Modeling plastic can be a fun and affordable way to spend time with your family. With a little time and imagination, you can build a dollhouse and all the furnishings or build an entire city for a model train. You can also shape the plastic to make beads or trinkets for jewelry. You can also build a spare part in hours instead of waiting days for it to be shipped to you. You can purchase plastic resins at toy or hobby stores. You can find them with different colors or you can use neutral or white ones and paint them yourself.
Steps
Step 1. Clean the mold thoroughly, spraying it with a strong jet of water to remove all the small imperfections and ripples that you will find on the finished piece
If necessary, have supports on the side to hold the piece upright. For very small pieces, you can glue them to a piece of Plexiglas or a tile to increase their stability.
Step 2. Spray a thin layer of resin release spray and let it dry
Step 3. Put on rubber gloves and safety glasses
This step is crucial as liquid plastic resin can cause blindness if it accidentally squirts into the eye. Wearing long sleeves will help protect the skin from the onset of allergies due to repeated contact with plastic resins.
Step 4. Pour the right amount of the two components of the resin into plastic containers, to which you will need to make a spout
Pour the contents of one container into the other and repeat the operation a couple of times, to mix the two components well.
Step 5. Use a spoon to pour some liquid plastic into the bottom of the mold, then pour the rest directly from the container through the spout you created
- For deep or two-part molds, use a toothpick or a longer wooden stick to help distribute the liquid plastic across the bottom of the mold.
- If air bubbles form, use a toothpick or blow gently to make them burst.
Step 6. Smooth the resin with the top of the mold, using a metal spatula or small knife
Step 7. Let it dry thoroughly, following the instructions on the plastic resin package
You can speed up the drying time by using a hair dryer, set on low speed. Do not hold it in the same position, but move it back and forth following the surface of the mold.
Advice
- Place your mold on a flat work surface covered with paper towels or some other type of clean paper. It is not recommended to use newsprint, as the ink could stain the mold or your finished piece.
- New molds typically have a thin layer of starch inside, to prevent them from adhering to each other. Generally, it is suggested to sprinkle them with starch before storing them for a long time, in order to protect them.
- Check with your supplier how much the resin will shrink after hardening. It is very important to take this into consideration when building full-scale pieces.
Warnings
- When mixing and pouring plastic resins, work in a well-ventilated area.
- When building the molds, be sure not to use copyrighted objects as the basis of your mold. The most common copyright infringements involve animated cartoon characters, so be careful.
