Custom Questions...

[packerbacker180]

Well, my first head cast came out pretty well. The only problem was I had a bit of extra cast under the head I had to sand off which seems like a waste, and I'm going to have to drill my own neck peg, which isn't the end of the world, but is there someway to get a neck hole already when casting, or at least a secret to molding where I don't have to waste as much resin?

[AcidDragon]

If you want the neck peg, you can do a two part mold. You need a few channels for the resin to escape so it can fill the peg. There's definitely going to be waste there. You can also pour the mold in two parts with the head right side up embedded in clay with just the top of the head poking out, pour a mold, then remove the clay and pour the other half. It'll get the neck peg hole in there. You cut the mold in half and put a fill channel on the underside of the chin and an escape channel on the back of the head.

The least wasteful way to do it is if you have a very flat part of the cast that you can use as the fill hole but it just doesn't look as good. There's almost always going to be some wastage unless you reuse. If you cut off instead of sand off, you can use the cut off resin as filler. Just drop it in when your mold is half full and fill it the rest of the way.

[packerbacker180]

Hmm, I think I just need to be a little more observant in how I place the head in. I think I had too much clay too close underneath and that led to some issues. Overall though I'm pretty happy with the result...

[AcidDragon]

I call this the AcidDragon Headcast Method... At least I do now. LOL. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have done it this way but after some fiddling, I figured this way out as the easiest way for me to get the peg in and the least waste of resin.

The AcidDragon Headcast Method

Fill half your container with clay and stick the head in in the position as shown. Fill it halfway with mold rubber. Allow to fully cure.

Turn upside down and fill other half, encasing the plastic head inside. Allow to fully cure.

Slice into the mold and remove the head. I like to do it down the middle of the back of the head. It leaves a seam line that doesn't even show up most of the time.

Cut a pour channel and an escape channel in the positions shown.

Pour your resin, allow to cure, then pop out the head. Cut the sprues off the chin and neckbase.

Make sure you give some room for the sprues. The diagram didn't illustrate this very well but after some trial and error, I realized I couldn't cheap out on the thickness of the mold or allowing pour channel space because when I removed a head, the wall holding the neckpeg part of the rubber was too thin and it tore the rubber out with the casted head...

[AcidDragon]

Great first cast, man. It turned out awesome! Constrictor?

[packerbacker180]

Yeah, it's a Constrictor. I figure it's a head I could get rather easily if I screwed it up, but at the same time I'd like a couple to modify into Kestrel(only so many things I can do with those Hawk capes) and maybe Signal Man down the line.

[packerbacker180]

So Acid, in your method it's more a three day process?

[AcidDragon]

Yeah, it can, depending on the cure time of course. Once the mold is done, if you have a quicker curing resin, it doesn't take long at all. If you can get your hands on some Smooth-On products, those are great. Oomoo mold rubber cures in about 6 hours and they have a resin that cures in an hour. Really cuts down on the waiting time. There's actually one that cures in 10 minutes but it actually got burning hot and cured as I was pouring it. I couldn't believe it. Of course once you reuse the mold, it's just a one day process.

I remember I started with Micromark's products and those were 24 hour cure, too. I left a lot of finger prints on some of my molds since they were still a little tacky and I couldn't wait. Kept tapping them to see if they were ready yet.

[packerbacker180]

Anyone no of a caster(castor?) that does head resizing/shrinking? I'd tried Casting Cave and he said before Christmas he could do it for me but I've tried contacting him a few times over the last few months and haven't gotten a response since. I know glassman does it but he charges $20 (which might be reasonable, I don't know?) but I was wondering if anyone knows of anyone else that does this? What I wanted is for someone who can shrink the giant Movie Masters Terrance Stamp Zod head down to DCUC size. My Superman has been getting lippy and I think he needs to bow before someone.

[packerbacker180]

Ok, been trying to cast some heads this weekend but it seems like every other cast gets a bubble on the top of the nose. Anyone have any suggestions and what I'm doing wrong? It isn't every cast (I've tried multiple times) so it's not the mold. Weird.