1/700 Motor Vessel Steyning (sort of!)

[Rhino]

I think the Foc'sle (Forcastle. The front part of the ship) is busy enough in this scale. An anchor winch should install just at the ends of the chains. It occurs to me that a DKM Type VIIc U-Boat (U-21) like in the movie scene should be included in this kit.
The hull mold box is generous enough to accomodate the dinky waterline scale Untersee Boat. Dommit Stephen! You're still doing this to me!!

 

[moon puppy]

Well, not sure how but

 

[Rhino]

Given the generous size of the 9th and final mold box, I decided to add eine kleine Notsi-boat. Hasegawa's 1/700 Type VIIc from their old school dual kit. If a Guy is going to build one dinky U-Boat, he'd just as well build them both, right? The rail-drilling idea didn't work so well on styrene plastic rails. I'll replace the railings on the type IX U-Boat with P/E parts.

Given the bubble-trubble I've experienced of late with Mold Max 10, The idea is to mix all of a fresh 2 pound RTV kit after a thorough mixing of parts A and B and pour all the molds and throw away all of what is left over.
This goes against every "Waste not, want not" instinct, but I'm damned if I'll take any chances on ANY new mold after 4 failures in a row, using opened RTV containers.
There might be one more mold to prep........
or two.......
Mebbe.

This is KILLIN' me! I so love to enthusiastically pour the RTV in smaller quantities, a few molds at a time and cast them to admire my handiwork in cool, gray LPP castings! Then, the build of each project for instructions, in a logical. linear fashion.
MUTHERPUSSBUKKIT!

 

[Rhino]

"Hey Devin,
I've prepared a slew of small molds to pour Mold Max 10 into. I have a trial kit that is unopened. Per your expert advice, I plan to mix Part A in the container, mix the catalyst in its little jug and then mix all of Part A and B in Part A's plastic jar, and pour all the RTV I need into my small molds. Then discard the rest.

Have a look at these date codes please? See if you think these will make the quality Mold max 10 molds I am accustomed to, or do you advise ordering a fresher Mold Max 10 Trial kit? May of 2025 Base and November of 2025 Catalyst, correct?

I put an awful lot of time and effort into these detailed, dinky model Masters and after 4 utter failures in a row, I'm feeling a little less than optimistic.

Your thoughts, oh wise and powerful Stein?"

My email to Reynold's Materials tech line expert.

I swear on my Mother's grave, if this product bubbles and ruins all these Masters, Smooth On and I ARE FINISHED!!
An invoice reflecting all my anguish, time and materials will be sent.

My buddy Frank has been using BBDINO 30A RTV to make 2-part molds of H/O scale slot car bodies. See here his first efforts at molding and casting. It's a Chinese made product, but his results are astoundingly successful, for his first go.
He's made 80 H/O scale vintage NASCAR racers so far. He uses no pressure pot at all.
Maybe I'm working too hard?

 

[paddy]

That coaster looks life size as i see them on the horizon Good luck with the masters Chris

 

[moon puppy]

Let's get you a fresh batch of what you need. Let's not risk it.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Chris, I needed to make a mold here a short while back. I had some "REALLY OLD" Alumilite RTV, and it was a simple mold. It was the distributor for the 251 build which I had to make a master for. (since I have another kit that would need it).
The part A has a solid "filler" type component that that fully settled into the bottom of the container. I mixed the fire out of it and it start to break loose and mix in properly. The catalyst kind of had the same issue, but I couldn't get the film on the bottom to mix in.
Anyway, part A looked good. It was all mixed and had the normal consistency. Part B was the question. So I measured out a small amount of each, mixed them and waited to see what it did.
It worked just like it was supposed to! Surprised the h e double hockey sticks out of me!
Made the mold. Worked just like it was supposed to. It took several tries to get some parts where they didn't have trapped bubbles in the crevasses, but that was normal and expected as well. I bought the Alumilite from Hobby Lobby years ago. Their resin from then wasn't going to work at all. I did a test try of it (no mold) and it just did weird stuff and made air bubbles and stuff. (trash!)

So the Alumilite RTV has worked well for me. Old molds I made more than 10 years ago are still rubbery and useable.

 

[Rhino]

That coaster looks life size as i see them on the horizon Good luck with the masters Chris

Thanks Paddy! There's a cool picture of MV Shoreham grounded in shallow water with her cargo being offloaded to lighten the ship. She was towed and repaired and back in service without much ado.

 

[Rhino]

Devin Stein replies:
"Happy to share my expertise

As long as you are premixing that A & B thoroughly, several minutes, the material should perform as expected. Its been sitting for a bit so premixing is very important.

Shelf life on silicones is 18 months so with a manufacture date of May 2025 and October 2025, the material is under warranty until Nov 2026 and April 2027. Let me know how it goes but go forth with confidence!"

Sooooo...........

Once more, unto the breach dear friends. Once more!

I mixed the Base with a smooth, clean spatula and used my battery powered paint mixer on the Catalyst, and then shook the beegeebers out of it for good measure!

I decided that if pre-mixing and mixing is as vital as Devin instructs, that mixing the pre-mixed Base and Catalyst all at once, in a blind, solid container could prove unwise, so I used my Mom's ancient Pyrex glass measuring cup (Tare weight 644 grams) so I could SEE how the well Base and Catalyst combined. Momma won't much mind, God rest her.
That, and I didn't want to take any chances on contamination.

477 grams almost filled 9 of 10 molds. Happily, this is the comfortable capacity of the pressure pot. The 1/700 Boeing 314 Pan Am Clipper mold will need another 100 gr's.

Time under pressure will also be adhered to. 60 PSI for 24 hours.

1130 hrs Tuesday, will prove The Wise and Powerful Devin correct.
Or it won't.
If successful, the most complex, time and labor intensive mold will be poured Tuesday afternoon. A whole bunch of "old" RTV will be summarily disposed of.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

You could always do a test mix and set on any unused RTV before doing a mold. If the test works it's good, and you were able to use up the last of it. It is doesn't, you know that the file 13 bin is the fitting place for the remainder. I tested my ancient stuff first and it worked just fine, (go figure) and it worked just fine for the mold I used it on. But then I am only going to do a handful of parts out of it for myself. As picky as I can be, I am not selling to outsiders, so it don't matter anywho.