Resin Casting

[iandt]

I'm looking to have a car body I made up copied in resin, but have tried my hand at it and have never had much success. Has anyone ever used a resin casting service or had a friend cast for them that they would recommend? I am not looking for a large order, just 10 or so good-quality castings.

[Ypsi]

What are you casting out of curiosity?

[iandt]

Sorry the photo is such poor quality, but I 3d-printed an HO version of Conrail's G43 gondola that I designed in Sketchup. Since they don't make this car in HO, I figured it would be a cool challenge to do it myself. Problem is 3d printing it cost $101 so I can't get more than one that way, but I can't settle for just one

[hoborich]

Have you tried making a mold, and using liquid resin?

[iandt]

Have you tried making a mold, and using liquid resin?

I have tried resin casting in the past, and never had much luck with it. I am considering revisiting though. When I tried a while ago I never used a permanent rubber molding material, just Composimold, which basically ripped apart whenever I pulled the piece out of the mold, even with mold release. I may try again with the pink or blue rubber molding material you see used in Model Railroader and such, I just need to figure out the right way to design sprues into the mold for pouring into and escaping air.