Frock Chick

I started by preparing the joins I created in the model. This allows the hilt to have the printlines as horizontal as possible and allow for very secure joins.

I sanded the extended end smooth and to remove the excess. I used a knife to tidy the recesses sections of the other end

Once these fitted well I used acetione and a tiny bit of ABS to weld the ends together. Pressure was needed for some

Once each hilt was assembled I was able to start sanding.

Much more sanding later I was then able to use a mix of acetone, silver pigment and clear abs filament dissolved together. This acts as filler and paint. But as it’s applied y hand and uses the solvent that will dissolver the plastic entirely it’s a process of applying, sanding back, applying thinner coat, and so on.

I used copper pigment for the copper pieces.

This was the antique silver. I have been using regular silver in subsequent passes. The difference can be seen below right.

So having practiced so many times with my Ahsoka molds, and previous methods with Shaak Ti.. I may actually be able to use what I have learnt with Ahsoka to use my Shaak Ti molds again 🙂

(Photo above: metal shelves with cement molds of different sizes, bottom shelf supporting in particular the two part molds for Ahsoka Tano and Shaak Ti creature effects.)

This is very exciting. To find a method that creates a predictable latex cast, that is durable and light. I think I may need to do a video guide as if takes both hands, well full body, and is so messy it would ruin my camera equipment to try and get photos.

But it winds up cheaper than a purely slush cast piece with about the same flex and is lighter. I still need to test if the support I used for Shaak Ti will work with this new method, but I do have hope.

(photo above: two part molds resting against a white wall and on grass with exposed topsoil.)

The cast has also not pulled from the molds as much as previous which means it is likely to shrink less. While these molds were relatively easy to work with it may prove more troublesome with the Shaak Ti molds as there are more ridges. But these are exactly why I want to keep using this method- the ridges tend to cause latex to clump into deeper parts of the mold and crete weak thin casts over the higher parts.

Tomorrow I will test it.

This method may also work for Turian jaws and mask 🙂 Right now the flat back cast for the jaws work very nicely.

The very early night has been of benefit. I am indeed rested.

So today will be a sculpting day!

Also I’ll be attempting to use a 3D modelling app to turn photos of my Maleficent horns into a printable file. This will be just the start. I will then need to tidy and make the files actually printable (should be fairly easy as the scan is only of the surface, vs creating a file from scratch and the need to remove internal frames.

But I also didn’t realise just how nicely my sculpt has remained, so there may also be some tidying of the polymorphf head support. It may be worth getting my calipers out 🙂

I can also work on Ahsoka 🙂 The clay is soft enough to smooth by hand 🙂