Fifth Element ZF-1 Parts Progress

There's been a small burst of productivity lately, and the ZF-1 project has benefitted. I think it may be due to the fact that I've been informed that two or three parts sets are in transit from Australia, which will bring me to a near complete set. Excite!

A while back, I sourced all of the model kits that are used for kit bashing on the ZF-1. There were three of them, from the Star Trek: Voyager model kit series. In total, the kits cost me over 100 bucks. I figured I would mold the kit pieces needed to build the ZF-1, not only so I wouldn't have to risk screwing up the original pieces for my build, but also to offer them to fellow builders at a fraction of the cost of purchasing all three kits.

The first side of a couple of two part molds that I poured up the other day when my friend Ewan came over. I had those little pieces clayed up for some time now, but just never got around to putting rubber on them. What you see below is the piece embedded in rubber, after I pulled away all the clay.

This is the one part mold, or "Dump mold" that I made for the big piece of one of the models that goes on the front of the ZF-1. The mold came out just beautifully.

Here is what casting done right looks like. This is an absolutely flawless cast. ZERO bubbles, nice flat back, all level and smooth.

This is another dump mold I made for two little pieces that go on the side of the ZF-1.

Here, I compare the original piece in grey, with some resin copies. Again, flawless. No bubbles, just beautiful castings.

Here's how I prep to pour the second half of the two part mold. I used a thin piece of styrene to make the wall around the bottom half of the mold, and hot glue gunned it to a piece of MDF. Next step is to spray it with mold release, then dump rubber on top.

That's all for now. I'm going to try to pour up the second halves of the two part molds tomorrow, which may ACTUALLY happen as I have some other stuff I need to mold too. I must confess I'm incredibly pleased with how well these pieces came out. If you need a set, please shoot me an email.