Making a body mold out of plaster of Paris?

[nvxwax]

Anybody have any tips on how this is done using an old already cut body. Can you just extend the body and hand finish the lower sections of the mold (around the cutlines)

I need a new project for summer lol

Thanks

[treehugger]

i looked into all techniques and dredged through countless searches over the last 6 months
and this is my findings the lexan is to floppy it needs support or the plaster will deform it. also the plaster is very soft and cracks chips and wont last with the stress of lexan forming so ,I went with the technique of almost washing layers of bondo and grp resin .1/3 resin 2/3 bondo until you get a nice shell just like making Easter eggs .
then when you get a couple of layers with some mesh you can release the shape .
making time to level the car and draw in all the relief line,s in black sharpie ,makes calculating were things should be when you come to modifying the shape lots easier
But either plaster of Paris or bondo you need to know how to shape things in proportion and i have been into restoring cars since i was 15 and i found it as rewarding as it was a challenge im 50 hrs into the project and have along way to go .
But i should have my lexan machine made by weeks end .
Im doing a three stage setup as i have about 10 shop vacs at my disposal also i have been designing an articulated mold to over come the the surface tension when removing the finished body allowing me to cram some detail into the lower regions of the car
hope this helps pm me if you want

PAUL

[nvxwax]

Thanks Paul,

I will have to look over your Green wood Corvette project again lol, I dont want to mess up the body and i have never seen them on ebay or and repros, Its not a very popular body so it will kinda just be a one off kinda thing lol.

[aconsola]

I made a mold of an HPI concept 1 (new beetle) body once.
I had some extra cement mixed up from a house project and did it spur of the moment to see if it would work.
The body was uncut so it was easier to do, but finding a way to seal the cutouts would probably work ok.

what I did was to put the body in a cardboard box that was slightly bigger than the body itself. I poured a little cement in,about an inch or so into the roof area. basically enough to keep it from moving around the box. then I took some sand that was nice and dry and free-pouring and poured it outside the body shell up to the base of the body to help support the weight of the wet cement. I then finished by slowly pouring the cement.

I still have the cement VW in the garage. For some reason the wife won't let me use it as a landscape decoration like I intended.

[nvxwax]

For some reason the wife won't let me use it as a landscape decoration like I intended

lmao, That is to funny

Hell i dont even have anything to vacuum form the body after i get the mold made lol, It will be a long summer project lol

[treehugger]

For some reason the wife won't let me use it as a landscape decoration like I intended

lmao, That is to funny

Hell i dont even have anything to vacuum form the body after i get the mold made lol, It will be a long summer project lol

hey but for as one off you will know someone that does i will going into small scale production by beginning of the sun
so LMK

Paul

[TitaniumXRC]

I've talked with an old dude that makes lexan bodies for slot cars, and the way he does it is he buys a 1:24 scale model, builds it, makes sure all the openings are blocked (Or sealed) and that's his starting point. He sprays it with a release agent, and covers the model with RTV... a lot of RTV. He gives it a long while to dry, then separates the body from the mold.

He sets the mold upside down, and supports all sides of the mold to prevent collapse, sprays more release agent, and mixes up, and pores in enough Alumilite to fill the mold. Once sets up he separates the new mold from the RTV mold. Now you have a metal epoxy shape matching the original body with enough strength to pull a few hundred lexan bodies before it starts to loose detail.

The RTV, and Alumilite are pricey, and suppliers can be found on Google, and Ebay.

Good luck on your project.

[fredswain]

I would not use Alumilite. Yes it's expensive but the big problem is that once you start mixing both parts together, you've got about 3 minutes to get it all poured before it hardens. In large quantities it will also get air bubbles. If you want to use a casting resin of some kind, I'd use a resin from Smooth-On. They have a very wide range of products and some can take hours to harden. for something that needs to be perfect, especially something large, that would be the way to go. They also have lots of tutorial videos on their website. I use Alumilite for small things in model railroading but for most I prefer Smooth-On products. Still not cheap though. Look them up online.