Welcome back guys I'm Nate with The King of Random
Today we're gonna be showing you how to take the molds we made in a previous video, and use them to cast fiberglass
So far we showed you how to take rigid insulation foam and carve that into the shape of your choice
I chose shells from Mario Kart because that game has always been a favorite of mine and previously I've made giant Mario Kart shells for a
video for Devin Supertramp
After carving our shells we made a two-part mold using silicone rubber and plaster at this point the mold is ready
And it's time to use fiberglass to make our shells permanent
We'll use fiberglass cloth and resin to cast the two halves of the shell separately and then glue them together with more fiberglass
After cleaning up our casting
We'll paint it and we'll have a complete shell. Fiberglass resin smells really strongly
And it's not very good to breathe it in so we're gonna take our shells outside and do our casting there
Fiberglass has three parts first there's a resin and a catalytic activator
This is what makes this liquid turn into hard plastic the third part is the fiberglass itself
As the name suggests, this is a cloth that is actually made out of glass
Extremely thin strains of glass are woven together into a sheet. So first thing let's cut our fiberglass cloth into small manageable pieces
It's crazy that this stuff is made of glass, but you can still cut it with scissors
It's important to note that while this stuff acts like cloth the individual cut or broken strands of glass can be very irritating
So it's important to always wear gloves while you're handling it
Now our fiberglass is all cut up and prepped. Let's mix up some resin
Follow the instructions on the can for the ratios of the hardener to the resin
Now using a disposable brush, let's spread an even layer of the resin with the catalyst mix into it along the inside of our mold
Once your mold is coated in resin begin applying the fiberglass cloth, press it into place and dab more resin on top of it
You may find that this job is easier with two people one person applying the cloth and another person applying the resin
It's better to have the fiberglass overlap a little bit than for there to be gaps
If you're running low on resin just mix up another small batch
It's better to do several small batches instead of one big batch because it's easier to control and less likely to catalyze in your cup
Applying the resin on top of the fiberglass is almost more of a pressing motion than a brushing motion
It really helps drive the resin down into the fibers and make everything stick to the silicone below
Try to minimize air pockets where the fiberglass pulls away from the mold if you see the fiberglass pulling away
Just press it back down in with your brush
We now have a thin layer of fiberglass covering the entire inside of this mold
So let's let this fiberglass cure for a few minutes while we work on our other shell then we'll come back and add a second layer
Alright
We now have a first layer of fiberglass in both sides of our mold, so let's repeat the process and add a second layer
So it turns out the cups that I have been using are made of polystyrene which means that as the resin catalyzes
It's actually going to start melting through them not only from the heat
But also because it just chemically dissolves them a little bit
Now I've got two layers of fiberglass on each side of the shell once the fiberglass has cured and hardened
I'll peel them out of the mold
There we go we now have two layers of fiberglass cast in both sides of our mold the fiberglass has cured
It's rigid now
So it's time to peel what we have cast out of our mold with two layers the fiberglass should be fairly strong
But still slightly flexible which will help us demold. First step is to remove the mold jacket now we peel off the silicone
We have a fiberglass casting of a turtle shell
Look at that. That turned out great. few air bubbles in a couple spots
We can patch those up
And go there's the top half
We have the two halves of our shell and what we're gonna do
Is line them up and use a strip of fiberglass all the way around to secure them together
Before we attach the two sides together, let's trim the excess fiberglass that was sticking up over the edge of the mold
Slightly short amount of the pieces
This application of the fiberglass is basically the same as what we did before inside the mold we put a thin layer of the resin on
Then attach the fiberglass cloth to that and then use a thicker layer of resin to glue it all down
There you have it the two sides are now glued together with a layer of fiberglass and as soon as that's cured
All we have to do is clean it up and paint it and our shell will be complete
The fiberglass gluing the two sides together has now cured so all that's left is to take a rotary tool and grind down any sharp
Edges that may have been left by the fiberglass after that it'll be ready to paint
All the sharp points have now been taken down, so let's add some color
I've painted a base coat of white over the whole shell and now I'm going to mask off the part that I want to stay white
Which is the ridge around the middle while I add the other colors to the top and bottom of the shell
Even if you're wearing gloves, it's probably not a good idea to hold stuff while you're spray painting it
You can see that the splatter has just gotten all over my arm. That's a pain to get off. It's all painted up
Let's peel off the tape
We could say that this is good, but I want to add a few more details using colored ink in an airbrush
Oh my air brush running away
There you have it
Those are the exact same techniques that I use to make Devin Supertramp?
Giant Mario Kart shells and you can use these same techniques to make whatever kind of project you want to
To recap what we did today
We took our silicone molds, and we laid fiberglass resin and fiberglass cloth down inside of them once that fiberglass was cured
We took the two pieces out of their respective molds and put them together
We then used some more fiberglass as a sort of belt that went around the center Ridge of the shell to glue it all together
After using a rotary tool to clean up any sharp edges or excess fiberglass
We use spray paint and an airbrush to bring some colorful life to our project and this thing is solid
You could probably stand on this. I'm not gonna try just in case it would crack, but like it's rigid
It is solid is firm. This is something that will last for a long time and it looks great
No matter what you want to do with this now the mold for these shells is not a single use item
We still have the molds and we can use them again as many times as we want
They're very durable
They'll last a long time and in fact a future project that I want to try is using a two-part foam to cast another one
Of these shells in this same mold
And then I'll have what basically a Nerf ball in the shape of a Mario Kart shell how fun would that be?
Thanks for joining us for this project and we'll see you in the next one. Talk to you then
What if you could just make your own hard hats that look like turtle shells?
Need some padding
It's it's a little low on the head honestly
I like having it next to my head because that shows it like if it's out here. You can't tell it big
It really is but this size
It's basically permanent marker ink
not sharpie brand but
Yeah, it's just black paint really like a mama shell and a baby show
Hey guys
I know there are so many great videos and great youtubers out there that you could be watching
Instead of The King of Random, I just want to say how grateful. I am that you choose to watch us
We're constantly doing everything in our power to bring you the best content. We can make so truly just want to say thanks