DVD fiberglass castings

[Zam I Am]

DID YOU SEE IT? Man, for all of us who know about how to do helmets, I was sooo shocked at the detailed vader helm that was pulled and the helmet cast that was pulled. Hubby and I were like, OMG, it came out like they didn't even have to paint the thing, and the mold was SOOO thin! It was awesome, and it was nice to see the same employment of some of the methods that DCB used for his Zam helm. Anything to minimize costs for us propmakers is AWESOME. It was just like whoa, shed some light on those processes! Really revolutionary. The cut away plastic machine hubby and I have seen before, but to see it on the LFL extra features was amazingly CLEAN. I would love to be a fly on that wall. Any other comments or someone who can shed light here on that process?

 

[Geo]

They wer using RTV molding material which is the silicon based molding material. Don't know if you knew that. They also put the black coloring (or used black resin mixture) into the liquid resin so that it was black completely through.

Pretty cool stuff!

 

[Joren Fett]

haha... when I first read the subject line for this thread,
I thought someone was asking about casting the DVDs
in fiberglass! now THAT would be an amazing replica.

 

[Macantosh 1138]

that's what I thought too.

 

[judz dwedd]

Eight years ago, I built and molded a full-sized Vader helmet that was symetrical. I just can't stand the asymetry of the screen acurate helmets. Now it seems as though mine will now be screen acurate after all.

 

[Muad Dib]

The black material is called "Gelcoat". You can get it in many colors. Did anybody notice when the popped it out of the mold that there was another small part that fits into the bottom part of the helmet? I never thought about it before but it's so you can't see the fiber texture on the inside from the front.

 

[judz dwedd]

Gelcoat cures kinda sticky in a silicone mold. It works, but you have to wash it down with acetone, then polish it again. I run my Vader helmets in black gelcoat, from a fiberglass mold, so they pop out without that sticky residue. I don't use a liner for the inside of the dome, but I think I'll be doing one soon.