Clear resin...

[T50]

Hi guys,

I was thinking of casting small 1/16 scale goggles in clear resin.
But I found out that casting clear resin is a bit more tricky than
normal resin. So before I go on and spend time and resources,
let me ask you a few quick questions.

a.
Has any one ever dealt with clear resin parts in the past?
How did it go?

b.
the reason I wanted to cast the goggles in clear resin is so that
the hat details can be seen through.
Do you think it's a good idea or Would you rather paint it on?

 

[Martin64]

Cool idea! I can already imagine a "desert fox" with transparent dust goggles... Maybe you could cast another pair of goggles in grey resin so that it is up to the modeller to decide wether he paints details on or uses the transparent version.
Cheers, Martin

 

[Maki]

Absolutely a good idea. It is much easier to tint clear resin than paint grey resin to resemble transparent goggles.

Mario

 

[Gary D]

Nice idea. What about leaving the lens section hollow and/or supplying a small bit of clear plastic so the customer can cut out the lenses? Either that or we can fill the hollow portion with something like Future floor wax after the hat has been painted.

Gary

 

[stu]

Hi Taesung

I cast the glasses for my napier figure by mike in clear resin from smooth on.

To say its a pain in the preverbials is justified.

The resin is thick, has a long set time and so you need around 24hrs,,,maybe less as mine were very fine to demould.

If I did it again I would cast hollow glasses !!!!

Its great to do as they look good but it really slows things down so need multi moulds etc to keep pace.

If you need more PM me

Cheers

Stu

 

[theBaron]

I would think it would be easier to cast the goggles in solid-colored resin, with the holes for the lens molded, or to sculpt them that way, and then to use pieces of thin clear plastic stock for the lenses. I save pieces of clear plastic, like the stiffeners used in the packaging of my dress shirts, or from food packaging, for stock for clear pieces. I don't know if that helps, but I think it would be easier than casting them in clear resin. Plus, depending on the thickness of your casting, would you really have the clarity that you're looking for?

Prost!
Brad

 

[Sturm Grenadier]

Hello Taesung, Any chance we could see a sample of the goggles in a photo??? Regards, SG

 

[tonydawe]

Personally I use cellophane to represent goggle glass. It is more in scale and can be cut to size and in different colours.

If the goggles came pre cast in clear resin, I would certainly use them.

 

[[email protected]]

If the goggles were hollowed out, I would use 2 part epoxy to fill, it dries clear.

 

[T50]

Thanks for the input, guys.
The goggles I was referring to was the British style dust goggles.

 

[ausf]

In my experience it's really hard to get completely bubble free clear resin. I don't mean large bubbles necessarily either, though they do pose an issue, but real small ones that will 'cloud' around the edges. Years ago I used methyl methacrylate in bronze and stone molds for artificial eyes and even then the failure rate on the clear layer with trapped air was high.

I've thought about this often, but I think the best method would be to commission small runs of clear polystyrene like you's find in airplane cockpit models, but it may be cost prohibitive.

There's also the possibility of vacu forming clear styrene sheet, that way the thickness is taken care of but either you or the end user would need cut out the final piece.

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Hi guys,

I was thinking of casting small 1/16 scale goggles in clear resin.
But I found out that casting clear resin is a bit more tricky than
normal resin. So before I go on and spend time and resources,
let me ask you a few quick questions.

a.
Has any one ever dealt with clear resin parts in the past?
How did it go?

b.
the reason I wanted to cast the goggles in clear resin is so that
the hat details can be seen through.
Do you think it's a good idea or Would you rather paint it on?

It went totally tits up for me

 

[Jazz]

Really great idea and I am glad someone has finally come up with this idea. I have a 1/10 scale bust with a monacle and I have had to leave it empty as nothing I can think of can look like a real lens. The only thing left open to me would be a model car round headlight lens but I would have to get exactly the right size. It's a tricky problem.

 

[T50]

Clear resin might be tricky as it might age dull.
Just receive small batch of clear resin... will see.

 

[theBaron]

Thanks for the input, guys.
The goggles I was referring to was the British style dust goggles.

Ach, so! OK, understood! I would definitely use my thin clear plastic or acetate sheeting for this application. You can make a paper template and then score the outline with a sewing needle (or your own, favorite scoring tool), or scribe and score freehand. Then you can use gentle heat, like hot water, to warm the piece and shape it with the slight curve that the 1:1 piece has.

I still think that cast resin, clear or not, will be too think to use.

Hope that helps, prosit!
Brad

 

[faust18]

The glass slips you use for microscopes is the thinist real glass going its cheap , got some on ebay, works for dios and lenses you just got to go easy, mick

 

[T50]

Hello guys

Thank you all for the input! Although you guys
had good ideas, I don't think they will work for my
need as resin is the only way I will go with.

If the clear resin works out, then I'll include both
grey resin and clear resin goggles in the kit.

At the moment, my vacuum pump is in a repair shop,
so I can't test the clear resin. Will update you on this
when ready.

Thanks again!!!

 

[artur_koszewski]

Hi Taesung,

I'm sure it's possible to get a good results with clear resin as I saw some detail sets dedicated for airplane model kits which include clear resin cast canopies. At the end of this post I included some examples found in the Internet.

Alumilite products looks promising, however I didn't use them personally

• Alumilite Clear
• Amazing Clear Cast

For shown kind of goggles Brad's idea of using a thin plastic or acetate sheet is good too, however for the let's say a "mass production" the way of using a cardboard template and scoring the outline with a sewing needle is too slow and not enough precise - not sufficiently reproducible. But the solution may be, to commission cutting them to the company which offers laser cutting service. Cutting 100 pieces from a A4 size (210mm x 297mm) sheet should be quite cheap.
Of course the cut parts would be flat and it need to be bend to the appropriate shape by the modeller, which can't be so easy for everybody.

Using microscope glass slips as faust18 suggested, in my opinion is not possible for this kind of goggles as those slips are completely not flexible and breaks easily - at least the ones I was using at biology classes in school were.
This material may be good in a matter of transparency and scratching resistance, but I'm not sure with what tools it can be cut.

And the last thing - I'm not sure if including solid grey resin goggles is necessary. If the modeller decides to paint the goggles he can treat the clear resin goggles the same way as the grey resin ones - just prime them and then paint.

Cheers,
Artur


Examples of clear resin cast canopies:

 

[T50]

Hi Guys,
A quick update on clear resin stuff.

After trying out two different companies' clear resin products,
I have decided not to use it at all and just cast the goggles in
normal grey resin.

The problems are:
a. it requires a heat curing after casting since the parts are thin.
b. Since the parts are so thin, they are extremely brittle compared to normal resin.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Good decision Clear resins real name is nightmare resin