casting problems

[virginforest]

I listed this post in the beginers section but i thought i would post it here to see if i could get a little help. 
o.k. i made a cast of my catfish.  The first one came out with large holes where the bondo did not totally cover the fish and there were areas that were really thin, and i did not get very good fins at all.  So I thought that i didnt mix enough bondo/resin to fill the mold, its a 3lb cat about 23" long and I used one cup of bondo and one cup of resin.  On the second cast I doubled the amount and tried to roll the fish around until i figured it had started to kick off.  But once again it came out with areas that werent covered and left holes.  How much should i be using?  I kinda figure it would be a waste of materials to fill the fish completly.  Should i fill each half and roll around until the mix starts to kick and then put the halves together?  I'm using vasiline thinned down with mineral spirts as a mold release, the casts came out of the mold pretty easy and im pleased with most of the detail that im gettling.  I do know i will have to work on the center line of the fish though, i missed it in several places.  Also along those lines (pun intended) when i made the mold i made sure that the line of the bed where it met the fish was nice and clean and made the first half but when i flipped him over the belly seemed to bulge over the first half of the mold (kinda like mine does my pants, LOL) is there something i should do so i dont have a bulge on one side of the belly? of the fish that is! Thanks for any help.

Steve
 
 
 
 

[CrabCrazy]

your putting too thick a coat on...that way you can't see air bubbles.......put on a thin coat of bondo/resin and brush it out....after it sets..a coat of resin with fiberglass chop or matt cut up

[virginforest]

they arent really air bubbles, its more where it just didnt stay long enough to harden, but it sounds like i wasnt doin it right any way because i was just pouring the bondo/resin in the mold, putting the halves together and rolling it around, i really couldnt see what was goin on.  but i think i now understand what i was doin wrong, i guess thats part of the learning curve and my curve is REALLY wide! LOL!! oh well if you cant laugh at yourself once and awhile whats the point?!

[CrabCrazy]

no worrys...everyone goofs up at the beginning...its called learning