Pics of my latest emblem work.

[Mark42]

I was asked by another MFG owner to make a pair of emblems for them. Made some really nice emblems without imperfections from casting. In the photo, the top emblem is my latest efforts, and the bottom emblem is an earlier reject casting that shows the air bubble imperfections in the shark outline and the "wave" thing behind it's tail. <br /><br />I painted both pieces. On the reject piece I painted the shark black to see how it would look. It's the way the original emblems were painted, but I think I like the all silver piece better.<br /><br />Also wanted to mention that I tried the Rust-olium brand of bright metalic paint - the one with the chrome cap. It did a great job of making a metal looking finish. It looks just like lightly polished aluminum, or like the dull side of aluminim foil. You can't see flakes or grain. Really neat stuff. Not at all like aluminum spray paint of the past. BUT, when it's dry, it will rub off with your hand. I read the can, and in very, very, very small print it says "Not for outdoor use". WTF??? Since when does Rust-Olium make paint that can't be used outdoors? Oh well. So I took a can of Rust-Olium "crystal clear" and give it a light coat. That was even worse. It turned from metal look to plain old grey paint. Not even metal flake looking, just plain old grey paint.<br /><br />Next I tried their "Metalic Finish" paint and it dried hard, is for outdoor use, and does not rub off. That is what I painted the emblems with in the picture.<br /><br />So which emblem do you like better, silver shark or black shark?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Mark<br /><br />

 

[AMD Rules]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Nice job Mark! I like the second one, although it makes the shark look like a bit like an orca whale. Perhaps painting the shark a different color might provide an interesting touch. In your case, a shade of royal blue to match your boat.<br /><br />

<br /><br />Either way....both look great!

 

[G DANE]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Great work with a lot of opportunities. What are they made from. What did you use to make moulds from the old signs ?? Tell me more --

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Yeah! Looks great!<br />I think AMD Rules is onto something with the darker blue though. One posibility is to use the Duplicolor 'Metalcast' blue for the shark. It's basically just a candy-apple (transparent) colour in a spray can, so you can vary the darkness a bit. Only comes in one blue though so if it doesn't match up well then forgetaboutit.<br />I used a dark blue (ford-engine) for the originally black parts of the 'Sea-Horse' emblems on my yellow boat cowl. The black looked too harsh against it.

 

[Crappie_Fan]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Nice Job Mark42 are those done with some type of machinery operation or soemthing that you fabbed up at the house? Where do you get the cast material, and is it something you heat up in a cast iron pot and pour into a mold? I would like to see the process in this. If I painted the shark black then I would mix up the wave behind it with another color, But the all silver piece looks very nice as is. How about this <br />

 

[Mark42]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

AMD,<br /><br />Thanks, I like the matching blue color idea. You got me thinking about the shark shape. I would like to try filling in the shark and wave with a transparent resin with blue tint. Something I can mix and pour. When hard, it should be clear and let light reflect off the silver paint behind it. <br /><br />I'll have to pick up a few model paints and mix up a matching blue color. I have many more reject pieces to play with. I think that will look good. <br /><br />What and where can I find a crystal clear resin and tints to try filling the shark with? Need ideas here. <br /><br />One thing that comes to mind - My daughter had a window decoration kit that had a metal frame - shape of teddy bear, it was laid on a cookie sheet, colored plastic beads were put in different sections of the frame (arms, head, eyes, etc) and heated in oven until the beads melted and filled in the spaces in the frame. When cool, it was hung in a window and the sunlight shines through it. Maybe something like that would work too. But it can't get too hot to melt, the emblem is just polyester resin and it may warp or melt too.

 

[one more cast]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Great job Mark, I like the painted one, I think I would even paint the whole thing and then block sand them to remove the paint from the raised parts.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Boy, I take so long to reply I miss all the additional posts. <br /><br />G DANE, <br /><br />I was able to borrow an original emblem from a MFG owner. It was in good shape, but had some pitting in the letters and outlines. I ordered a polyurathane casting resin from Art Cast (scroll down to see the products) Art Cast web page <br /><br /> Here is a pic of a mold I made for the missing rub rail 'arrow head' end pieces. The piece on the left is an original end that I made the mold from, the piece on the right is from the mold.

<br /><br />I mix about 1/4 teaspoon aluminum powder to 1.5 oz of polyester resin to fill the mold. A half teaspoon of acetone makes it take more detail from the mold. <br /><br />Paul, I'll have to look into that paint too.<br /><br />Crappie_Fan that is a good idea. Should do it in Photo Shop before spending money!

 

[G DANE]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

How strong are the casted pieces. Could you make ends/brackets for handrails etc. Would it be possible to reinforce by putting milled fibers or gf cloth in the resin ?? How much did you pay for the mould material - if I may ask.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

The pieces I am making are not stressed parts, but they are polyester resin so if you add some chopped glass or milled glass fiber, it would be as strong as anything made with fiberglass mat (I would think).<br /><br />The emblems are about 9" long, and vary from 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. I have bent them to breaking point, about 45* bend does it. Break looks like broken aluminum casting.<br /><br />The arrow heads are much thicker and took a serious pounding with a hammer before splitting apart. There is only very fine aluminum/silver powder mixed in for some body and color. <br /><br />The product I bought the Pour-A-Mold in the medium hardness. A kit of two quarts (A & B mix) of urathane is $24 plus shipping. The product is mixed almost 1 to 1. Read the directions carefully because it says if the mix is off by a little bit it doesn't harden. That said, I used plastic cups to measure out the mix to 1:1, then made minor adjustment to match their spec. It worked great. Takes about 24hrs to fully cure. The mold is very plyable, picks up extreme detail, and has a life span of a few hundred casts on a complex mold. I only used 1/4 of the urathane to make the emblem and arrow head mold. Now looking for other stuff to make molds from that are missing because this product has a shelf life of a year or so after being opened.<br /><br />To mold the emblem, I made a shallow box from cardboard with food plastic wrap stuck to the mold side. It was about 4"x10"x2". Put it on a piece of plywood, laid the emblem in it face up. Nailed the emblem through the box into the plywood using the mounting holes in the emblem. This made the emblem fit tight against the bottom of the box so no urathane would leak under the emblem. (The bottom of the box becomes the open face of the finished mold) Then mix and pour the urathane molding compound. 24 hours later try to figure out how to get mold off plywood because the bright idea of nailing it down is now preventing you from taking it off! (HA HA HA) I used a putty knife to get it off the plywood, peeled the box away from the urathane, then removed the original emblem from urathane. It was a perfect mold. No air bubles, wrinkles, or anything. Picked up all the detail, even the smallest imperfections in the original. And it is about 1 - 1.25" thick, floppy rubbery mold. <br /><br />It is cheap enough its worth playing around with. If the pieces you need to replicate are fairly thick, I would think that they could be cast to bear a load. You could try using epoxy resin to cast the pieces with. <br /><br />I probably made 15 or 18 emblems before I got to the point where I had the resin mixed right, could eliminate air bubbles and can now make consistant good pieces. <br /><br />It's fun. And cheap. <br /><br />Mark

 

[Realgun]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Mark thats fantastic! On my boat I am ripping off all reference to Bayliner or Capri. I am cahanging the color and stripes to protect me from the innocents too! <br /><br />None of the fancy emblems for me because they (Bayliner the company) are A-holes.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Mark, what a great job. Nicely done. My vote is for a contrasting color for the shark to make it stand out. Could you cast metals with a low melting point in the same mould compound ?

 

[breton26]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Mark, How could I go about getting a couple of those emblems for my niagara? I have both of mine but a couple spares couldn't hurt, right?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

RodC,<br /><br />The website indicats that the urathane molds are safe for low melt metals. Check out the links in my responses above. I think there is a specs page there.<br /><br />Chris,<br /><br />Not a problem. Drop me an e-mail. I'll hook you up with a pair.<br /><br /><br />Realgun,<br /><br />I don't blame you. After all that reconstruction, it should have a custom name! Play around making one here:<br /> Banner Maker <br /><br />Mark.

 

[Realgun]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Mark thats a great site! They even have Battlestar lettering <br />Fade right and the word Bayliner is silver looks awesome!<br />I still dont like Bayliner the MFG.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Hey Mark,<br /> You ought to post your tags as available over at Fiberglassics. I'm sure there are some folks who might need something like that. You might have found yourself a nice little cottage industry business to help pay for this summer's gas! <br />- Scott

 

[Mark42]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Chinewalker,<br /><br />I thought that some of these parts I make might sell on e-bay. So I put two ads up, one for emblems and anther for the rub rail ends. <br /><br />I think it's ok to post the links because I posted the parts as I made them here. Anyone from these forums who wanted parts has already contacted me months ago about it. Emblem <br /> Rail Ends <br /><br />Let me know what you think of my auction designs:

 

[BlackKnight]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Mark42,<br /><br />Check out your local hobby shop for a product called "Alclad II". It's a 2-part paint system used on plastic and cast resin models, that's meant to be applied with an airbrush. A gloss black basecoat is applied first, followed by the metallic color. A number of finishes are available, including a chrome-like finish. I don't know how it would hold up to water, but it might be alright with a clearcoat over it.

 

[BlackKnight]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

Mark42,<br /><br />Sorry I didn't think of this earlier. You could send your resin castings out to be "chromed" by an outfit like ChromeTech USA. Many resin casters and individual modelers do so. They use a vacuum coating process, the same one used to give a chrome-like finish to any number of plastic parts (e.g. engine compartment vents). Check out www.chrometechusa.com. They even give instructions for preparing the parts sent in.

 

[surlyjoe]

Re: Pics of my latest emblem work.

I have been trying to figure out how to reproduce the Alu transom corners for my old F/G runabout..This may be just the ticket!!<br /><br />when they say low temp metals, what are we talking about...?