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Beany Cap Success...


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After months of experimentation, master design changes, mold design changes, and resin experimentation, I can finally report success with the Monogram Beany Cap project. I have one successful pour that I demolded tonight, so I am not out of the woods yet. I have another sitting in the mold right now. It takes about 72 hours for the resin to cure completely. I am not using pressure or vacuum, so the resin is not "perfectly clear," There are some tiny air bubbles, but they are very small. Fortunately, visible air bubbles are not present in the windows as the casting is thinner there. Still, if you want glass smooth windows, they will be need to be polished. The pour also has roughness around the edges from the mold. Remember, this is a garage product. I am not a well funded commercial resin aftermarket company or anything. I am in the process of making some additional pours, and writing a simple instruction sheet. Assuming I get consistency with the pours, I should be able to make these available sometime next week. Price will be $25 including domestic shipping/handling via Paypal.

Here is what the master looks like:

masterrightside.jpg

masterleftside.png

Here is what the resin pour looks like. You can see the tiny air bubbles. There are also some minor mold flaws and it will require some cleanup around the edges. Nothing a regular modeler can't handle.

resinright.png

resinleft.png

Master and resin pour side by side.

masterandresin.png

Edited by DutyCat
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These came out great! I think they will sell really well, and like you said, any flaws are nothing that the modeler that would invest in these shouldn't be able to smooth out.

One thing, and this is very minor but might be an easy fix and make it that much better. It might just be the photos so ignore this if it is, but it looks like the master has a slight paint texture which might be what's making the windows not as clear as they could be. Is there any way to maybe add a clear coat (clear laquer maybe?)or something and make the master as smooth as possible in that area. The rest of it doesn't matter since it will be painted, but if you could get the windows glass smooth that may help. Just an minor observation.

keep it up, I may have to go buy another Monogram shuttle just so I can get this. :woot.gif:

Bill

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Bill,

The master was coated with Tamiya Fine Gray Primer and then a couple of coats of Testors Glosscote. Although not glass smooth, it is smooth enough. One problem, if you want to call it that, is the relationship between the resin and the mold. There is a mold release which I apply as a fine mist. This mist residue may be reflected in the pour, contributing to the look. Additionally, light is passing through the piece, so the tiny air bubbles inside, ones even smaller than you can see in the piece, are scattering the light some, making the piece less than crystal clear. The visible bubbles are not showing in the glass, but there is a hint of opacity. It is the best I can do without resorting to a pressure or vacuum pot. The trick, I think, is to polish the interior side of the windows a bit, and then put a drop or two of Future in each window pane on the outside. If a builder does that, they should be fine. I don't know that I would attempt to light the flight deck from the inside, as that will magnify any minor flaws. All this will be explained in the instructions.

I did heat up the mold last night before the pour, and I a hopeful that will make it a tiny bit clearer, but what you see is essentially what you are going to get.

Also, I have read comments about not purchasing because of the tile work not being in scale with the rest of the orbiter surface if one is going to go with decals throughout. Remember, the goal here was to correct the window sizing and star tracker ports. The tile was an extra bonus. The builder can always sand down the tile to make it thinner, or eliminate it, if they are not going to texture the rest of the orbiter upper surface.

Thanks, Gil

Edited by DutyCat
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Hey Gil, sorry I hope that didn't come across like a put down. I think what you have is GREAT! I was just looking at the pics and had a wrong idea about what I was seeing. :cheers:

I agree about the tile, I think it could be sanded down easily enough. Besides that, you've covered the area that actually has tile, building up the small area around it even if you use decals wouldn't be too hard either. Either way they decide to go will be miles ahead of what's stock.

Now where did I put that check book?

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Hey Gil, sorry I hope that didn't come across like a put down. I think what you have is GREAT! I was just looking at the pics and had a wrong idea about what I was seeing. 271.gif

I agree about the tile, I think it could be sanded down easily enough. Besides that, you've covered the area that actually has tile, building up the small area around it even if you use decals wouldn't be too hard either. Either way they decide to go will be miles ahead of what's stock.

Now where did I put that check book?

No, it didn't come across as a put down. And I did not mean to come across as defensive. Tone is one thing that an email cannot convey, so it is sometimes easy to misunderstand the intent of someone's words.

Last night, I did another pour, only this time I thought I would heat up the mold in an attempt to eliminate the air bubbles. Well, not so fast. This stuff is temperature sensitive. If it is too cold, it gives you bubbles and cloudiness because it is too thick to degas properly. If is too hot, the reaction is too aggressive to degas properly before it starts to set up. Two nights ago, when I got the good result, I had put the resin bottles in warm water for five/ten minutes to warm them up a little (the instructions tell you to do that) and did a very slow pour. Last night, I heated up the mold, thinking it would help the process. It didn't. All I got was a bunch of cloudiness and bubbles. Tonight, I went back to the method I used the first time I got a good result. Well see tomorrow how it turns out. I might have to get a thermometer and make sure I am dead on with the temperature of the resin. Maybe I got lucky the first time around. The experimentation continues until I nail this down and get a consistent, acceptable result. If I can't get that, I guess I could try to get someone to pressure or vaccum pot mold them for me. Worse case is the builder cuts out the windows and puts in their own clear plastic in. If that turns out to be the case, then I won't need clear resin. We will see!

Edited by DutyCat
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Well, I guess I spoke too soon. Here is last night's pour. Although the air bubbles now seem to be under control, another problem has emerged. Two test pours ago, I decided to heat up my RTV mold in the Microwave. I had read somewhere that a heated up mold would help resin cure a little faster and more thoroughly. It did do that, but I had more air bubbles than ever before. Also, after that demold, I noticed that the surface of the mold appeared flat (not glossy). Before the microwaving, it was shinier. The next pour I did, the one you see below, came out hazy. Maybe the resin itself was not heated up enough. I have another pour in now, using resin that I heated up pretty well in hot water. We will see how it turns our tomorrow night when I demold it. If I can't get this nailed down, I may have to take a different approach. It might turn out that I am not going to get consistent, acceptable results using clear resin. After a previous pour, I tried polishing out the windows from the inside, and that did not work well. The resin material does not polish up well, perhaps because it is not hard enough. It even says in the instructions that the resin is not really suitable for polishing. I tried coating the windows with Future, and that did not help much either. If I can't get this figured out in the next pour or two, I may have to resort to pouring an opaque, punching out the windows, and then applying clear styrene sheet behind the window framing. I hate to have to do that, but it may be the only way. I have thought about sending it out to a resin caster, but I really don't think the product is high quality enough to ask an established vendor to sell it from an online store front. This will have to be an in house job, however it turns out. If I go with opaque, I would keep the price the same, but throw in a section of clear styrene. The builder would have to punch out the windows and remove a bit of interior window frame thickness in order to get the clear styrene pieces to sit flush.

dsc0477sb.jpg

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Gil,

Given the issues you are having, it still looks like it's coming along nicely.

If you decide to cast these in opaque resin, maybe you could punch out the windows on the master and make the area behind the windows a bit thinner. I'm not sure if the mold/casting process will allow the windows to be punched out but maybe it'll work.

Mike.

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Gil,

Given the issues you are having, it still looks like it's coming along nicely.

If you decide to cast these in opaque resin, maybe you could punch out the windows on the master and make the area behind the windows a bit thinner. I'm not sure if the mold/casting process will allow the windows to be punched out but maybe it'll work.

Mike.

Mike,

I would have to pour yet another mold. I have poured three so far, as I have encountered various design or production issues. If I decided to go that route, I would design in some insert guides as well, and put some templates on the instruction sheet for the windows. That is probably the best way if I am going to go that route, but it would result in another month delay while I reworked the master. I also think I would need to invest in some additional sculpting tools to do precise interior step work.

The builder would have to punch out the windows because of potential mold complications. I could make them thinner, though.

I will get this figured our eventually, one way or another.

Thanks,

Gil

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Have you considered vacu-forming clear sheets vs pouring clear resin? You should be able to make a vac master from your resin master without much modification.

I think the piece is too big for my vacu-former. I also don't think it can get enough detail fidelity using a vacu-form either. The part needs to be study and thick overall as well.

I have decided to just go ahead and retool the master to accept window inserts. It is going to take a bit of work and a new mold. A suggestion was made to use actual glass for the windows in the form of microscope slide covers, scored and then broken to the correct shapes. I am going to experiment with this to see if it works. If it does, I will include them in the final product, along with good instructions. On could always substitute clear sheet styrene if so desired.

See you guys in several weeks when the work is complete.

Edited by DutyCat
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