Casting project using Stefans plans

Equipment Proton Packs
1

I have been wanting to build another pack for a while but my Halo armor project was taking up a lot of time so it’s been on

the back burner for a while but I finally finished the armor for Halloween and got the shop cleaned up and ready for the next mess.

I have just started messing around with silicone molds and resin casting so I thought this time around I would make masters

of most of the Proton Pack with all the parts, I’m not sure if I’ll cast the wand seeing as how there are some really nice kits

out there but if I do it will have the twisting grip and tip extension built in. I’m trying to follow Stefan’s plans and keep within

one millimeter tolerance, using reference pictures as well to keep it close to original.

First part I made was the Booster Frame.

Here it is with the master on the left and my first casting on the right.

You can see in these closeups the brick pattern is a little different from the original but I was looking for something a little cleaner.

Next up was the bumper.

This was a pain to get all the shapes and dimensions right but it came out really nice, it’s actually smoother and cleaner

looking than what you see in most of the reference photos but that can be said about a lot of the packs people are

making these days.

Here is the master almost finished.

And a pull after I fixed a few problems in the mold.

The back has some pinholes and a few small bubbles but the fronts are almost perfect.

I’ll keep updating as I make more pieces.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

2

Thats a good looking bumper.

There I said it. Keep it up. Halo stinks anyways.

3

Amazing work! very clean…

But I think you should hold on for some of your build till Venkman 71comes out with his new plans which will be way more accurate…

There at least 5 things that stick out for me on The current plans that look nicer corrected.

The angled line on the left side of the cosmic plating beneath the injector tubes,

The curves on the insides of the Crankgen leading out from where the loom goes

The curves that join the corner plate to the gun mount and Crankgen

The angles on the powercell and fins

And the step down area where the Crankgen meets the gun mount.

Have a looky at the bigi 330 shell and Cris’s build thread Pchrisbosh1's proton pack scratchbuild progress-COMPLETE - Proton Packs - GBFans.com

But seriously great work…I’m just thinking if you are already producing such amazing work it would be a shame not to try and make it more accurate :slight_smile:

4

Yeah I am planning on updating Stefan’s with the corrections people have found, hopefully I will remember to note all of

them before I start building.

5

Sick bumper.

6

Indeed. It looks really, really good.

7

Great job.

Two of the best looking parts and casts I have ever seen.

8

Outstanding work! Those are some VERY nice casts.

9

Thanks for the comments! My plan is once I have all the parts done to make a pack a year, and I also want to make a really

detailed pack with my own interpretation of what it should look like.

10

I had a few people asking how I made the bumper mold, unfortunately I didn’t document it very much but I’ll share what I have.

Here is the master before i started filling the gaps in the frame around the master.

This closeup shows the clay and the pegs I used for small keys around the edge, they are a little too small as you will see later.

I didn’t have any pictures of the form before the first pour so i just put it back together and snapped a shot, everything is here

but the master isn’t packed in with clay.

This is after the first pour had cured and everything had been flipped over, I had to tape the top of the form walls to keep them

tight with the silicone.

This is the silicone mold ready for casting, you can see in the closeup I had to replace the small keys with the same pegs

I used in the form. The holes were so small that the silicone didn’t fill in all the way and even if I had worked it in I don’t think

they would have been stiff enough to keep it in place.

Here is the box that holds the mold in place. I had made a fiberglass mother mold but this box works a little better because

i can regulate the pressure on the mold and this comes apart faster. The 400 ML is how many milliliters the mold requires.

The castings are still a little soft when you first pull them so a made a simple frame to make sure they stay square as they cure.

Hope this helps anybody thinking about making their own mold.

I used around $80 in silicone and have over 30 hours from making the master to the first pour so if you are looking to just

make a pack or two then just buy from one of the guys here or make it out of scratch.

Questions and comments always welcome.

11

Excellent work-up. I’m adding this thread to the Index. :cool:

12

Frigan sweet work dude!

Amazingly clean casts as well

13

i want that bumper. like, yesterday.

14

Nice work!

15

To recoup some of the build cost I have a batch of bumpers i was going to sell on ebay but i thought i would give a heads

up here first. I have four of the bumpers in black resin that turned out really nice and if there is any interest in them I’ll make

a post in the classified section with the info and pictures.

No plans for selling any of the parts regularly, this project is just to keep me busy and make building a pack for me or friends

a little easier, but whenever I make something new I’ll probably put a few up for sale to keep the project going.

16

I just saw your for sale thread and wanted to pop in and say how impressed I was with the build! You’ll have no problem selling those 4 off!

17

Small update on the project, the vacuum and pressure tanks are coming along nicely.

Here is a pic of the pressure tank in progress.

I’m using 12" sch 40 PVC so it’s more than larger enough for the bumper mold and hopefully

any future projects.

18

My pressure/vac table is done!

(Or “See what the crazy person made!”)

The total for this setup was a little over $350 with the most expensive part being the vacuum pump ($155) which pulls 28hg in a little over a minute.

To the left of the vacuum chamber is the air release with filter and vacuum gauge.

The door for the pressure chamber, there was an ugly spot where the original clamp system was so I slapped a Dharma logo over it.

The tank is made of 12" SCH 40 PVC and the round thing in the back is an air diffuser so I’m not blowing resin around when filling the tank.

The air compressor and vacuum pump.

The compressor I salvaged from a shops junk parts pile and fixed up, it’s probably over 15 years old and

was full of rust and lacquer dust but with $25 worth of parts it runs smoother and fills up a tank faster than

any of the pancake compressors I have used in the last few years.

The vacuum chamber works great, about the only thing I need to do is make the gasket a little bigger for the lid.

The pressure chamber has a few problems, the opening is so big that I have only been using it at 20psi giving me

around 2200 pounds of force on the door.

I was hoping for a minimum of 30psi for casting but I’m not sure if it will handle that much.

The other problem is my current silicon molds were not degassed or pressure cast so some of the small bubbles

in the silicone are collapsing and making pimples in the final cast, but most of them just pop off so it may not be a

big problem.

I’ll update later when I have made a few more bumpers.

19

Very nice …considering I’ve never experienced casting anything ,this gives me a new respect for the art of casting and mold making…thanks for sharing.

20

I was really busy all summer and fall with work but it’s slowed down the last few weeks so here are a few updates.

I decided for the main shell to use Stefan’s plans for the base and update it with more accurate information people

have found, although in some cases I am making my own changes, so not everything will be 100% accurate.

I got a bunch of styrene after seeing Pchrisbosh1’s build ( http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=2&%20t=28742 ).

I have been having a lot of fun with it, you can really get a lot of detail with styrene if you take your time.

Here are a few shots of the upper section mostly finished.

I always thought the nipples looked like pop rivets holding down the PPD discs so that’s what I did here.

The syncgen is particle board cut and sanded to the exact sizes then skinned in styrene.

More updates soon!