lunarhighway Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) A few days after playing with play dough clay together with my son, i discovered some leftover bits that managed to escape had gone rock hard... This got me thinking if the stuff might have modeling applications... So I did a little experiment... As i have about 7 spitfires in 1/72 in my stash and some dont have a decent intrior or even an instrument panel (or a horrible decal), so i figured i'd try to make a copy of the parts in those kits that had nice panels. Both AZ's mk IX and fujimi's mk XIV have quite realistic pannels so they where used for this test. what i did was press the kit parts into play dough, let it dry, and than press miliput in the resulting mold... here's a few pictures of the test... once dry i painted and drybrushed the resulting panels to check if everyting came out ok... Unfortunately while trimming the pannels it turned out Miliput can be quite brittle and the lower bulkhead got destroyed, the pannels ened up quite usable, so while this technique obviously is far from perfect, it is usable, the main advantage is that while it tends to shrink slightly play dough doesn't stick to kit parts, but does capture very fine detail exceptionally well. I'll experiment some more, but for what it's worth this seems to be a usable way of copying semi 2D parts. . Edited May 2, 2015 by lunarhighway 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotorheadtx Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I wonder if that would work with 2-part clear epoxy resin instead of milliput? How long does it take for the play-dough to dry out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunarhighway Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) I wonder if that would work with 2-part clear epoxy resin instead of milliput? How long does it take for the play-dough to dry out? i imagine it would work, i was able to push in and remove several miliput panels before the miliput got a little to sticky and it would stick in the mold, so i simply left it to harden after which i could just release it from the mold by breaking it away... since the play dough is somewhat oily i would imagine it could work with epoxy resing as well, but i haven't tested it. Drying time seems to depend on the volume of clay used, small thin pieces like the oned shown dried over i think one or two nights, but i have a bigger lump wich has been drying for two days and is still a bit flexible...although if you would use something liquid that wasn't forced into the mold, i'd imagine it might be used instantly... i've only tested it on a few pieces, and it worked better than expected, but on the other hand i think other materials might be more suited... deformation of both the mold and the molded piece seem to be the bigest risks. i tried hardening the playdough in the freezer, but surprisingly it stayed flexible Edited May 2, 2015 by lunarhighway 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadman Disciple Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 (edited) Hmmm, I wonder if I could use this method to make a spare drive figure for a F1 car. Have you tried putting the play dough in the oven? Maybe that might work to harden the dough. Edited May 15, 2015 by Deadman Disciple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunarhighway Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 Hmmm, I wonder if I could use this method to make a spare drive figure for a F1 car. Have you tried putting the play dough in the oven? Maybe that might work to harden the dough. i haven't tried baking or heating it... i didn't want to risk any harmfull or weird odors in a kichen oven. in all fairness while the technique worked resonably well for small flat bits i think it's rather limited... larger pieces took very long to harden and would become rubbery, but still deformable along the way, wich can cause the mold to deform quickly... i think in any case the trick is to use as little play dough as possible. if you have some play dough at had i'd say give it a go, but i can't garantee it'll work...it will surely capture detail very well, but the key is getting it to dry without deformation.... if you're looking to buy something for casting, i think for your money there's better stuff out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizon Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Hmmm, you gave me some ideas there.... Might have to buy seme play dough tomorrow! Been doing something similar wirh FIMO, but the problem with that if left too long in contact it attacks the plastic. R 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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