1 FlexFoam-It V is cool, but forget trying to make anything out of it with any sort of surface detail. Works great for Nerf foam balls, and fake scenery, but stinks for this applications.
2. Foam-It-8 is a cool product, and I can see lots of uses for it, might even cast a lightweight blaster from the stuff, but, I expect these 'Bunker Busters' to be tossed around a lot, and stuck on cars, doors, and such and these do break pretty easily. [I tested one with my 5 year old. Did not survive a few tosses] If we want to do some feather weight ones, this can be used for sure, but can not be tossed around or it will break easily.
3. Smooth-Cast 65D is an awesome material. Very resistant to chips, and breaks, and may become my new 'go-to' resin for general casting. Down side is, that even hollow, it's still heavier than the foam version.
4. Smooth-Cast 45D is another awesome material, and it can take a dye, if we wanted to do these in black. It is also very resistant to chips or cracks.
5. Feather Light. I am still testing this. Cure time is a bummer, 2 hours. Strength is not yet determined. Weight is still unknown.
Here are some pics of the test so far:
So casting instead of thermoforming? I'm very interested in this. I learned a great deal from tk560.com en build a similar vacuumforming machine to yours, but used a table grill for a heating element. Still got some bus in it but I think I got them fixed soon *grin*. Keep us posted please!
ReplyDeleteMy first stab at this was to try and vacuum form it, but the tall cylinder was terrible to vac form. The base flare mold was made, and the top part was made but the cylinder, well, never got that working right.
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