So...I bought this Alumilite Kit yesterday...

Went to hobby lobby to pick up some aluminum and copper tubing (got a good idea for header collectors!!!!) And I decided that I would pick up the alumilite Mini casiting kit. What the heck right? Well I poured my molds just a bit ago. I'm going to try and cast the engine from my top fuel kit. We'll see how it goes....My plan is to take the mold from the two halves of the engine and create a two peice mold. I put some styrene rod in one half of the mold as to create a pour spout and vent holes....I'm really hoping this works. If so, I plan on casting a couple of different engines like this. I feel it will really save me quite a bit of money in kit bashing. There are lots of older kits that I would like to put, say a 4.6 cobra motor in. Or, with all of the pro mod projects I have coming up......and the motors I bashed out of a top fuel and a funny car kit. It will save me from having lots of kits just laying around. Also, with the experience, say I were to churn out some awesome looking turbo's...or blower, or some intake or something...I can cast it and have it for the future, instead of trying to duplicate my work!! Hopefully I will have some results for you guys tomorrow morning. The mold should be set up by the time I get home, and I plan on pouring tonight.

Anyone know of a place to get RTV online? or a better product to use?

TIA

Stay Tuned

Let me give you a tip from a few years in the resin business. Find yourself some mustard or ketchup bottles. We have a store in the Atlanta area called the Container Store and they sell them in translucent for 89 cents each. We bought them by the case, but for low volume casting, one or two will be plenty. Mix your resin and pour it into the mustard bottle. The narrow tip will allow it to fit in a small pour spout. You can apply LIGHT pressure to the bottle to "help" the resin flow. Too much pressure and you get bubbles. When you are done pouring, lay the bottle on it's side (VERY IMPORTANT if you want to reuse the bottle) and let the resing cure. When th resin is cured, you can open the bottle, flex it a bit to loosen the hardened resin and pull it out of the hole. If you stand it up, the resin waste will be too large to come ou tof the bottle.

Also, if you decide to get a little more involved, casting engine blocks complete is a big time saver. We even cast them with the heads attached. You won't be able to do this with the RTV in the kit, because it is too high a durometer, but there is a lot of RTV available in low durometers with a high elasticity percentage, sometimes 200-400%. Back when NASCAR Bush G.N cars used V6 engines, we produced a conversion kit for the WC car kits. We assembled the block, filled seams, added the oil pan, heads, front cover, and the bellhousing. We used white glue to fasten the engine to the botom of a paper cup with the engine pointing up and mounted by the trans mounting face of the bellhousing. We then poured low durometer RTV in the cup. When it cured we simply peeled the cup away. The RTV mold was thick enough to support itself even though it was so soft. We then poured the resin through the hole where the engine was mounted. You could grasp the mold and almost turn it inside out and the semi-complete engines would pop out almost ready to go. All they needed was a quick cleanup of the trans mount face.

thanks for that tip. Do you know of anywhere i can "shop" for RTV?

You can try Synair in Chattanooga Tenn. They sell direct and have RTV available in small quantities. They make a lot of resins and RTV mold making materials. The site can get confusing if you're new to this, so call them. They will help out the hobbyist. Many of the kits packaged by model hobby suppliers use Synair products.

Here is a link to their mold making products:

http://www.hyperlastna.com/products/por_a_mold/main.htm

Here is a link to their resin material. I like it because it's white, and low odor.

http://www.hyperlastna.com/products/por_a_kast/main.htm

It looks like Synair was purchased and has been renamed, but the products appear to be the same.

thanks a bunch for the help!!!

Is the Aluminite kit that you bought that comes in a small box and costs around $40? If it is what comes in it and is it really worth it?

its 28.99. You get three stirring sticks, three measuring cups, some modelling clay. a two part RTV silicone, and two part resin. There is a good bit of resin here. but the mold compound is quite sparse. there was enough to make molds of both halves of the engine.......and maybe the front cover and the heads...if I'm lucky. if I had planned my molds out better and maybe used some square forms, It might have turned out in my favor. I would encourage anyone looking into buying this kit.....to shop around. See if you can find some better deals.........If you want something locally available at first to try your hand at molding......Give it a go. Start with SMALL peices though, that way you can get several molds out of it. I havn't poured my resin yet....about to do that in a few minutes. I will let you guys know

well.....I just poured the resin.....the two part mold didn't work out.....this resin sets up FAST. they tell you a 1:1 mix. and I mixed it exactly 1/4 oz to 1/4 oz....and This stuff set up before I got maybe an 1/8 of an oz in the mold....so I broke it down and am pouring it in halves.....We will see how it goes...hopefully I'll have some finished product up for you guys in an hour or so

Post some pics! I might get this for a Supra hood I'm making.

I've poured 4 engine halves so far!! lol. As you can see in the picture, I used WAY too much mold compound..I should have planned my molds a little better. Lessons learned though.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/miscellaneous/2005_0909Image0001.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/miscellaneous/2005_0909Image0002.jpg

you can see I had some bubbles on the bell housings in the ribs......I need to sort that out....or just sand them off!!!

wow they look like they came out great, they look perfect actually, so why do resin kits from actual companies come out like garbage?

im sure it has to do with the quality of RTV and resin that they use

Castings look great! Was this all made by the stuff in the kit?

yep

im thinking that my next resin project is going to be, to try and master some wheels. Specifically ones that would be applicable to the pro touring scene. If you are familiar with charlie libby's fairlane. I want to try some wheels similar to that one, for my fairlane project. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress

they look really well cast - congratulations! :bigthumb:

are the engine blocks "hollow" inside?

no. they are solid peices

I finished up the master for the wheel this morning and poured the mold. It should be ready to cast when I get home from work tonight. The way I did it, was to lay the wheel out on a circle of styrene, Then I completely constructed the detail for 1/5 of the wheel. I then cut that 1/5 out of the wheel and made the mold. This way, I will pour 5 peices from the mold. and be able to create 1 solid peice that is IDENTICAL in every quadrant and then pour a new mold and cast that peice. It is a bit wasteful in the mold compound....but it ensures that each 1/5 of the wheel is identical to each other.

Wow man the engines look great. Thats a great approach for the wheel. Cant wait to see it done.

I got that approach from a link someone posted up where the guy scratchbuilt a murcielago.

I've been in contact a lot with Chris at TEM and told him about my recent work. They are planning on expanding their line, and they have permissing from American Racing to replicate their whole line of Drag Racing wheels. I plan on starting work on those in the near future

Wow thats pretty cool. Good luck with that.

Very nice parts, especially for your first effort. The bubbles, or voids, you mentioned are caused by surface tension. You can break that tension by pouring some talcum powder into the mold cavity and then shaking out the excess. You don’t need much; you will shake out like 99.9% of the powder. Also, I see you have pouring gates in the mold. I assume the pictures are of only one side of the mold. You can save a bunch of RTV by using a cavity mold with a flat backing. I use plastic containers from the store made for storing women’s earrings, etc. They are clear plastic and you can find them with different sized compartments. Using these containers, you can pour your excess RTV into them whenever you have some left over from making a mold. I pour into them making the thickness about 1/8th of an inch. These little flat sheets work well as backing for open molds. I would pour the resin into the open cavity and sort of roll the RTV sheet over the top. That way you can make sure the bubbles are gone and still have a finished, flat back. If you use the mustard dispenser I mentioned in my first post, you can put the nozzle at the bottom of the cavity and let the resin fill it from the bottom. That way, you stand less chance of trapping bubbles in the cavity. You can pick what bubbles you find out of the cavity with a toothpick and then cap the mold with one of the sheets. This method will produce better parts more consistently. Now when you turn pro, you should cure the resin under pressure. We put the freshly poured molds into a tank made to attach to a paint gun for high volume jobs and pressurized the resin to about 40lbs. You will virtually eliminate bubbles with this method. Until you graduate to the pressure casting method, using the techniques described above will yield some good parts and save materials. Good luck, and if you have any questions, let me know.

I'll have to re read your post a couple of times. but I dont completely understand. lol

Will the size of the mold have an effect on the curing time of the resin? Im trying to pour the 1/5ths of my wheel, but it seems to not want to cure. I finally got a good mix and what I had left in my mixing cup set up just fine, but what is in the mold isn't setting. It seems to be staying real rubbery

Sorry to bring this back up, but what did you use as a mold release? Because I just got mine today and I want to use a 2 part mold.

actually..I didn't use anything. I did start coating the molds with talcum or baby powder to help stop bubbling

Well, I'm still kind of thinking, at this stage I will need a release agent. http://www.childofmecha.com/Modeling/Resin/Basics/KeyShot2.jpg

What I do have is
http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/5944/dsc012319ca.jpg
http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/796/dsc012326fy.jpg
http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/6454/dsc012331hr.jpg
http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/1889/dsc012346es.jpg
can i use this as a release agent? or maybe vaseline?

is that your mold?

I would imagine you will need the release agent to keep the mold from sticking to itself when the second part is curing.

is that your mold?

I would imagine you will need the release agent to keep the mold from sticking to itself when the second part is curing.

No, that is not my mold. I might try vaseline, any suggestions?

are you talking a release agent inside the mold area? or just for making the second part of the mold?

are you talking a release agent inside the mold area? or just for making the second part of the mold?

Just making the second part of the mold, since I could use baby powder for the cast.

To create a 2-piece silicone rubber mold you will need a way to keep the cured (completed half)silicon from fusing with the uncured (second half). I use Mann's Ease Release 800...

http://www.mann-release.com/erelese8.htm

hth,

Bill