Heat and Smash Question

max142 · Post by **max142** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:57 pm

Quick question: I have a ship hull its profile is half of a tube about 10 inches long and 3 inch in diameter. It has no detail on its surface. Does anyone think the heat and smash technique would work?

I have not built a vacuum table....yet. That is my weekend project:

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:06 am

I don't know, I've never tried heat smashing anything that large. It sounds like trouble though.

Post by **TER-OR** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:51 pm

Wow, that's huge. If you have a frame to hold the plastic and can heat it uniformly a heat smash should work, though you'll have a hard time controlling the edges.

You could roll epoxy putty really thin and use it as a skin.

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:57 pm

Why not just use half of a tube? I think I have a styrene wasp trap that is about 3" in diameter, or if you can jimmy the size a little bit ABS plumbing pipe is easy to glue.
OR make a framework and skin it over with sheet stock. Frankly, either of these would give more predictable results than smash forming something that large.

max142 · Post by **max142** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:49 am

I guess I could skin with multiple layers of styrene over the core. And add detail on top of that.

How would rolling I roll Aves? I've only used Aves to make small sculpted pieces. I did order the large 4 Lbs a couple of months ago.

It's really kinda of a smashed half tube. I am using a 1" x 12" square balsa wood core. With 1/2" quarter round wall molding running length wise and 1/2" square under that. Trying to make a 16" Valkyrie.

Joseph C. Brown · Post by **Joseph C. Brown** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:54 am

max142 wrote:I guess I could skin with multiple layers of styrene over the core. And add detail on top of that.

How would rolling I roll Aves? I've only used Aves to make small sculpted pieces. I did order the large 4 Lbs a couple of months ago.

It's really kinda of a smashed half tube. I am using a 1" x 12" square balsa wood core. With 1/2" quarter round wall molding running length wise and 1/2" square under that. Trying to make a 16" Valkyrie.

Just for you...

I have rolled Magicsculpt (a VERY similar epoxy putty) to do like Ter's describing.
You need:
Clean flat surface
A rolling pin / tube
spacers, 2 matching in height
release agent (baby powder/cornstarch/talcum powder)

-Mix the Aves up, set to one side
-Lay down the release agent on the flat surface
-Position your spacers
-Set Aves in between spacers
-Slowly use rolling pin to flatten the Aves down to the height level of the spacers, getting it to the size you need to cover your half of a tube - about 10 inches long by 3 inch.

-Use release agent on your half of a tube
-Carefully lift the Aves sheet, and drape it over your half of a tube.
-Smooth out imperfections
-Let cure / dry

In the pics link below, my Farscape One is used to vaguely illustrate this. You'll see the ship plans, then foam 'buck' of the model, and then shots of the blue tempered glass that I used as my flat surface. The white strips are my height spacers that kept the roller at a specific height above the glass. That means all the putty got squished down to the height of the spacers. I used talcum powder as the release agent on the foam Farscape, so, after draping the sheet of putty on the foam, I let it cure overnight.

I repeated the process to make the top and bottom of the model, keeping it very light weight because it's hollow inside.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid4297135

Hope that helps some!

---
Edit
To see how the rest of the model turned out:

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid4297139

max142 · Post by **max142** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:29 pm

I think I'll try the roll out the aves tonight. That would also fill in the multiple depressions. Thank you everyone for the input, appreciate the assistance.