Howdy,
I went to the demo for two hours. The fellow doing the demo was great. He is a retired government psychologist, making him suitably nuts for this hobby. He was very patient and helpful. I managed to cosecure one of the two available samples of Alumilite and bought some Alumilite quick-set RTV for molds.
Here is what I learned.
1. Their website Alumilite.com is very helpful.
2. The demo fellow prefers a different mold release called Price-Driscoll ULTRA II. It is non-toxic, non-CFC, non-VOC, non-flammable, non-combustible and contains no chlorinated solvents. The particular one he used is called Polyester Parfilm, paintable mold release. It may be $7 or $8 a can, but I have already tried it and like it.
3. If you call the Price-Dricoll people, they talk case prices, but will sell individual cans. He gave me his mostly full can, beause they sent him 6 cases FREE, because he gives these demos all the time.
4. He had the "B" side of the Alumilite on ice to slow the process and he had the molds on a hotplate to warm them, to also slow the process.
5. He didn't mess with vent holes or anything.
6. Clever. He recommended round mold walls like pvc pipe or the top of a large Tide bottle, because there is no need to waste mold material in corners.
7. His molds ofter were cut and held together with rubber bands to facilitate removal of copies. I saw this when I got a tour of Plus Models in the Czech Republic.
8. I bought and used the Alumilite Quickset RTV. I had to buy something at the hobby store as they were so nice. It was everything advertised. Easy. Quick (like 4 hours to completely cure) and expensive at $30 for a pound. I used it up making molds for an open and closed 1/35th 55 gallon drums, a few packs and rolls, and some other odds and ends.
9. I used legos for my walls and hot melt glue to secure the lego molds to some styrene.
10. They have a reusable clay that can be used for the joint between the walls and base of the mold. Whatever you do, do this in aluminum throwaway pan or something, so if you have a leak, you do not have a rubberized work area.
11. The mold seemed to come out fine. I did spray the legos and base with the release first.
12. Then, I mixed the A and B Alumilite regular (as opposed to their slow set) and poured, set up (fast as I didn't cool the "B" or heat the mold.
13. Then I used the Micro-Mark resin the same way.
14. Other than the color variation, I didn't see much detail or quality difference.
15. But, Alumilite sets up so fast, like 6 minutes instead of 6 hours, you can make many more copies faster.
16. Also, pretty cool, you can paint the mold (after spraying the mold release) with metallic powder from Alumilite or others, or even acrylic paint, and darned if the powder or paint doesn't bond to the copy. They also have colored products from different flesh tones to clear.
17. One mold of wine bottles didn't work. Neither the Alumilite or the Micro-Mark stuff was thin enough and/or strong enough to go down the small diameter holes and make a good copy.
18. The demo fellow sprays the release on pieces of glass and slides them over the top of the mold after pouring to give him a flat base for the copy without having as much material to remove later.
19. TIP. How much do you need to mix for your project? Get a clear container with close marked lines for grams or some unit of measure. Add water until you are at a line. Add your masters to see how much water you displace and you will know how much to mix.
20. As always, have some molds of things you can't have enough of, sprayed with release, for any extra material you choose to mix or just have extra.
21. The Alumilite starts to turn whiteish when the reaction is getting close to setting up. You can have some fun pouring it out slowly when it is setting up and ending up with the cup suspended on a stream of set-up resin.
22. Shelf life unopened is about a year or longer. Opened, it is about a year or less. Be careful of mold or resin products as they really do have a shelf life.
23. The demo fellow made a series of semi-hard black rubber tires for large scale cars. He makes metallic spoked wheels for them and sells them on ebay as fast as he can make them.
24. TIP. He buys a case of small graduated, clear cups from his pharmacy like $7 for several hundred or so. He does use a accurate gram scale. He pours the "B" into the "A" in a 3 ounce dixie cup and mixes (quickly). He likes the dixie cups because he can squeeze a pour spout in it for accurate pouring.
Hope this helps fellow modelers, as Armorama has helped me tons.
Sealhead
(Kansas sunflower)
