# First Attempt at Casting A Mold



## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Well I jumped in with the experts here on MLS. I won't call myself one yet, but I've attempted successfully to make a bubble free mold!!!! Thanks to all the helpful articles here online, and in GR I was able to make the leap, and I'm glad I did. Tommorrow begins the first casting with the new mold. Hopefully everything will work out great.


I decieded that a simple building need to become more complicated and thus the creation was started. Using some LEGO pieces, I've formed the beings of a roll up garage door for a grain silo/processing facility, that I hope will be able to roll up and provide access for the yet to be built grain trucks. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif I've never thought about using some of my old LEGO's as building parts. Tommorrow will also bring a search for LEGO windows to see if they will fit scale wise for future buildings.


If anyone else is thinking about dipping thier toes into mold/casting making I would highly recommend it. I just got a starter kit from Micro-Mark, but it worked great to provide the basics to get started.


Thanks again for all the encouragement!!!


Craig


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Can't wait to see some pics!


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## Bongo Boy (Jan 8, 2008)

Congratulations! Moldmaking and casting is about as fun as it gets--let's see some photos! I didn't quite understand what you were casting and what you were building from Legos--pictures, my friend!


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Well I would like to post a photo, but I've got a couple of problems. The first one and the most important is a owning, or having access to a working digitial camera.
My parents 'had' one tell my dad ruined it one day in the snow/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/shocked.gif Not that I'm blaming him, but... it no longer works...

Here's a link to a LEGO page that shows the pieces that I've used. http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/5187-1 The third and fourth piece down are about 2 1/2'' long, but I'm going to cut them up and build them longer. The door will be built up of these interconnected pieces that allow it to pivot along the grooves of the first two pieces.  The total length and width of my garage is 6 1/2" x 5 1/2". Helpfully this will help.
Craig


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## ohioriverrailway (Jan 2, 2008)

Have fun, but remember to follow the resin mixing directions down to the last period. Tap Plastics (the folks who sponsor this area of the forum) make IMHO a product that works better than the MiscoMark resins. Seems to make a harder cast. I' in the process of trying tomake about 15 feet of building fronts.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the info about TAP's products. I just wanted enough product to make a few test products to see if I really want to invest in large quanitys of mold making. Now that I'm pleased with the results, I'll be starting a search for the 'right' product for me. Thanks to the article from Burl, I might go with the same products he uses, or check out the local TAP products I'm not sure yet. Certainly everyone is entitled to their own opinion! What I liked about the micro-mark starter kit is it gave you everything in one simple package. Granted its not much material, it allows for some one to dip thier toes in with out a major investment. 
Craig


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## ohioriverrailway (Jan 2, 2008)

It does that, and gives you a good supply of mold release for future projects. I've tried a couple of the resins for making building parts and Fox truck castings. It's good to work with, don't get me wrong there, but I think the TAP resin is better. To each their own! The LHS does stock MicroMark stuff, so that's a plus if I need to do something in a hurry.


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## Bongo Boy (Jan 8, 2008)

Yet another source I've used is Smooth-On. You can order directly from their site (www.smooth-on.com), although I'm not sure that's the least-expensive way to go. I found this to be a fairly-expensive process, but I also think it's about the only way to practically do some things. I wanted custom doors for boxcars and the plan was to build about 20 cars...so 40 boxcar ends. Casting looked like the only reasonable way to do that.

I was impressed with the detail that can be reproduced (both desired and unwanted) with the process. The technique forces you to really pay attention when making the patterns, since it highlights every tiny imperfection.


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