Need help

[kazo]

Hy guys ,
 
 I'm molding /casting (trying) my first fish head .I couldn't get any RTV silicone or alginate the only material I can get locally is the tube silicone.I'm trying the same method as casting duck heads, so I put five tubes of silicone in a can  placed the head in and five minutes later ... guess what!! I forgot to mix acrylic paint in the silicone and now its past two days and it set up only from the outside.

 Is there anything that I could do now to get it to setup faster or will I have to take it out and do it all over again? What should I do?

[Doug Bridges]

I would take it out and start over. Remember the paint this time. Oh you have to love learning to make molds.

[kazo]

That's just what I'm going to do. This time I love so much that I could shoot it!!

[JE]

Kazo, I have tried this method, but spread the silicone onto the fish head. the result was OK but not good enough.
I would go for alginate if you can not get good silicone. I would think you would get alginate on e-bay OK, that's where I buy mine from. As for your fish head, I think you will have to do as Doug says and start over.
John

[txoutdoors]

Silicone NEEDS moisture to set up. Without mixing some "water based" substance with it, it will never (or take a very long time) set up fully. This is why you mix the acrylic paint in with it.  Without the paint, you can almost always expect this result.

[kazo]

Thanks guys, I did it all over again WITH PAINT  and it came out ...well pretty good ,with some work it will be fine .I think I wont do another one until I get some RTV silicone.   I will post some photos when I finish .

[John C]

Spread the silicone out over the head, use mineral sprits tohelp smooth it out. then mist is with water.  the mold can be up to about3/8th of an inch thick and the water will set the silicone.

[kazo]

I will try to do it that way. Thanks John C.

[txoutdoors]

Try this. When mounting a bird, regardless of flying or standing, fold the wings like it's going to be standing, then reopen to the desired pose. What I see a lot of new people doing is wiring the wings and NOT bending them. This results in in the tertials being far off the body and the wings look stiff and straight.  Also, dont forget that the wing skin has fixed anchor points at the shoulder (pay attention to this when skinning). When putting them back together, I typically pull the wing skin towards the body (streaching the skin on the wing back to the natural position) and put a pin in the shoulder, simulating the same anchor point that was there before you skinned the bird.

[Doug Bridges]

Try this. When mounting a bird, regardless of flying or standing, fold the wings like it's going to be standing, then reopen to the desired pose. What I see a lot of new people doing is wiring the wings and NOT bending them. This results in in the tertials being far off the body and the wings look stiff and straight.  Also, dont forget that the wing skin has fixed anchor points at the shoulder (pay attention to this when skinning). When putting them back together, I typically pull the wing skin towards the body (streaching the skin on the wing back to the natural position) and put a pin in the shoulder, simulating the same anchor point that was there before you skinned the bird.

Well that is a refreshing change in subject. lol

[txoutdoors]

My bad.

[kazo]

Anyway a good tip when I do a bird. Thanks txoutdoors.

[JE]

Kazo, if you do the spreading on technique as John C mentions , don't forget to make a strengthening mold on the outside of the silicone with bondo or something else before removing the head. Otherwise if your silicone is quite thin it will not be strong enough to hold its shape when casting.
I have tried this method, but prefer the better finish of using alginate or even better a good quality RTV silicone. But this can be expensive and if you are doing a one off, or large fish I would go for alginate.
John

[kazo]

Can the silicone be spread over the head that is still frozen?

[John C]

Yes We do that often. JEI put the silicone on thick enough it dont need a backup mold in small to medium fish. the household caulk I used in german was the same I used here.