Author Topic: Good pilots are hard to find  (Read 2773 times)

Offline Rafael

  • El capitán del Cartón
  • Head of the Venezuelan Brigade
Good pilots are hard to find
« on: April 04, 2012, 08:28:29 AM »
Good pilots are hard to find.

There was once when I expended all my plastic pilots except two.

Having a lot of builds lined up, I resorted to mold them, problem is, being from Hasegawa, they didn't much like the cockpits of Italeris and Frogs and Hellers and whatnot.

So I made the molds in plaster anyway, in little surplus matchboxes, and cast them in silicone gasket maker, the one sold in a squeeze tube for mechanical applications, like so:

(Be sure it is 100% silicone, no additives)





A little vaseline rub over the body of your pilot, not too thick, and plunge into your plaster, taking into account your desired parting line, that's the imaginary line that bisects the body lengthwise. Let dry. Apply more vaseline on the dried plaster and pour the rest over the exposed half of the pilot. Let dry well, and then wait 1 hour more for the wife, 1 more for the kids. Armed with a sharp knife, **carefully** break apart the two mold halves, and **carefully** remove your friendly pilot from his imprisonment.

For casting, apply a little vaseline all over the mold, including the figure recesses.

For each pull, pour a glob of silicone at the feet or the head of your figure, and from there, start pushing your silicone glob into every nook and cranny, moving it towards the other end, in order to avoid trapping air bubbles. Repeat on the other side of the mold, and once you're satisfied, slap both halves together.

Leave it drying overnight and, voilá you have a crewman!!

In the picture, you can see the great quantity of flash in my casts. My inexperienced eye used this to clearly define the cut along the parting lines.

An added advantage is that if your pilot is too big, you can cut his legs off, shave thickness from his arse (pardon my french) and arms (not a lot of elbow room in cockpits, believe you me). Oh, and their bodies are flexible, so they can squeeze in very easily.

Painting is a Biotch. It's silicone! So nothing will stick to it unless it's silica-based. Then do a lot of dry-fitting and, once you're sure, paint it without your grubby fingers touching it and flaking off the paint, and with your finest pair of tweezers, **carefully** insert your pilot into his seat, on a small dab of white glue. And for God's sake, close that canopy now!!!.

It's worked for me, and now I have 60-something pilots remaining and a lot more in active duty.

If you feel unsure, take some cheapo army-men and practice casting them until you get the hang of it.

Good hunting and good building!

Rafa
I don't take life seriously. I'm not getting out of it alive anyways.