Simplest way to duplicate 1:677 Voyager nacelle grille?

konp · Post by **konp** » Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:42 pm

So I'm breaking down my old 1:677 Voyager, because I did a crap job as a child and would like to clean it up and put lighting into it. Some of the glue joints were extremely stubborn and it's resulted in minor (albeit easily fixable with putty) damage to the model.

However, the clear nacelle grilles weren't as lucky. One was already broken, and the other one cracked near the front end. Between the two of them I could construct a single grille for the purposes of casting two new ones, I'm just not sure of the best way to go about it.

Here's a pic of the grilles.

I had a look for aftermarket parts and couldn't find any, so I'm wondering if I can duplicate the parts with a plaster (or other material) mold and something like this: http://www.bunnings.com.au/diggers-500g ... n_p1874117

Or if I'll need to get something more specifically suited to model making?

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:31 pm

You might want to get a piece of sheet styrene that has a grill pattern and cut out a grill then use it to make a mold for a resin grill, that way you wouldn't have to deal with any puttying any cracks.

konp · Post by **konp** » Mon Jul 07, 2014 7:30 pm

irishtrek wrote:You might want to get a piece of sheet styrene that has a grill pattern and cut out a grill then use it to make a mold for a resin grill, that way you wouldn't have to deal with any puttying any cracks.

The nacelle grilles have curves that will be nigh-on impossible to replicate with flat sheet styrene, especially because there are grille lines on the curves as well as the flat areas.

I don't mind if I have to do a tiny bit of puttying.

Will the resin I posted work or not? I've checked both the TDS and the MSDS and it seems to be either a polyester resin or a styrene resin - the TDS describes it as having a "characteristic styrene odour".

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:03 am

I know nothing about resin, other than it's more expensive than styrene and the only type of glue that works for it is super glue.
Evergreen Scale models does have styrene sheets with different sized grill patterns. www.evergreenscalemodels.com

konp · Post by **konp** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:03 am

irishtrek wrote:I know nothing about resin, other than it's more expensive than styrene and the only type of glue that works for it is super glue.
Evergreen Scale models does have styrene sheets with different sized grill patterns. www.evergreenscalemodels.com

It's not the pattern of the grille that's in question here, it's the fact that it's curved in ways I can't replicate and still keep the grille intact in the areas it needs to be.

I'm fine with superglue being the only thing that works for it. Cyanoacrylate adhesives work for styrene as well as resin, and I've got a rubberised CA adhesive with a primer pen that works even better than standard CA does.

I want advice on how to recast this part, not do an end runaround, crudely recreate the part and then recast the recreation. That's like 4 steps when I really only need 2.

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:36 am

As far as the material for casting your grill I don't really have any suggestions or info other than I have heard that small batches of water clear polyurethane resin can be a bit tricky to mix up correctly so maybe consider mixing a larger amount than you need to get the ratio right the first time. It could end up costing you less than multiple attempts with smaller amounts.

As for the mould material I will post a link to a tutorial from the PLAMO boards - a lot of useful info on that site. The thread is about moulding and casting small parts using a product called OYUMARU. it is available from HLJ and is VERY inexpensive. I recently got some and plan to use it to make some moulds, but haven't had a chance to yet. The best part about this stuff is if your mould doesn't work, for whatever reason, the first time it is simply a matter of soaking it in hot water and then re forming the mould.

here is the link to the PLAMO boards http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showth ... ?tid=11314

Here is a link to a youtube demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHmk6kgYA-w

konp · Post by **konp** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:37 am

Chas wrote:As far as the material for casting your grill I don't really have any suggestions or info other than I have heard that small batches of water clear polyurethane resin can be a bit tricky to mix up correctly so maybe consider mixing a larger amount than you need to get the ratio right the first time. It could end up costing you less than multiple attempts with smaller amounts.

As for the mould material I will post a link to a tutorial from the PLAMO boards - a lot of useful info on that site. The thread is about moulding and casting small parts using a product called OYUMARU. it is available from HLJ and is VERY inexpensive. I recently got some and plan to use it to make some moulds, but haven't had a chance to yet. The best part about this stuff is if your mould doesn't work, for whatever reason, the first time it is simply a matter of soaking it in hot water and then re forming the mould.

here is the link to the PLAMO boards http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showth ... ?tid=11314

Here is a link to a youtube demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHmk6kgYA-w

The resin I posted uses methyl ethyl ketone as a catalyst, afaik. So a few drops of it to a much larger quantity if the resin. That suggests polyester resin, yeah?

I've weighed up the options and at this stage I think my money would be better spent on a whole new 1:677 voyager. The mistakes of my youth would be problematic when it comes to trying to light the existing model, and the cost to repair the damage would be very close to the cost of a new kit when all is said and done.

So I'll just buy a new kit, and make the existing one a "year of hell" model at some point.