin works just like
styrene plastic. Start by sanding the base of the neck flat. Place a sheet of medium or course
sandpaper on a flat surface, then just rub the copy back and forth until the base is flat and at the
height you want it to be.
2. If you're making copies of old Marx heads, you'll need to use the sandpaper and/or hobby knife
to clean up the mold line that Marx left on the heads. If you don't want to do this with every new
copy, then use a cleaned-up copy as a new master and make a mold from it.
3. Take the template with all the round holes in it and find the hole that is just a tiny bit larger than
the mounting peg you will be mounting the head onto. Place that hole over the bottom of the neck
and center it up. Use a pen or pencil and draw that circle on the bottom of the neck.
4. Take your Dremel tool and using a drill bit, drill a series of small holes around the inside of the
circle you drew on the bottom of the neck. Make the drill holes longer than the height of the
body's mounting peg.
5. Put a barrel-shaped router bit on the Dremel tool and use it to router out the neck and head to
the diameter of the drawn circle. Make sure the hole is deeper than the mounting peg is tall. The
head should fit loosely over the neck peg at this point.
6. About 1/8th inch from the base of the neck, router a slightly deeper edge around the inside of
the hole you made in step 5. A cone-shaped bit is best for this. This slightly deeper portion is
where the rubber O-ring will eventually sit. The inside of the neck should look something like this:
7. Put a rubber O-ring on the body's neck mounting peg.
8. Wrap a small piece of wire around the mounting peg, above the O-ring. The idea behind these
last two steps is that the O-ring will fit into the small groove we made in step 6 and hold the head
onto the mounting peg. The O-ring's inside diameter is larger than the peg's diameter so it allows
the head to flop around on the neck. The wire wrapped above the O-ring keeps the O-ring down
tight on the bottom of the mounting peg and keeps the head snug so it won't flop around. The O-
ring mounting allows the head to turn side-toside just like the original. Some folks cast the heads
directly to the body, but that eliminates the articulation.
9. Test fit the head to the body.á Make any adjustments necessary to get the head to fit snugly
onto the body. Then remove the head for final finishing.
10. Wash the head well with dish soap. This will get your finger oils off the head and help the
paint to stick better.
11. Paint the head with acrylics.
12. Allow the acrylics to dry well, then spray the entire head with clear spray paint.
13. Allow the spray paint to dry well (usually overnight) and then mount the head back onto the
body.
14. Dress your new troop and enjoy!
MISCELLANEOUS RAMBLINGS ON RESIN CASTING
1. I use resin from Ace Resin, 7481 E. 30th Street, Tucson, AZ 85710-6338
website: http:\\www.crystaltower.com/aceresin
Like I said earlier, this is easily workable with hobby tools. If I want to make several duplicates
with changes to the original head, like removing scars, mustaches, etc, I make a mold of the
original, then cast a good copy. I take that copy and make any changes to it that I want, then use
it to make another mold for the changed head. I can now use that mold to cast a bunch of heads
different from the original. Some of the ones I've made are: Sgt Savage without the bandaid on his
forehead, Roadblock without his beard & goatee, Marx Silver Knight without goatee, and the CC
head sculpt without hair (bald).
2. Don't put any unfinished resin parts on your furniture. I did one time... when I picked it up
again a few hours later, the furniture's finish came up with the head... down to the bare wood..á
my wife loved that... :-(
3. The resin takes about 3 - 5 minutes to begin to set up. You have about that amount of time to
get all the air bubbles out of the mold. If you wind up with a bubble, when you take the copy out
of the mold it will have a hole in it where the bubble was. You can fill this hole with model putty
or even auto body putty if you want to save the head.
4. Ace also sells RTV mold-making material. This is a two-part liquid rubber material that you
mix together and then pour over your item (in a suitable box to contain the mess!) to make a
moldá I haven't had much luck making molds with this stuff, and it's many times more expensive
than the brush-on latex! I get my latex from Hobby Lobby and it costs about $10 for enough to
make approximately 25 - 30 head molds.
5. The cheapest brushes I've been able to find for mold-making are the ones with plastic handles
that you can find in hobby storesá I found a great source called "Everything's a Dollar" where I
get a pack of 24 brushes for $1.00. That's enough for two head molds. Hobby Lobby also has
brushes like this, but they get a few more cents for theirs. I also got my cheapo measuring cups
that I use to mix the resin in from Everything's a Dollará Hobby Lobby sells popsicle sticks in a
box big enough to last you for several years, or you can get them in small sizes, too. You can also
save them from your popsicles and/or fudgesicles! ;-)
-- Rob Sorrels
Using Sculpy
I used sculpy to make a mold for the Fender logo on my amp. It worked
with the polyester resin that I used. You need to use a mold
release on it!
-- Jerry Brownlee
Miscellaneous Comments
The problem with a rigid outer over a latex inner mold is
getting the molded piece out afterwards. The mold has to be
flexible enough that the molded piece can be worked out of the latex
mold after its finished. A solid one piece plaster casing won't work.
The two piece plaster mold casing works perfectly but you have to be
absolutely sure you get the plaster casing lined up over the latex
inner perfectly, or the plaster casing will deform the latex mold
and ruin the piece. I get around this problem by attaching a few index
pins made of this styrene rod to the latex mold and latex over them to
secure them to it. When you replace the plaster casing each time you
are ready to mold something, simply get the pins into the corresponding
holes in the plaster casing. Rubber band the two piece plaster casing
together and you're all set.
-- Richard A Lewis
I tried my first head mold with liquid latex. It work pretty well, but the
jaw balloned out. Suggestions?
Apply three or four coats to the head and let them dry, then apply the
next coat and layer it with a single ply of gauze. Do the same for
the next coat as well and you'll have a pretty permanent mold.
One thing, some latex mold making material requires vulcanizing to
properly strengthen and cure the mold. If yours does, then follow
the directions and boil the mold in water for however long it says.
-- Richard A Lewis
The best thing to do is make a mother mold (out of plaster) to keep the
latex mold from shifting in shape. This can be two pieces. You can
even use plaster bandages for it. This should keep it from moving at
all.
-- Sean
I had the same problem, except the whole head balloned out. It was
pretty funny actually. Part of the problem was the latex mold,
it wasn't thick enough. The main reason is that the resin I used
expanded a fair amount (foamed a bit). I made a new mold and
switched to a different resin. (Alumilite)
-- Scott
Make sure the alumilite not make contact with moisture.
Water for instance, even tiny spots of it, will cause alumilite to foam.
-- Robert Decastro
Where can I learn more about doing all this?
Contact Synair in chattanooga, TN. They sell casting resins
(pour-a-cast resin systems) and vidoes on mold making and casting.
I recommend "G.I.-1000" RTV silicone rubber for making molds and any PTFE
release agent will do (avoid silicone oil based release agents).
When pouring the other halve of your RVT mold use a vasoline based release
agent on the contacting rubber sufaces only, not on the parts.
-- Jim