She was trained for an Off-World Kick/Murder Squad...

[doppelganger01]

Here are a few of the alternate grip colors I made for the PKD Prowler Model.


Green Amber Smoke






Starlight Amber Smoke






Starlight Black






Antique Pearlescent


_________________

www.reddragonkipplecompany.com
www.pflagerkatsumata.com
www.ricklross.com

[cratercritter]

Very cool Rick. I like the green smokey.

[hirohawa]

Those grips look amazing!

WHo here besides me wants those for their KMS Enforcer versions?

[joberg]

Wow, the possibilities are endless for these weapons...

[Replicant 13]

What more can be said Rick. NICE! - R13
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Gosh, you've really got some nice toys here . . .

[DaveG]

Rick,

We need to checker up some of those beauties! I've got a brand new CNC router all set to go...
_________________
Dave

"I just want to say people... Get A Life! Move out of your parent's basement! It's just a movie!"

[andy]

Wow!...just Wow!

I need to clean up some saliva off of my keyboard now.

Andy

[andy]

I also want to say that Green Smoke is the best thing I have seen ever.

Andy

[joberg]

I'm with Andy on that green smoke: very sophisticated gun with them on it

[Noeland]

Good God!!!!!!



Unsurpassed skill and creativity.
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I don't have enough blasters!

[Bwood]

Green Smoke gets my vote as well. Would it be giving away any trade secrets to tell us how that effect was accomplished?

[doppelganger01]

Thank you. Yes, the green ones are my favorite too. There's no big secret to making them. It's just a bit tedious because you have to use an open face mold in a pressure tank for best results. This means you have to make sure your mold is level inside of the tank, first and foremost. Then, once the resin has been poured and the smoke effect added, you have to seep the pressure into the now closed tank, so a jet stream of in rushing air does not splash the resin and ruin your casting.

Depending on the type of resin you use, it is possible to eliminate the pressure tank. If you use a slower setting resin that will degas itself before curing, this is more ideal. It allows you to work with the resin in the mold on the workbench. For the translucent green I used Easy Cast Clear Epoxy Resin. It cures slow enough that it will degas itself. As the bubbles rise to the surface, you have to kiss them quickly the flame of a micro torch. This will make them pop instantly. Its very important that the back surface be just as bubble free as the top, and in between. Translucent resins when cured can magnify these imperfections. This is not a problem at all with the opaque castings, like the pearlescent ones. The clear Easy Cast Epoxy is great for those. It takes at least 6 hours to demold, and 72 hours to reach full properties, but you have the needed time to experiment with the smoke effect. I say experiment instead of create, because the effect is more of an organic occurrence than a controlled creation.

Here's the recipe for 'Green Amber Smoke'.

Clear Resin. In this case Clear Easy Cast Epoxy
Amber Translucent Dye
Green Translucent Dye
Narrow mix stick (Popsicle stick)

Spray release into your silicone mold, but do not powder it.

Mix the green dye into part "B" of your resin until you have a nice
translucent green color.

Mix in part "A" as per directions. The Easy Cast Epoxy is 50/50. Make sure you mix enough so that you have extra resin left over after you have poured the mold level. Set cup with excess resin aside for the moment.

Now is the time to aid in the degassing of the resin. Use the small mix stick, shaped to a point, to gently poke away any small surface bubbles you may see through the resin. As they rise to the top surface (back of grip, in this case), use the micro torch's flame to pop the bubbles. Because of surface tension, they will want to sit there on the top surface in a cluster until they cure. The flame instantaneously eliminates them. Just make it a quick pass with the flame. You do not want to burn the liquid resin, or your mold. Quick kisses with the flame will suffice. This entire degassing phase of the operation should take no more than 30 seconds to a minute.

Now retrieve the cup of excess green resin and mix in some amber dye. The amber translucent dye will overpower the green. Make sure the mold has been topped off with the green before changing the color of the excess resin.

With the small reshaped mix stick, dip into the the amber darkened resin to acquire a small amount on its tip. With it begin the gently streak the top surface the green resin in the mold. Do not plunge too deep into the green resin. Before the resin begins to kick, the darker streaks of resin you are now adding will begin to slowly sink and form organic, irregular patterns. Always go with small amounts and repeat the effect as desired. Do not leave globs of the darker resin floating in the green. They must be gossamer wisps of smoke. Just keep in mind you are no longer mixing resin at this point. You are streaking with slow, swirling, wispy motions. If you over do it, however, you will have a brown cloudy casting that will not look good. The green is the primary color. The amber is the subtle effect. Once you have gotten the desired swirly streaks, let it cure. Hopeful the timing of the cure and the sinking and dispersment of the amber resin additive will achieve proper balance.

After curing, demold and set aside for 3 days before going on to the next step.

Now, in the case of these green amber smoke grips, I wet sanded all surfaces (front and back) with 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 grits. Do not skip a step. The 220 will smooth out an roughness from the initial casting process. Make sure that the surfaces are smooth and cloudy. The grits from 320 to 1200 will gradually remove all scratches from each of the previous grits. This may seem like overkill, but I find that it works the best at preparing the surfaces for the next step - plastic polish.

I use Novus brand plastic polish compounds. There are 3 solutions. Unlike the sandpaper grit, for the plastic polish you will go in descending order - 3, 2, 1. Use a soft cloth and buff by hand. Machine buffs can too easily mar the plastic. Your hands will be sore, but you have better control. Besides, a great deal of effort and luck gets you to this point. You don't want to do anything that can ruin it.

As you can tell, while simple in principle, this method is very time consuming and requires a lot of practice and development of fluid movement through the steps when casting. Success will depend on many factors, such as type of resin - urethane, epoxy, polyester (not a big fan of that last one, but surprisingly it will yield the best results in terms of clarity if you are a master at catalyzing it.), how fast the amber color resin sinks, etc. This is why kit makers usually do not offer exotic parts like these for production runs. It's not cost effective, because of time consumption and the higher number of rejects. I will add, though, sometime a part may come out of the mold looking like a reject (barring rejects as a result of bubbles, of course). But it's good to take it through the sanding and buffing steps before tossing it in the trash. The finished result might surprise you. Since the smoke effect happens organically through dispersment, you might find that a really cool pattern has occurred.

I hope this is helpful.

Rick
_________________

www.reddragonkipplecompany.com
www.pflagerkatsumata.com
www.ricklross.com

[joberg]

Wow...thanks for sharing the process Rick; it's really a good tutorial for people wanting to experiment with the epoxy and the "smoke effects"

You said, at the beginning that you wouldn't powder the mold...why?

[doppelganger01]

[joberg]

Thanks for the info Rick

[doppelganger01]

[hirohawa]

[joberg]

I think the only way to feature all of those gorgeous grips would be to buy a gun for every one of them...mmh, that's a lot of guns

[andy]

Rick, those are beautiful.

Andy

[Bassnoir]

....I covet those grips....big time...Rick you're killing me...
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...the future is not all it's cracked up to be...