Vacuum forming

[Blue Meanie]

This seemed interesting...don't know if it works:

QVC TOYS CREATIVE MAGIC FOILING KIT. QUALITY BY QVC | eBay

BTW, nice work as usual. I still have to get me a Fantasticar.

[PNGwynne]

Paul, that is very, very nice.

I would like to see options for knights' armor.

[astro-greg]

Beautiful Armor!

So the piece completed there completely made me think of ROM the space knight. And the whole process got me thinking about Stormtrooper armor.

Gosh, even a two piece Vader style helmet. The face mask, and then a separate top piece.

The possibilities are endless!

Some more experiments:
Vacuum Former, Part Deux - Laser Mego

[SeattleEd]

You should post your Space Glider

I know, right? Maybe someday. Looking forward to yours.
Is this for the time traveler?

[pmwasson]

That looks great, Paul. Looking forward to the final piece.

You should post your Space Glider

[SeattleEd]

That looks great, Paul. Looking forward to the final piece.

[pmwasson]

Some more experiments:
Vacuum Former, Part Deux - Laser Mego

[megojim]

Nice job Paul

[sprytel]

Now that is darn cool. Can't wait to see all the crazy things you come up with using this...

[pmwasson]

Thanks for the tips (and books) on vacuum forming. I wrote up my first experiment:

Vacuum Forming - Laser Mego

[ctc]

>Female molds...with...clay? Or RTV first, and then resin cast?

For vaccum-formed parts, they'd have to be steel; which is what makes them so tough to do. It MIGHT be possible to do them out of some other material, but I've never heard of it being done. THIS is pure genius:

A new Weekend Project!!!! Yeah!!! - Mego Talk

....and is an awesome way to do male molds; that is, molds where the plastic is stretched over them. It's a great way to get general shape, like for armour and the like. But to capture the details you've got on stuff like the shield, it wouldn't work. Vinyl kits were HUGE back int he day of Japanese garage kits, but I've never found a good "how to" for them, and that'd be the sort of thing you'd need.

Don C.

[ThatBatmanGuy]

Also keep in mind: your details will be soft when vacuum forming in this scale. Your best bet, for the sheild and scabbard would be pressure resin casting. To keep the weight down, it's best to use micro filler beads in the resin. That way you will get that great detail you worked so hard to acheive.
Bob

[jessica]

No extruder. I make little worms with the clay. I'm sure there's an easier way! If you bake it in layers, you can just probably just make a thin layer of clay and cut it out with an exacto.

Female molds...with...clay? Or RTV first, and then resin cast?

[TrueDave]

Jess; HOW did you do the lines on the sheild?
Do you have an extruder ?

[ctc]

>How about this scabbard...can this be vacu-formed?

It COULD; but you'd need to make female molds; which is a huge pain.

Don C.