- January 3rd, 2012, 9:55 am#369133
This was my first attempt at building a fiberglass Proton Pack.
The original wooden buck was built in two parts; christphern of the Tennessee Ghostbusters built the upper assembly, while I built the lower half and gun box. Our plan was to cast fiberglass shells for our respective groups. Easier said than done, right?
After the buck was painted and ready to go, I made a silicone mold using Smooth-on Rebound 25 and then did the two-part fiberglass mother mold.
Freeing the buck from the mold was not fun (I was told that a mold release wasn't necessary for Rebound 25, but should have used it anyway). The EDA and N-Filter were destroyed in the process.
Being my first time working with silicone and fiberglass, I made a numerous mistakes that resulted in two slightly warped, mediocre shells that required a lot of clean-up. Of course, I never expected perfection, but have learned a great deal about casting and mold-making.
Our plan is to recast the buck (without the N-filter attached) and do it correctly. Some things for next time:
1. Use a mold-release agent.
2. Have the N-Filter be a separate add-on piece and not part of the mold.
3. Use the method of pouring the silicone into a cavity (filled with clay) and leaving holes in the mother mold for "keys".
The part that I'm still struggling with is laying the fiberglass inside the mold. I've done it twice, and can make it sturdy, but it's far too thick around the Cyclotron and Power Cell windows. On the second cast, I tried doing a single layer of fiberglass mesh on those areas, but the resin still gathered at the bottom.
Overall, this has been a fun, enlightening, and nightmarish experience. While the final product is pretty bad, it's far from unusable.
Parts Run-down:
Tubing, split loom, Clippard elbows - masteryoda
Sage M25W & resin PH-25 resistors - christphen
Dale RH-50 resistor - GBFans Shop
Legris straight connectors, elbows, and Clippard valve - Shapiro's Scrapyard (St. Louis)
Spectra ribbon cable - eBay
Crank knob (modified) - Electronics Exchange (St. Louis)
Booster tube (shop-vac extension) - eBay
*The Bumper shown is a foam buck (built by Steve Swope, one of our local members) that we're working on casting.
The HGA, Booster Frame, Ion Arm Cap, Injectors, PPD, and ribbon cable plates were scratch-built by me.
The original wooden buck was built in two parts; christphern of the Tennessee Ghostbusters built the upper assembly, while I built the lower half and gun box. Our plan was to cast fiberglass shells for our respective groups. Easier said than done, right?
After the buck was painted and ready to go, I made a silicone mold using Smooth-on Rebound 25 and then did the two-part fiberglass mother mold.
Freeing the buck from the mold was not fun (I was told that a mold release wasn't necessary for Rebound 25, but should have used it anyway). The EDA and N-Filter were destroyed in the process.
Being my first time working with silicone and fiberglass, I made a numerous mistakes that resulted in two slightly warped, mediocre shells that required a lot of clean-up. Of course, I never expected perfection, but have learned a great deal about casting and mold-making.
Our plan is to recast the buck (without the N-filter attached) and do it correctly. Some things for next time:
1. Use a mold-release agent.
2. Have the N-Filter be a separate add-on piece and not part of the mold.
3. Use the method of pouring the silicone into a cavity (filled with clay) and leaving holes in the mother mold for "keys".
The part that I'm still struggling with is laying the fiberglass inside the mold. I've done it twice, and can make it sturdy, but it's far too thick around the Cyclotron and Power Cell windows. On the second cast, I tried doing a single layer of fiberglass mesh on those areas, but the resin still gathered at the bottom.
Overall, this has been a fun, enlightening, and nightmarish experience. While the final product is pretty bad, it's far from unusable.
Parts Run-down:
Tubing, split loom, Clippard elbows - masteryoda
Sage M25W & resin PH-25 resistors - christphen
Dale RH-50 resistor - GBFans Shop
Legris straight connectors, elbows, and Clippard valve - Shapiro's Scrapyard (St. Louis)
Spectra ribbon cable - eBay
Crank knob (modified) - Electronics Exchange (St. Louis)
Booster tube (shop-vac extension) - eBay
*The Bumper shown is a foam buck (built by Steve Swope, one of our local members) that we're working on casting.
The HGA, Booster Frame, Ion Arm Cap, Injectors, PPD, and ribbon cable plates were scratch-built by me.
Petzrick liked this