Bluffman

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So is that mine, it looks awesome. I want one for sure for my sea fury. Ian

Jet20

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fly4real,

That is some serious sculpting talent! I'm assuming that the head cast you made is solid? Did you put it under pressure after pouring it to alleviate air bubbles (only way I know to get a cast like that and retain all those fine details)? Also, I'm really curious as to what resin and silicone brand you are using?

Any chance of a 1/5 german pilot at some point? I have a SisT 190D that is going to be looking for a pilot one of these days.



Chris

Fly4Real

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Thanks Jet20 for the compliments. No, not solid! The resin was ROTOCAST which makes for a hollow and therefore, very light pilot figure. The entire figure when cast will weigh less than 4.5 ounces! Rotocasting also helps eliminate the bubbles.

Resin is Smooth-On Rotocast and the Silicone is Alumalite #3 Heavy duty mold material.

Jet20

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Hmm, interesting. Is that with a machine or by hand? I've used the Alumilite #3 and am not real keen on it in truth. Did you vaccum it or pressurize it at all? I've found if you don't, it likes to trap a lot of air...could be I get impatient and pour it too quickly too though. Which smooth on resin is it? I'm curious the specs. I've found the JGreer resins and silicones to be really nice stuff to work with.

Sorry for all the questions, I make the small scale jet pilots for JHH and am always looking for ways to cast them better. I'm amazed there were no bubble artifacts whatsoever in your casting with all of that intricate detail. I'm sure the pilot being on the larger size helps the resin flow into those areas easier. Anyways, I greatly appreciate your help.


Chris

P4Patti

Hey Lyle

Congratulations on the birth , no epidural and no air bubbles better still Great looking kid too

Have you ever heard of glove silicone for making the mould? I thought you might be interested as it's what we now use and it enables you to do ONE part moulds. No flashing, no joins. Undercuts no problem. These are the specs

12 Shore A, high tear strength, silicone rubber providing excellent physical properties for glove and skin moulding applications. Great for moulds with large undercuts, and can produce seamless moulds.

Brilliant stuff and you can slush (rotary, hand or machine) cast for a light hollow casting. just done a quick cast of a head and will put a picture of it half born! Sorry about the picture quality, should be working!

Let me know if you're interested and want any more details.

cheers
Patti

ZERO-322

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How long does it take the stuff to set up ? and what kind of cost would be involved ?

Fly4Real

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Jet20 - Rotocast is by machine. With the Alumalite, no pressure or vacuum. I just pour it slowly in a thin stream and you can see the bubbles pop as they cascade over the lip of the cup. I get an occasional bubble but nothing huge. Now the smaller the piece the more critical the size of the bubble and that may be what you are experiencing. Specs for the Smooth-on is attached. They apparently changed the names of their products, so it took me a bit to find what I use.

Zero-322 - Set up time for the mold material is around 24 hours give or take a couple. Set up time for the resin is 6 to 10 minutes depending on temp and humidity. My mold material cost around $2 an oz. and the Resin cost is about $125 a gallon.

P4Patti - I knew you would get a kick out of the birth analogy! The glove silicone process looks very promising. How many impressions can you get out of one? The alumalite starts to break down after about 75 casts. And when it goes... it goes!
I will have to give the glove mold a try, now, back to work. Thanks for sharing!

Jet20

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Cool, thanks for sharing. I think the big key is the rotocast machine. I found some plans for a small one online, I'll probably build one at some point.


Chris

P4Patti

Hi Lyle

I don't really know how many casts you'd get out of the flexible mould sorry - I haven't done that sort of quantity from the one. The thing is it's quick and easy to do and you can remould from one of your castings if it does break down. I'm looking forward to seeing your baby painted.

cheers
Patti

Fly4Real

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Today I finally got to paint on Sailor. I was really excited to see him in something other than monochrome! I first cleaned the resin cast with soap and water to wash away any mold release. This is VERY IMPORTANT so don’t forget to clean your figures before starting to paint or the paint will come off in later stages.

Next I airbrush a very thin layer of light skin tone. This gives a bit of “tooth” to the paint for the next step which is PASTELs! Yep, something I recently discovered. Pastels are actually one of the most lightfast pigments you can get (ever see any faded on the shelves in the store?) since they are almost completely pigment. I take the colors of Pastel I am going to use and rub them on a small piece of sandpaper, which then becomes my pallet. I simply brush on, LIGHTLY, the colors I want, darker to lighter to get the correct shading.

I know I’m doing something right when I start to slightly get a creepy sensation that Sailor could almost talk to me.

One time I had several pilot heads painted and my wife came in to talk to me but said she couldn’t because all of those realistic little heads looking at her was creeping her out. So I now keep several on my desk at all times! (Just kidding honey!)

After the Pastels, I then spray a coat of Dulcoat to protect it.

Fly4Real

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The eyes and the eyebrows are then painted. The sculpted in “hair” makes this really easy to do. This is where the extra time in sculpting pays off!

Fly4Real

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Then the helmet and goggles, which start out black and are then “dry-brushed” with the matching browns to simulate leather. Again, textures really help make quick work of this and add to the realism. The helmet and goggles are a “symphony” of different colored leathers! Very rich looking when completed. And lastly the metallic snaps and buttons are painted. Whole thing is given a coat of Dullcoat to protect.

ram3500-RCU

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Honey I shrunk the pilot!!!!!!

Wonderful work.

Mustangman40

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Unreal, that looks real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MANFRED

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Fantastic work. What are the possibilities of you doing a 1/5 Luft pilot? Could use several for my ESM Fw-190 and the new 1/5 Bf-109 G-6 about to release.

Fly4Real

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i've got some work to do on my own RC planes to get them ready for the season. When it is summer time... I'd rather be flying! I think my next pilot will be German, but will be WWI. Then I may venture back to WWII Luftwaffe. I will definitely do one at some point.

Fly4Real

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COMPLETE! Right at 120 hours for sculpting and making molds. Whew... I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Fly4Real

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I think we got pretty close to the full scale on this one.

Flyin Hwn

4real,
I need one for my 90in. Vailly Seafury.

Flying Hwn

Thunderbolt47

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Bravo!!!

spitmad

I am lost for words !


Can we place orders yet ???.........I would like two

Alan

Fly4Real

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Sailor Malan is available for purchase at the Best Pilots website:
bestpilots.typepad.com
I want to sincerely thank everyone on this forum for your kind words, encouragement and inspiration. This really added a level of enjoyment for me on this project and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!

Brad330l

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I second that.[sm=thumbs_up.gif]
It has been great following along.

Congratulations.

Brad

TOGAmax

Magnifique!! You' ve done a fantastic job. It' s not modelling, it' s some art.

Fly4Real

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Absolutely TOGAmax! Stay tuned.