Arakeen Sandworm

[jerry kurl]

rtv silicone is probably your best bet (Room Temperature Vulcanising Silicone) you will need quite a lot of it to make a mould but it should be self supporting if you make it in a box - its also super flexible so small undercuts usually arnt a problem it also takes resin like a master and again shouldnt expand to any degree. if your making a silicone mould you will need release agent for the master or the silicone will struggle to release. But be warned RTV silicone sets quickly but can take over a week to cure especially with a big mould if your in the UK there is a really good company called TOMPS they do a great range and have a resin that mixes like milk so its really simple to use and gives amazing detail with less chance of bubbles. good luck with future casts and attempts.

 

[Burske]

With the mold, I have used strong undercuts in the RTV which make it adhere better to the mother mold, but still able to "pull" it out. For me, it is all in the planning process. I also use the smooth-on products and have had great success with rebound-25. You shouldn't have too many heat issues if you have proper venting.

 

[thenightgaunt]

Well, the casting and construction are done. I'm really wishing I had used silicon rubber for the mold as in the long run the cost would have been about what I spent on latex and other materials. Also, I learned there's no substitution for Ultracal. Everything else is too soft.

As you can see in the pics here the mold process went poorly and the final casting in resin looked bad. The honey failed as a glue because the mold absorbed it (which you can see in pic "worm mold body honey". In the end Vaseline did the job of keeping the latex bonded to the plaster mold, but even then the heat from the resin caused the latex to buckle as seen in the pic "worm casting 1". I used a mixture of green stuff and Milliput to patch up the whole thing and experimented with actually painting on the resin and then sanding. I'm happy with the final version and it's now primed and ready to paint. The teeth are going to be annoying though.

Here are a few pictures and a link to the Photobucket album where all of the pictures are at the moment.

http://s735.photobucket.com/albums/ww357/thenightgaunt/Sandworm Project/

 

[SkelettetS]

yikes! thats cool :good:

 

[No Such Agency]

A remarkable project! And the end product looks great so far! You must be proud

 

[Meph]

Wow, seems huge like that. Wicked!

 

[thenightgaunt]

Thanks. I've been sanding and painting away to get the worm just right. Now for Basing and the actual painting. But first...the teeth. This is something I've not been looking forward to.
I'm thinking of carving out the form for the teeth from a sheet of wax or similar, and then pouring in resin and then cutting them apart. Anyone have any advice regarding making a few hundred teeth (each about the size of a large dagger for a standard mini) fast but still looking good?

EDIT:
Actually I figured this one out. I'm carving a single tooth from leftover plastic, gluing it onto a dowel to make a stamp, and then stamping it into some soft oil-based clay. A few hundred teeth molds in a few minutes. Then refrigerate the clay to harden it, pour in resin, wipe the top layer of resin off and once it dries pop the teeth out.
I am disappointing by how simple looking they made the Sandworm teeth in the movie. It's just, well, a tooth.

 

[thenightgaunt]

Well. It's crunch time with GenCon only 3 weeks away and I'm having to restart the base from scratch. I had the basic form done, but made the mistake of giving it a coat of wood glue which I was told was sandable. It is not. So I'm re-cutting the Styrofoam and going back to work.

So here's my question. What can I put on the styrofoam base as a top coat (sand will go on top) that can be sanded into a good smoothness? I'm thinking spackle, but I need something that won't crack on me on the drive to GenCon (I live in TX so its a long drive).

 

[Karitas]

I would suggest good old plaster of paris..

If you sub out about 25% ish of the water used to mix it up with some PVA glue, it will not only be stronger, blut slightly more flexible and therefore shouldnt crack.

there are "proper" products out there on the market like foamcoat, but they are basically formulations of the above theme.

Nice project by the way...

"Usul, we have wormsign the likes of which God has never seen.... "

ahhh, great books, good movie

 

[Savanttheory]

http://robhawkinshobby.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-07-15T12:40:00-04:00&max-results=2

You might find this useful, he uses wood putty.

 

[thenightgaunt]

Well the worm is done. I'm now finishing up on the base. I found that wet lightweight spackle worked great as a coating on top of the foam. It was sandable, help paint well, and didn't crack. Very nice.