Casting Products
This area is very much a work in progress... the products here are the ones that I have tested and is by no means an exhaustive list, it is here to help you make the most of your model making and scenery and to provide simple straight forward information to the community. Over time I will attempt to keep this area up to date with new products and new information.
UK Products - These may also be available in other countries but you will need to check
Saint-Gobain produce many products for many industries and advertise as a world market supplier. all the products I am testing have information sheets on their Website under the products section HERE
Products I am testing for all Linka and Scalecast moulds Herculite 2 Crystacast Heculite LX |
The Tuffcast that I have on the online Shop is a blended product, comprising of Herculite LX and Crystacal R - The LX is very low expansion so is perfect for easy extract, and the Crystacal R is added to increase strength - The overall effect is a fairly tuff casting mix that does nor warp through expansion, especially in larger moulds, and also there is the added benefit that you have at least 30 minutes working time.
Crystacast on the other hand is much stronger, I will be putting the specifications here soon of all these products. so making Crystacast a very good product for those finer detail moulds like the fine edges of the Tudor Moulds and the strength provides a much better success rate on fine cast extraction, however the expansion is higher so I would not recommend it on sheet type mould as you may well see some warping
Crystacast on the other hand is much stronger, I will be putting the specifications here soon of all these products. so making Crystacast a very good product for those finer detail moulds like the fine edges of the Tudor Moulds and the strength provides a much better success rate on fine cast extraction, however the expansion is higher so I would not recommend it on sheet type mould as you may well see some warping
Crystacast Vs Tuffcast Ultimate
After dozens of tests here are the conclusions. You can buy Crystacast from a number of places which I will cover in the related sections, whilst TuffCast Ultimate which I blend and sell on the site is actually a combination of both Crystacast and Herculite LX. The Mixing is exactly the same, you need to mix 1 Part Water to 3 Parts Powder by weight, so for the testing I have used 40g of water to 120g of powder. The results are very close in that the casts are very strong and much easier to extract from the moulds - in Both cases the extraction should be done after at least an hour and preferably longer on the really fine detail moulds. From Mixing the working time (Pot Life) of the Crystacast is 15-20 minutes and the TuffCast Ultimate blend extends this by about 4-5 minutes. which I prefer as I like to do at least 6 moulds at a time and I prefer to take my time to eradicate as many air bubbles as possible - but the choice is of course your own. From an expansion point of view there is less expansion in the Blended mix so I think the extraction is easier and I get less problems in that the casts are not as tight in the moulds which is good for those really fine arched windows, but in truth the crystacast is a very close second. One thing to consider and it depends on how you work, but I always mix too much, do the moulds I want then pour whats left in a bigger sheet style mould, such as a platform mould, so as not to waste good casting mix, so what I would say is that the crystacast does expand more that the Ultimate blend which leads to warping on larger moulds. but if you dont want to work in the way I do I would say just make your choice and you wont really tell too much difference. |