Vacuforming Moulds

[Jango Fett Jr]

My local FanForce group just got our vacuforming table up and running, and the need for moulds arises. I know how to make my own mould from scratch by making a cast of a plasticine or wood armour piece. However, how would I go about making a cast of an existing pice of armour, such as a gauntlet or a helmet? My friend has made some plastic gauntlets, and I would like to make a cast of them so I can vacuform off of them. Plaster heats up quite a bit, so I don't want to damage his gauntlets. Any suggestions??

 

[STEMMlin]

if his gauntlets arent assembled maybe you could kinda reverse engineer them, like fill them with clay to get the shape and then mold off of that. its probably not a bad idea to ask around where he got them and then ask them if they mind what you are doing, just too keep everyones toes unsmooshed.

 

[fettcicle]

Plaster gets warm, but I don't think it would get so hot as to effect the gauntlets, the other option is silicone mold rubber ... but that is pricy. You could always use clay Over the plastic, pull the gauntlets out and fill the clay with plaster.

 

[phantomfett]

Yeah, in order to make a mold off of your friend's gauntlets, you'd need to fill his gauntlets with whatever substance you want your mold made out of. This can be very messy. It also depends on how your friends gauntlets were made....Fiberglass molds are made totally different than vacuformed molds. Vacuform molds have the pieces made on top of them, while fiberglass molds are filled in. Anyone, please correct me if that's wrong. I've only vacuformed, so I'm not entirely sure about fiberglass molds.