Materials for a model displayed outdoors?

davehal9000 · Post by **davehal9000** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:49 am

I've found myself rebuilding a monument, which will require an aircraft model to be built. The model will be exposed to a desert enviornment, hopefully for decades if not longer. The "scale" will be between 1/32 and 1/24.

The only material I have to work with at the moment is wood. I will care it out of wood to get started. I would like to be able to mold it in aluminum, but I've never done so, and being deployed to Afghanistan it may be difficult.

Anyone done any plaster/aluminum casting? Any tips?

Any way of treating a wooden model to allow it to last forever? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:31 pm

I know of no way to permanently treat wood. Everything eventually wears away. Plaster is too soft. You could contact a bronze casting shop, see what they charge. Been a while since I looked into such a thing but a lot of bronze castings are one off. Aluminum is a PITA to cast.

rocketrider · Post by **rocketrider** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:24 pm

I was going to suggest Signâ€¢Foam3.

It is a high-density polyurethane board, that can be cut, sanded & painted. A lot of sign companys are switching to this from regular wood sign board because of its ability to hold up in the elements.

Part of my job is sign fabrication, and I have heard of this material, but never used it.

But again, your project needs are on the small scale, so maybe you can bet a sample piece from the company and see if it fits your project.

http://www.signfoam.com/

Glen