Does epoxy shrink?

[VonDoom]

I am looking for a harder material to cast and finsh sculpts in after initially sculpting them with Castilene. I was thinking of getting a harder toy wax like Ralph's but the shrink factor worries me. I don't like the idea of having to sculpt thicker. I am wondering if epoxy would shrink if you could some how cast it in that. Is that possible? Is epoxy thin enough you could pour it in a mold?

[Tommy Allison]

I used to have problems with shrinkage. Then I made the people at the gym raise the temperature on their pool.

[William Paquet]

Originally Posted by VonDoom

I am looking for a harder material to cast and finsh sculpts in after initially sculpting them with Castilene. I was thinking of getting a harder toy wax like Ralph's but the shrink factor worries me. I don't like the idea of having to sculpt thicker. I am wondering if epoxy would shrink if you could some how cast it in that. Is that possible? Is epoxy thin enough you could pour it in a mold?

I don't know of any epoxies that you can cast, but that doesn't necessarily mean that some similar material doesn't exist. You should be able to get pretty tightly finished with the casteline.

Waxes do not shrink uniformly either. Heads for instance, will shrink at a greater rate side-to-side, than top-to-bottom, or front-to-back.

Maybe the best bet would be to pour a resin copy and do final polishing/detailing on that.

[VonDoom]

haha was it a 3-4% shrinkage like castilene Tommy? haha

Thanks for the info William. So I take it resin doesn't shrink? that sounds like it might be the best bet. thanks again. I'll try that.

[William Paquet]

Originally Posted by VonDoom

Thanks for the info William. So I take it resin doesn't shrink? that sounds like it might be the best bet. thanks again. I'll try that.

Resin does have a srhinkage factor, but nowhere near as high as wax, and it also tends to shrink more evenly. And BTW- I thought I read a thread somewhere along the line about whether or not you can use Sculpey on resin and bake it. The answer there is yes. I do it all the time. The only thing that can be problematic is if the resin piece is thin or small because the heat of the oven will warp it.

If you have a head or figure though that needs additional detailing, you can do it and bake without problems. You need to use a very thin coat of Vaseline on the resin to get the Sculpey to stick.

[VonDoom]

I forgot to explain he main reason I need a really hard material. I am trying to make a toy. And the toy is a robot character. So it has very mechanical crisp shapes, and I think I could get it to look more mechanical and crisper with a harder material like epoxy or hard toy wax. But I think resin could work.. and it would just be a bas so I could add the epoxy or SS to it.

Here are some pics of the pieces that are WIP...

[VonDoom]

[VonDoom]

[Tommy Allison]

What kind of robot toy are you sculpting?