Casting side trim - how and what to use?

[impcon]

I recently aquired a Hendrix resin '59 hevy Biscayne 2 door sedan. Unfortunately, when they did the master, they used the '59 Impala hardtop and it seems that person who created the master did not think that the Biscayne side trim was very important. So, I have a Modelhaus '59 Chevy sedan delivery and it has the Biscayne side trim that the sedan is lacking. What I want to do is to make a casting of that fender and door trim and create some moldings that I can attach to the resin body.

I am experimenting here - so I bought some Playdough today and it looks like it will work to make a mold by laying the stuff on a table top so it is flat on the back side and then I laid the sedan delivery on the Playdough and pressed on it, yielding the desired result - an exact copy of the side trim.

So I guess that my question is this - is this an acceptable medium for making such molds and what product would you recomend me to use to make the castings from? I know that I have been told two part epoxy will work but what kinds work the best and would fibreglass resin work just as well? I am assuming that I would use Zap or some such glue to attach the finished moldings to the resin body? As usual, I am open to any and all suggestions. On my first venture into a Micheal's a week ago, I looked to see what they had for making castings but there was a real shortage of sales people and I was left to my own devices. So rather than spend a bunch of money on materials that I was not sure of, I decided to wait and see what I could find online.

I did Google "casting resin pieces for model cars" and a couple of other related searches but it is hard to find anything that pertains specifically to resin and styrene car and truck kits. I know that some of you guys do some casting and I figure that it's best to learn from the best.. right?

[camaroman]

Hobby Lobby carries some of the casting materials and this is a 40% week!!!

[Monte's Motors]

Why not use evergreen brand glue on strips.

I've made chrome from that stuff.

All the chrome side and rear panel trim are evergreen with brushed on alclad.

[AzTom]

I have used this brand with great results although not on side trim like you are doing. They do have a mold material for that type of casting. Here is the site, lots of How To tips on there. Smooth-On

I didn't research the trim you are doing but if it's simple chrome strip Monte has the right idea. They make several sizes of half round and quarter round strips.

Have Fun,

AzTom

[David G.]

Try some liquid latex mold making material. In model railroading we use it to make castings for rock faces and other things, you should be able to use it to cast resin side moldings. I have a 16oz. jar by Woodland Scenics I picked up at the LHS a couple of years ago for $13.95.

Regards,

David G.

[impcon]

Why not use evergreen brand glue on strips.

I've made chrome from that stuff.

All the chrome side and rear panel trim are evergreen with brushed on alclad.

I am going to use Evergreen strips for the side trim on another project but what I want to copy here is the side trim from a '59 El Camino. I bought some Playdough at the local dollar store and it made a decent casting of the trim all in one piece. I was at Micheals yesterday and picked up a can of East Cast clear casting epoxy. I'll try that and see how it works. The Smooth On site sure is interesting.. I think I'll order some of their casting resin and give that a try.

I know that years ago, I experimented with this sort of thing but for the life of me, I can not recall what materials I used. I think that I may have used blue automotive silicone for the mold and fibreglass resin for the castings but I can't recall for certain. Or maybe it was a two part epoxy glue that I used. What ever it was, I remember that it worked for small parts like door handles and such. I actually considered trying fibreglass resin for this side trim project. I need to make two sets of the trim.. possibly three for several ideas that I have in mind. I'll take pictures when I do this and see how it works. If it doesn't work than that means that I now know of a way to cast side trim that WONT work! So, I'll scratch that from my list of ideas and move on to the next one.

[impcon]

Try some liquid latex mold making material. In model railroading we use it to make castings for rock faces and other things, you should be able to use it to cast resin side moldings. I have a 16oz. jar by Woodland Scenics I picked up at the LHS a couple of years ago for $13.95.

Regards,

David G.

I'll give that a try when I am in Kelowna and atthe hobby shop in a couple of weeks. We don't have any hobby stores near us - the closest one is an hour and a half away. Thank you for the suggestion.

[impcon]

I have used this brand with great results although not on side trim like you are doing. They do have a mold material for that type of casting. Here is the site, lots of How To tips on there. Smooth-On

I didn't research the trim you are doing but if it's simple chrome strip Monte has the right idea. They make several sizes of half round and quarter round strips.

Have Fun,

AzTom

Thanks Tom. I looked at the site and I will order a couple of their products.. looks interesting. I have some off the wall ideas for projects - mostly building six cylinder powered cars and trucks as opposed to the usual big blocks. If a person could learn the proper casting techniques and set himself up with some molds and shelved them until needed, then it makes projects a lot easier when you need those hard to find things - engines, transmissions, wheels, air cleaners. etc. Besides, when you create as much of the project yourself, it makes things a lot more fun and rewarding from a self gratification stand point. Besides, it makes it possible to help fellow modelers out when they need some strange, off beat stuff.