OK - I promised I'd post something (not like you were all waiting for it, anyhow :) on my attempts to create my own nose cones. So here's my current results...... I selected 3 different nose cones to try to reproduce. The long Estes BT-60 nose, the nose for the Quest Falcon, and a BT-20 nose (Estes Reliant). Because the cost of RTV is incredibly high, I thought I'd try using latex rubber as the mold material. So far, the only mold that I've finished is the one for the BT-20 nose, as the others will need quite a few more coats before they are stiff enough to retain their shape well. I made a little wire hanger for the nose, and handled it by the hanger during the mold-forming stage. I dipped the nose into the latex (Woodland Scenics brand, 9 bucks gets you a big bottle) all the way to the end of the shoulder. I then set it aside to dry for a good 24 hours. Do this again for about 4 or 5 times, and your mold should be done. Start up at the shoulder, and carefully peel the rubber away from the nose until it is completely free. Now for the fun part - making the noses! I used Alumilite casting resin - a little expensive, but the stuff is incredible. Here's what happened with each of my 4 (to date) attempts - 1: Mixed up 4 drams of Alumilite (that's either 1/4 or 1/2 ounce; I forget which). I poured it all into the mold, and it was almost enough to fill the mold. So I squeezed the mold a little to squoosh up some of the resin to form a thin shoulder. Unfortunately, the stuff was already beginning to set up, and squeezing the mold later than I should have was detrimental. After allowing about 15 minutes for it to cure, I pulled it out. Blecch. I am reminded of a cartoon in Model Railroader where a guy is pouring resin for a river, and the mixing cup is suspended by a stream of hardened resin. The guy's friend says "Oh yeah. Meant to tell you about that. Stuff sets up kinda quick." One of the really neat things about Alumilite is that you can actually _see_ it set. The mixed liquid is a dark, transparent brown, but as it cures, the color changes markedly to a tan shade of putty. No mold release is required - just be careful when you roll the mold down off of the nose. Cured latex rubber is surprisingly durable. 2: Well, this time I thought I'd try a dowel to raise the level of the resin to entirely fill the mold. The dowel would then serve as a great place to install a screw eye. Well, it worked! The nose was a little deformed because the end of the dowel butted up against the side of the mold, but this is easily fixable. 3: Because my two previous attempts were rather heavy, I thought I would try mixing micro-balloons into the resin for the third nose, again using the dowel. I don't know if micro balloons hamper the curing of the resin or not (I think maybe I just didn't mix it well enough), but the inside of the tip of the nose was rather mushy/sticky when I pulled it out of the mold. Other than that, it was fine. Holding it in my hand, it is tough to tell whether it is much lighter than the other resin ones, however. 4: This time, I tore up some styrofoam into little pieces to serve as a lightweight filler. I filled the mold first with a little resin, then the rest with the bits of styrofoam. I poured more resin over this, and let it trickle through to the tip. Big air bubble on one side, but still successful. Still can't tell if it's any lighter.... Guess I'll have to get out some large drill bits. Some had said that shrinkage may be a problem with latex molds. My reproductions fit just as well as the original in a BT-20 tube. The only problem (besides weight) that I found with this technique is that there is usually an air bubble right at the tip of the nose. This is easy to cure, though - just pour in a little resin, and squeeze the tip a little (just make sure it hasn't started to set!) On the whole, I'm rather pleased. In some cases you might need a heavier nose cone - perhaps for peanut scale models? The latex captures details excellently, so if you need to make a number of small scale nose cones, this just might be the ticket. <> So that's what I've found so far. Hopefully, the larger noses will work out fairly well using this method. I'll keep everyone posted..... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Guslick / ^ \ USnail: 711 Hwy. C NAR #53962 ---(.)==<-.->==(.)--- Grafton, WI 53024 michaelg@csd4.csd.uwm.edu SR-71 Blackbird ph.: (414) 377-4428 IRC: HaveBlue TIP #112 "Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gotta get that SR-71 from Hobbylab......