MLW RS18 Madness - Part 10

Today was THE day that could make this project abort or continue. My first cab silicone mold failed beause I used the wrong mix ratio. Eyeballing quantities wasn't the greatest idea of all time. Thus, 3 days ago, I made a second mold using what was left. If it failed, buying more silicone would have been extremely costly. For a while, I had serious doubts because the silicone didn't cure on top of the mold and stayed tacky. I decided to let it cure for another day and while it was still tacky, it seemed to me the mold was probably cured. To make a long story short, the mold was almost perfect!

As you can see, I decided to make a one part mold. Generally, for a cab, you prefer a two parts mold. However, I say very little advantage in going that way. First, Atlas RS11 shell doesn't let you see through the cab and second, I have not enough experience with molding to take a risk and make mistake.

However, to save on resin and be able to install the cab over the drive, I decided to build a sacrificial styrene box that would make an empty space inside the cab. While the technic is quite crude, it did work. The styrene "cube" is designed in such a way you can remove the ends and bottom but keep the sides embedded into resin. Since it's easier to glue styrene to the plastic hoods, it will make assembly far lot easier and sturdier.

I'm quite satisfied very little air bubble occured on the cab. The ones that did apepar were filled with Magic Sculpt putty.

I also started to detail the other Atlas shells. Since I now have all the parts required, I suspect it should take one day to make them ready for painting. The Mehano shell will require more attention, but shouldn't take that much time. I really would like to complete all these models by the end of the holidays. It's a little bit optimistic but certainly feasible. Installation of LokSound decoder will be done later when budget will permit.