Kasting up my Kancil Pt4 Final

Hi guys, it's been a long week :)

Here's the final installment of the casting progress of my Kancil sculpture. After this will be painting and finishing!

enjoy the pics! it's image heavy!

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so now we're moving on to casting in resin. Now before you do this make sure your silicon mold is cleaned and prepared. You will also need a few resing casting materials.

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Resin (mine is Multifilla Opaque Polyester Resin) + catalyst

mixing bowl

mixing stick


thick rubber bands

some cotton buds

baby powder

old brush

boards or foam cut to size to your silicone mold

Before we start casting, here's an idea of hour resin pouring works. I'm sorry i don't have progress pictures of this stage, but handling a knife plus trying to take a pictures was just too much :P

you will have to cut into your mold small gutters that make up your pour snout and your air vents.

Pour snouts for my sculpture is at the feet leading towards the head. i will be pouring the resin into the snouts, and air vents work as indicators to show that the resin level has risen, meaning the mold is being filled up with resin. and secondly, as a escape route for air so that we can avoid casting bubbles.



So let's start casting!



open up you molds and dust with some baby powder. you can use silicone release agent aswell, but baby powder is a cheaper alternative. adding release agents like this increases the lifespan of your molds.





use an old brush to dust the surface and brush off any excessive powder.





one all the molds are powdered, close your clam shell mold and bind it with thick rubber bands.





make sure the rubber bands are tight enough to hold the two pieces together, but also not too tight until it warps out of shape. A warp mold will lead to alot of leaking and warping in the output.



bigger molds require a exoskeleton to retain its shape, im using some pieces of cut foam board.





bind everything nice and firm.



for the mother mold, i'm using a wooden base for more strength. this mold weighs a ton!











All three molds are ready.



now we'll start mixing us some resin.



I've pre-measured the amount needed to fill my mold up. you can do this by first filling it up with sand or water, and then pour it into your mixing bowl. the amount of water/sand in there is the amount of resin you need.



multifilla resin is then mixed with calcium powder, this power strengthen the resin as well as making it more opaque. i'm not using too much of it as it thickens the resin, my mold has alot of small crevices to get into, so a less viscous resin is needed.















mix the calcium powder until the color is even, then add a few drops of catalyst into the resin. ideally the ratio is 1:10 catalyst to resin. but i go for a bit more like 3:10 to speed it up.

A warning for anyone wanting to try this, resin is extremely toxic! so please put on a high grade filter mask with anti bacterial filters. and wear some latex gloves.

Also, when working with catalyst, to not exceed the recommended amount. resin heats up when in sets, and adding more catalyst will lead to a extreme exothermic mess!

So be safe!

I'm pouring the resin into the mold, make a thin steady stream into your pour snout. this will reduce bubbles in your cast.



pour into you other molds, and leave to set for about 30 minutes.



well after 30 minutes,

to check whether your resin has set, press on an exposed resin pool in one of the snouts. it should be hard, but you want it to be slightly slightly tacky, you'll see why.



remove the rubber bands carefully, do not bend the mold.



slowly peel of one half of the mold bit by bit.



the resin should be tacky and soft now, almost like hard rubber. it will also be rather warm.



being slightly pliable like this, we can pull it out more carefully.





while the resin is still tacky, you can take a sharp knife and cut off the excess resin from your pour snouts and air vents.



moving on to the other mold.





good amount of flashing happened here, but no worries, with a knife, this can be easily removed.



both hands pulled successfully. some bubbles are present, but can be fixed with epoxy.



now for the mother mold!



removed bands. if you noticed some cotton bud sticking out, they are used to block air vents once they fill up. a nifty and cheap solution :)









the resin will be really warm for larger casts, slowly pop the edges of the mold, releasing the cast.





and here it is, a raw pull!



a bit of flashing here and there, some seam lines to sand, but nothing serious :D



sanded and cleaned up, ready for priming.



here's the sculpture sanded and the arms pinned in. some parts have been repaired with epoxy aswell.



stay tuned for the painted sculpture!

cheers :D