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I have been looking at Alumilite's web site contemplating weather or not to start casting some parts and was wondering what resin and silicone everyone uses. I am also wondering if there is a cheaper product on the market price wise. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks JOSH

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though l concur with terry on the aluminite I have yet to try Micro mark's resin. There is one l think called smooth on which is pretty good. I have yet to find someone in Canada that sells the stuff

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I've recently tried Alumilite's "Amazing Mold Putty" and resin. It worked as advertised. The mold putty is RTV that's in a semi-solid form instead of liquid. It's softer than Silly Putty before you mix it. Two parts, equal volumes, you knead them together for about half a minute and then press it over the thing you want to copy. It cures in about 15 minutes. I used it to copy some parts from the Tamiya F4D for use in the Airfix F4D. I also used it to create templates for some bulkheads. I pressed the putty into the area of the fuselage where I wanted a bulkead, let it cure, and then sliced the cured putty at the line where the bulkhead was needed. I was able to use the sliced surface to trace the contour of the bulkhead onto sheet styrene. Worked good.

I tried MicroMark's resin a couple of years ago and it didn't work well. I think maybe it was moisture in the mold; it caused the resin to foam up and have a million bubbles. I was more careful with the Alumilite and didn't get that problem. I used my wife's (with permission) dehydrator to heat up the mold before I poured the resin. This will dry it out, plus, it helps thin sections of the cast part to cure better. The resin needs heat to cure properly, if the part is thick enough the heat generated by the resin is enough, if the part is thin it helps to heat the mold to about 100 degrees F.

Unfortunatley, no matter which resin you go with, it's not exactly cheap. It also has a fairly short shelf life once it's been opened. Not much more than a year.

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Tried Alumilite products before and didn't care for them. The RTV types I tried never held up to undercuts very well and tore after the 10th casting. The resin always set up too quick. I've also tried Smooth-On, Vagabond and the types from Micro-Mark. After years of experimentation I found two products on "EvilBay" that work wonderfully and am sticking to them:

For RTV-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Silicone-RTV-Mold-Making-rubber-22A-4-4lb-kit-1-1-mix-/220819379393?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D694082883911475745%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26

And resin, here's their website-

http://compositherm.com/co.html

The Rubber sets good in about two hours, won't need degassing for most applications, is a one to one mix and easy to use. And it's CHEAP! The resin has a good working time, dries in a tan color and can be tinted using other brands dyes (including Alumilite's).

Hope this helps. I'm currently using these products for my new resin line and am in no way affiliated with either company.

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though l concur with terry on the aluminite I have yet to try Micro mark's resin. There is one l think called smooth on which is pretty good. I have yet to find someone in Canada that sells the stuff

Industrial Paint and Plastic in BC sells it. The smooth on website lists a few other places too.

http://www.smooth-on.com/distributor_country.php?country=Canada

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I really like the Smooth On product. Lots of choices to weed through for your application. I used the OOMOO series RTV because there is no scale required and the smooth cast 321 resin. I did try alumilite once and found it a little brittle. The 321 came out very nice. It is very much a blend of science and art to get it right. Depending on what you are making you may end up wanting a vacuum and pressure chamber. I started out not using one but then found out how nice the casts came out once you use it. There are lots of videos out there on you tube that get you started. Do a search here as well.

http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=243829&st=0&p=2320035&hl=resin&fromsearch=1entry2320035

http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=237130&st=0&p=2260220&hl=resin&fromsearch=1entry2260220

http://www.micromark.com/html_pages/instructions/82083i/part_mold.htm

If you are making a one piece mold you want to use a softer RTV like 25 harness although I have used 30 with good results.

I use my kids legos to form little mold boxes. They work great. Also you will want a mold release spray to keep the parts from sticking.

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