David Foster asked if I would post info on where we can get materials to mold scenery. Where I work the materials are readily available to me. I use them everyday. Its a mix of polyester resin, Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP), and different color pigments. We get the resin in 55 gallon drums, the MEKP in 1 gallon jugs and pigment in 50 pound pales. I did an inquiry to the supplier to find out if we can get it in smaller quantities. I’ll let you know when i find out more. I’ll ask my boss at work too. This is dangerous stuff to work with so be careful.[xx(] The mixture is as follows,
454 grams resin
1 gram MEKP
17 grams pigment
This mix will gel in about 12 minutes, and be solid in 18 minutes, so you have to work fast. It will also heat itself up to 350 degress as it hardens. There are other materials that work slower to gel. The use of Cumene Peroxide will slow the gel time down enormously. For more info goto www.compositesone.com. This is our main supplier of these materials.
Thanks Rockisland! [:D][:D][:D]Do you think I’d need one or two drums to make Mount Shasta in H0?!?
Seriously (that idea was frightening) thanks and please post us on small quantities. What do you do about the heat? Apart from not work on the kitchen table? Do smaller amounts heat up less? Do you use heat sinks? if so what? Does limiting heat or cooling too fast cause problems?
What mould material do you need… especially with those temperatures? Can you re-use moulds or does the heat destroy them?
How big a mould can you use without real distortion problems? (E.g. a building side??)
Possibly most important… how do you put the stuff out if it catches fire??? What must you NOT do?
Thanks again. [:D][:D][:D][:D][
No response from Composites One yet, but my boss said he will get me list of suppliers and maybe some cost of mold materials. Using less resin will not lower cureing temps. They all heat up from 200 to 350 degress, but only for a short time then it cools down. The use of high temp plastic that will withstand the heat is best. A polyeurathane plastic mold works best also. You will want to work in a ventalated area, fumes are flamable. You can reuse molds too. If a fire should erupt, use dry chemical foam to extinguish, or baking soda. I will let you know more specific molding compounds when i hear more from my boss. Later, Ryan