Tutorial on using a mold made from another car

[59 Impala]

 

Posted Wednesday at 11:14 PM (edited)

I was asked to do this and I posted it in the wrong place.  So I copied it and pasted it here.  I hope that someone can get some use out of this cause it does work.  Ok, I'll try my best here with these pictures and my words.  LOL

Here you can see what I started with.

This is another Dodge that I used for the mold.

What I used is Amazing Mold Putty that I got at Micheal's craft store.  It's a two part putty that you mix 50 50 and place it over what you want to make a mold of.

Here you can see the results of making the mold.  It only takes a few minutes for this to harden up so you can use it.

Now, here I taped the mold to the broken body.

Here you can see the fingernail resin that I use to fill in the mold.  The resin I got at Sally's Beauty Supply store.  It's a powder and liquid that you mix together to make the part.  This liquid has a real strong smell and should be used in a well ventilated area.  This cures pretty quick.  I made a few passes with the powder and liquid until it filled up the mold. 

Here is the results after the resin sets up.  There is some clean up to do and it is pretty easy to do.  This resin is hard but is easy to work with.  At least for me it is.

 

Here it is after clean up.  Looks like the original.

After priming, you can't tell it from the original.  That's about it fellas.  I hope this helps someone in restoring missing parts.

 

Thanks fer lookin.  Dan

Edited January 27, 2018 by 59 Impala

[BigTallDad]

Great tutorial, especially using non-traditional model supplies (the mold, fingernail resin).

Thank you!

[Snake45]

Yes, fabulous how-to! And it should also work with J-B Weld and other common epoxies, if one doesn't have the fingernail stuff.

[Jantrix]

  On 1/26/2018 at 6:11 PM, Snake45 said:

Yes, fabulous how-to! And it should also work with J-B Weld and other common epoxies, if one doesn't have the fingernail stuff.

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Great tutorial. Bondic maybe?

[Ace-Garageguy]

VERY NICE. ALWAYS good to have more options. 

Question: How well dies the fingernail resin really adhere to small areas like the ends of broken pillars and such? 

I typically use a very high-strength aircraft epoxy for similar repairs, as it's the only thing I've found so far that is at least as tough as the original plastic.

If your material really stands up to sanding, filing and post-paint polishing, I'll certainly give it a try.

[Mark]

That fingernail resin is hot stuff, literally.  It has to be, to bond to fingernails and withstand the filing and shaping once it's in place.  It smells an awful lot like the dental resin that I messed with briefly in the early Eighties, before many model car guys were doing resin casting.  The dental resin was also a powder/liquid mix that really heated up while curing, which dried out molds with warp speed.  For this, the mold putty is just the ticket. 

If anything, the resin is probably a bit harder to file and reshape than the surrounding plastic, not enough difference to cause concern though.  For the pillar repair, you wouldn't want to overfill the mold to the point where you'd have to do a lot of grinding on the inside.  Done as shown, it should work out great.  I suppose this could be attempted with 2-part epoxy, but I'd suspect that it, or Bondic, wouldn't work as well as the fingernail resin. 

[59 Impala]

Thanks for all the responses guys.  For me this stuff works great and it is strong.  It bonds very well to the plastic.  This stuff is almost like the dental resin, just a tad different and not so potent as far as the smell goes.  It does have a good smell to it though.  Here is a couple pictures of the fender wells of a 1/16 Corvette that I used this stuff with and I'm very impressed with how it turned out.  I'm really sold on this stuff for repairs.  The last picture is the car as I rebuilt it and painted it the same as it was before.  Dan

Edited January 26, 2018 by 59 Impala

[Snake45]

Very nice. You are doing great work, and thanks for sharing it!

I've made small parts and replacement areas like this using silicone gasket material and J-B Weld (I call it sili-cloning), but I'm sure your putty will work even better. As a matter of fact, I've bought a couple boxes of a similar product by Alumilite at Hobby Lobby but I haven't tried it yet. (But I should very soon--I need to use your technique to fill a hole in a rare '66 Corvette Big Block hood.) But I was pleased to learn of another product and another source in your tutorial. I'll get and try some of that stuff too. 

Thanks again! 

[BigTallDad]

Your excellent tutorial addresses pretty much straight-line repairs. How "fluid" is the fingernail resin? Can you do curved areas with it in a minimal number of steps, or does it require a build up of numerous coats?

[TarheelRick]

  On 1/27/2018 at 12:25 AM, BigTallDad said:

Your excellent tutorial addresses pretty much straight-line repairs. How "fluid" is the fingernail resin? Can you do curved areas with it in a minimal number of steps, or does it require a build up of numerous coats?

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I have used this stuff quite often doing bodywork.  As with most other stuff it works much better with lighter built up coats.  It is quite fluid, dries very hard, is quite sanding intensive, and bonds extremely well - in fact it will hold stronger than the plastic it is attached to.  I will use it extensively if I am attaching body parts that will require sanding.  When I split this roof for narrowing I used the acrylic nail filler as a glue and as a filler, it holds extremely well when sanding.

[59 Impala]

Thanks guys and thanks Ricky for the explanation.  In the case of the Corvette fenders I had to add the resin and liquid a few times to get the results that I wanted and you can see in the last picture of the Vette , the repair looks great.  You can't see the repair.  I was very happy with this result.  Sd with anything you have to experiment and have a lot of patience.  The ending result is amazing in my opinion.  Dan

[vintagercr]

That's an awesome tip, thanks for sharing

[59 Impala]

Yer very welcome Steve.  I hope that someone can use this method.  It works fer me.  Dan

[stitchdup]

The 2 part fingernail resin is actually an acrylic filler. I've used it in the past and would use it again if it wasn't for the fumes. It is available in 3 different set times for the liquid but I've only used the medium version.

[Art Anderson]

Hmm, now THIS is interesting indeed!

[Bucky]

Great little tutorial! I'm finding that more and more "non-traditional" model supplies are coming in very handy for us scale builders. A lot of the items I read about these days are closer to the house than an actual hobby shop. I can think of a few places where I can use this method of casting parts. Thanks for posting this!

[59 Impala]

You're more than welcome Keith.  I'm glad that other modelers can use this method to fix or customize models. 

Dan

[TarheelRick]

One other caution about using acrylic nail filler, other than the odor issue.  Do not put a model with this filler into a dehydrator.  For some reason the heat will cause the filler to swell - ask me how I know.

[BigTallDad]

  On 1/30/2018 at 3:15 PM, TarheelRick said:

One other caution about using acrylic nail filler, other than the odor issue.  Do not put a model with this filler into a dehydrator.  For some reason the heat will cause the filler to swell - ask me how I know.

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On the other hand, the swelling might be useful, requiring less material/fewer coats. Obviously this should be done before painting commences.

What's the texture of the swollen filler? Fairly porous?

[TarheelRick]

  On 1/30/2018 at 3:20 PM, BigTallDad said:

On the other hand, the swelling might be useful, requiring less material/fewer coats. Obviously this should be done before painting commences.

What's the texture of the swollen filler? Fairly porous?

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I was attempting to fill the roof and cowl flaps on a NASCAR kit.  I would get it sanded smooth, primered, put into the dehydrator and it came out with a really rough texture and raised above the roof level.  I sanded it down again, primered, into the dehydrator and got the same results.  Guess I am slow to learn, but it took me three tries before I finally realized the problem was the dehydrator.  It appears the heat will cause this stuff to swell and from what I can discern it will swell indefinitely, well, that may be a stretch, but it is a real pain.

[Kenmojr]

Excellent tutorial

[peteski]

  On 1/26/2018 at 6:46 PM, Jantrix said:

Great tutorial. Bondic maybe?

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In my experience Bondic hardens to slightly rubbery hardness (never as hard as plastic or urethane resins).  it also has very poor adhesion to anything smooth (like plastic).

[Bainford]

  On 8/4/2023 at 9:39 PM, Kenmojr said:

Excellent tutorial

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Agreed. Thanks for bringing this back to the top. There's a lot of great info here. 

[59 Impala]

I'm glad that this was helpful to someone.  Thanks for all the kind comments. 

[59 Impala]

Here are some pics of the finished cars.

I painted the Corvette the original color that it was painted back in the 80's.  The Dodge is painted Plum Crazy.