My Newbie Questions

[greenmtvince]

Tried my first mold and casts of a 28mm figure, using Smooth-On's OOMOO 30 rubber and Smoothcast 310 resin at standard pressure. I picked the slower curing products thinking that would reduce bubbles. Creating the two part mold went well, and it seemed to pick up all the details. The first cast however was on the quality of the green army men that you can get a bag of 50 for $1. I suspected it was my (improvised) choice of release agent, olive oil, and that I'd used too much. On the second cast, I used less 'release agent' and it came out with far more detail, not enough for me to be happy, but stuck to the mold, and destroyed it.

The first question is do I need to use the release agent that Smooth-On sells, or does the old heated vaseline trick work for casting or is that just mold-making? How do you ensure it's not on too thick?

2nd question answered through search: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=396&p=3903&hilit=oomoo#p3903

[Arkangel]

Best thing to do is head over to the Advisory section in Dr Polymer or go check the Modelling or Scratchbuilding section in The Clinic.

You'll find a wealth of knowledge in those areas and maybe pick up a thread where someone has similar issues

Hope this helps

[greenmtvince]

Yes, apparently I forgot all about the search function techique that works on every other forum on the interwebz...LOL

I blame it on too much resin dust exposure.

[Anvils Hammer]

for resin on silicone, you dont need a release agent, and certainly not anything organic!!

ive cast without release agent 99% of the time out of thousands of casts and no problems at all. It might prolong mold life a bit but the hassel for me, is not worth it.

Post some photos of your mold, assuming its an original sculpt :p

AH

[mangozac]

If doing production casting it's preferable to use a release agent (generally a wax based spray) as it prolongs mould life. For personal use though it shouldn't be necessary.

When you say it "destroyed the mould" when you used less release agent what do you mean? The details tore? Perhaps there were air bubbles in the silicone at really bad locations that tore off once the resin grabbed it a little bit?

Did you mix the silicone and resin exactly as the instructions say (using accurate scales and/or measuring cups)?

[Hiflt4]

A light dusting of talc *dust it and blow the excess out untill you basically cant see any white* or Ease Release 200 in arisol form from mann release technologies is what I use. It helps in mold life.