Recommend a resin casting kit

The Micro Mark kit : www.micromark.com/complete-resin-casting-starter-set,8174.html

The one that I started with was from a company that I don't see ads for anymore.  Don't know if they went out of business or what.  However, once I went through the stuff from that kit, I now buy the RTV mold material and the casting resin individually when I need it.  I buy the stuff from Micro Mark. The main supplies you need are the RTV mold material and the casting resin.

Resin casting takes some practice, and there are tricks. I suggest researching old articles from FSM (including one of mine, but can't find issue now).  Biggest secret is mold design.  Think like an air bubble and figure ways you would not be trapped in mold. I suggest you be careful designing pour sprue and vent tubes.  Never bring pour sprue into top part of mold cavity.  Air trying to leave will collide with incoming resin.  Make pour sprue J-shaped entering bottom of cavity.  Provide a vent tube from every local high point in cavity.  Make mold vertical with extended top so pour sprue has a considerable distance above highest point in cavity (this creates hydraulic pressure head).

If you design the mold right you can get quite decent castings without buying a vacuum pump.

Couldn't remember the name of  the company I was referring to in the above post, but my slow aged memory finally came up with it- Ace Resin.  I do not see ads for Ace Resin any more. Their kit was very similar to the one sold by Micro Mark.  Price was lower, but that was nearly twenty years ago so I assume inflation would make it similar.

Thanks Don, I just needed input before dropping $100 on the Micro Mark setup. I don't mind spending money on something that works well, I just hate to spend  money on a product not knowing if it's any good!  I know we've all got countless tubes of glue & putty that we didn't like.  

Scott

The big expenses if you don't buy the set are the RTV and the resin.  Together you are talking about around 70 bucks, so you get the rest of the stuff for the remaining thirty.  I know the RTV is expensive, but do not scrimp on it and make the mold too small.

There is a new material that is re-usable- it can be melted down after use and re-used for a new mold but the few reviews I have seen so far indicate there are some limitations, so I am afraid to use it.

Check out Smooth-on. Best casting supplies I have found.

http://www.smooth-on.com

Any idea what the shelf life is of this stuff?

I know I have used resin and RTV that is at least a year old. Important for the resin- mix it well in bottle before mixing! It seperates in bottle.  However, inverting the bottle a dozen times or so before pouring into mixing container will restore it.

I use Amazing Products. Mold material $20.00, casting $15.00. Enough for several 1/8 Offys. From start to finished cast 15 minutes. Iv'e tried many others and none were close.

Jack

jackreynoldsmodels.com