I know I'm a little late to the party but would sandwiching two sheets of the lexan together help achieve the stiffness you are looking for?
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I know I'm a little late to the party but would sandwiching two sheets of the lexan together help achieve the stiffness you are looking for?
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Yes Mia that would technically work but the sheets would shift positions slightly with movement I'd have to use the zipties to hold em together but I fear the shifting inside the fluke will cause it to look like there's something inside it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Mia
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Ok. That makes sense. Ive seen people use a specific kind of glue to fuze the sheets but i don't know what it was or how to find it. I hope your hardened silicone experiment goes well! Sounds really neat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinus Mortimer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Mia
If the glue ur talking about is the one I'm thinking but can't remember the name for some reason it's no good I read a while back from PearlyMae that it odors not work it makes the lexan rigid and way more easily shattering she knows because she makes her own custom monofins for her tails she recommended once the heavy duty zip ties because it gives the two pieces space to shift which is what I don't want lol if anything I'll have to go with the double sheet method but only if the hardening method fails which I doubt.
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Stocking up on clay which I'm going to need for the tail body sculpting which I will begin once I move.
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Started second half of the dorsal sculpt once I finish that it's all in fluke sculpting, I'll post some pictures later.
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Cant wait for those pics :)
I have never heard of making silicones harder? now I used rubber for my fluke 60A. now as you are after a fluke that doesn't bend this would be suitable. even the 40A in the rubber would be suited. just remember rubber is more denser than silicone so just take into consideration the thickness of your fluke. i will take a photo of mine hanging over the table to show you what 60A looks like.
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It can be made harder or "less flexible " by using already cured silicone but through a mincer and granulated then added to the silicone liquid let cure and the flexibility has changed considerably test it yourself.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinus Mortimer
oh ok, I was thinking you would add a chemical to make it harder.
No, no chemicals that's way to risky an silicone is not cheap! Beautiful fluke btw it looks a lot like the JMB FX fluke nicely done [emoji1433][emoji1433]
Also do you know how much you used to cast your fluke?
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Thanks, I can't remember exactly how much for each half, however 1 gallon was more than enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinus Mortimer
One gallon brings one gallon of 1:A and one of 1:B with means one gets 2 gallons when purchasing Dragon Skin?
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when you purchase a gallon of silicone you will get the silicone and the catalyst which is enough to do the entire gallon. if you mean when you add the two together you double the Quantity? the answer is no. the Catalyst does not add more volume to the silicone for eg. 50g sil 50g cat once the cat is mixed in you will only be left with the 50g of silicone. not 100gms of silicone if you know what i mean. in regards to the rubber i used when you add 1A to 1B you get more volume as they are both rubber compounds. for eg 50gms to 50gms would give me 100gms.
I only needed to order a 1 gallon unit for my fluke, that was enough to do the two halves and adhere them together. As your fluke is quite large you may need more that a 1 gallon unit.
I was thinking the silicone would double lol thanks for the information, I'll probably will need at most 2 gallons of silicone for my fluke, that's without counting the filler.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trident True
(Working on smoothing down the fluke now that I'm done adding thickness.)
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Most of the silicone will be concentrated on the top area of the fluke which is 2.5 inches tall that makes it 5 inches thick once both sides are put together. The bones on the fluke are one inch thick an about 1.5 inches wide, getting thinner towards the fluke tip, in between the bones the thicknesses vary from 2 cm to 4 cm. So I think one gallon for each fluke halve sounds about good I guess I'll report back on this once I've started the casting stage.
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It's taken me all day to smooth out most of the fluke sculpt plus the rest of the night I plan on sculpting so let the coffee gods helps me have everything in molds by tomorrow at least.
I rounded the edges on the top of the fluke cause it was looking square and if it were to stay that way it would look weird later even though it will all be covered in a layer of scales it haves to be as smooth as possible.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...56bb999a29.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e950305672.jpg
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Had to restart the whole left side or other half of my dorsal because I was making one in my room and one in the table, I had to move the half the was in my room and to my surprise the were both the same side after wondering how I made such a stupid mistake I re drew the outline now to re build...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinus Mortimer
from what i've read due to your thickness, i'm thinking you may not need to make the silicone harder. There is quiet some thickness there so when adding the two halves together obviously will add in thickness. Remember that the silicone you add to adhere the halves together will also help with stiffness.
please also keep in the mind that once the fluke is completed the areas where it is most concentrated, meaning the top area will be quiet heavy. you need to think about this when you are designing you extension.
Yes I understand that out side the water the tail will be quite heavy but about 30% of the thickness in some areas will be neoprene which will help me in the water. In that area when the fluke begins the extension and monofin become one and also all of the lexan extension will be covered in a layer of neoprene which will help fill up a portion.
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Stepped on my baby cause I put it on the ground to work on the other half of the dorsal but I fixed it no problem. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9ca05e6006.jpg
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Also went and got 3 more bags of plaster for molding the fluke which is big as hell...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b3539b79cf.jpg
Hopefully we'll be moving to our new home soon and I can begin to sculpt the tail I'm so itching for that part for those who are wondering and for the sake of giving out info I'll be using tinfoil to build up the thickness of the tail body then for the last inch or two use clay to get a smooth finish to it, I'm doing this because the tail will be several inches thick in some areas and I don't want to spend another hundred on clay alone when I've got to buy silicone soon so I think I can recycle the clay I've already got I've bought 16 bricks total each clay brick brings 4.5lb and cost 13$-15$ depending on color so I've roughly spent 200$-250$ on clay, most people would only need at most half of that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinus Mortimer
Ok, I understand what you mean as my tail will be made similar with the neoprene in those areas. what i'm referring to is the extension itself, in the regard it will be able to hold the weight.
Itching for more! Cant wait to see you get started casting your amazing designs! They look awesome in clay, I cant wait to see them in silicone :D
The extension piece will be made from lexan "polycarbonate" sheets I whent to Home Depot and tested the sheet I'm buying it flexes almost folding on itself without whitening or braking, plus the lexan would never flex in that manner in side of the tail therefore I find it highly unlikely to shatter or brake under the pressure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trident True
Thanks Rett I'm stoked to start casting myself!
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Detail :swoon: [emoji7][emoji7][emoji7]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...47f6b56b1e.jpg
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good to hear you have it sorted.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinus Mortimer
Yeah I've thought and planed this for a few years even while hatching you and some lady make y'all extended tails prototypes I've learned a lot from you thanks nbs...Quote:
Originally Posted by Trident True
Ready for molding first half totally in love with it ❤️ https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4abd14ca73.jpg
Close up.
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Done and now bout to pour the plaster but I needed to snap a pic of the cute clay wall that took me 45 minutes to carefully build around the sculpt without damage.
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Tings are coming along well. its going to look epic once the entire tail is complete. :)
I know right it'll be epic I can't wait to swim in it and take many pictures to share how awesome it act is!Quote:
Originally Posted by Trident True
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I will finish the second dorsal half today so that I can focus solely on fluke sculpting and perfecting it it'll be my best creation yet I can feel it.
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Also for those of y'all who haven't found out yet I'm getting a Mazu Tail! I'm getting it because I'll need something to swim with this summe while I work on my tail which won't be finished until after summers over I'm sure of that that's why I gave up on having a deadline I realize I won't slack on this but it is a very ambitious process and berry time consuming that said I decided to get a tail from her one because her tails are amazing and affordable also she has been so great to work with and has understood my needs in the design I love what she came up with inspired by an African chiclid because it'll be mostly used for river swimming so I based it of a fresh water fish [emoji226]
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Edit .. the fluke and fin style are going to be different i also got a custom fluke shape so it won't be like another tail she's made previously
Ahhh! Cant wait to see how the mould turns out! The detail you added looks amazing!
Love the design of the Mazu tail :)
That dorsal fin is wicked cool. I love the detail work on it.
Looking fantastic so far!
~Kaylin
Update: finished molding the dorsal sculpts, taking a break for today tomorrow diving full on to fluke sculpt frenzy!
Edit: forgot to post the pic of the second plaster dorsal mold, so here it is...
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Thanks Lynn ❤️��Quote:
Originally Posted by KaylinSilvermerr
I can't wait to see the whole tail completed. I'm glad you were able to fix footprint. Everything looks great so far!
Thanks Khaleesi!Quote:
Originally Posted by Khaleesi Daenerys
Well i guess some people have been sneaking into my apartment and staling food supply's we know who it is so my mom and i have taken precautions to boobytrap the house that way we know if people came in. I tell yall this because this bitch stole my sandwich bags and the peace i was using to add detail to my sculpts, i can work without it but using that method made a great difference in the overall look of the membrane lines or what goes in between the spikes now i gotta wait to get more of those bags in order to finish my fluke. I wont post pics cause its nothing that you guys haven't seen already but this gives me more time to meticulously check and fix any imperfections and smooth everything even more so hopefully by the end of the first week in may ill have finished my fluke...
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Wow that's crazy, I'm so looking forward to seeing that finished fluke!!
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I may endup doing the fluke without the plastic method but id be sacrificing some smoothness in the overall results
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Aw thats terrible! I am so sorry! I hope you get things sorted out! :(
My mom i the best! She knew i needed the sandwich bags to sculpt and alcohol so she came home today and gave me them im super excited to start sculpting again.
Thanks god for my wonderful mom.
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