Ken Kelly

Ken Kelly did the original artwork for the Micronaut Aliens.  Shortly after Palisades released their wave in 2002, The Micropolis Embassy was able to elicit Ken Kelly to do a 50 print run from the original paintings.  The idea was to do the entire set of paintings.  Well all except Antron.  Marty is being tight lipped about Antron.  Another collector has the other paintings and these were used for the prints. 

The first print was the Terraphant and the second print was the Hornetroid. The prints were chosen by vote on which one everyone wanted first.  Then second.  Unfortunately we never got past the Hornetroid print..  I havent framed mine yet.  I had plans for them at one time, but that seems to have changed, so I am getting them framed hopefully before Christmas.

 Ken Kelly also did a couple of books.  The one I have is called Escape.  The artwork is phenomenal.  Al tho there are no Micronauts or Masters of the Universe in them.  It seems the powers that be exercised their legal rights and Mr. Ken Kelly wasn't allowed to include anything of that nature in the books.  However with the Gold Book, he does include a pencil drawing of your choice, that he draws for you.  And he informed me, that could be WHATEVER you wanted.

 This is the book ESCAPE, not the Gold Book.

Ken Kelly is also  a huge KISS fan and did the artwork for at least 2 of their albums.

This is just one of the over 100+ pieces of artwork in his book ESCAPE.

I have a link to his website in "The Hotlist"

MEGO Salesman Info Sets

A short time ago on Ebay, a person claimed to be a relative of a MEGO sales rep.  They had the original Salesman Set of Information Sheets complete with photos of every Micronaut in production at the time.  This person photocopied them on some high quality paper and sold them on ebay.  I grabbed a set.

 There were 20 pages in total but for some reason, this person did not have page 18.  No one knows what was on that page.  I havent gone through them in detail yet, but apparently there are some pretty interesting pictures with detail in some figures not commonly found. 

Do I Need A Pressure Pot?

Do you really need a pressure pot or a vacuum chamber to cast?

That would depend on alot of different factors.  What are you trying to make?  How much detail is involved? Will a few air bubbles bother you?  How picky are you?

The vacuum chamber is used primarily to ensure a good mold.  It works on the premise of vacuuming out all the air. Vacuum chambers are an expensive method.  The best method, but expensive.  A pressure pot works by pressuring up.  You essentially compress the air molecules so that they are so small they cannot be seen.  This is the method I use.  I am quite picky and this method works exceedling well in my opinion.

Before I got a pressure pot, I did make some molds that were quite detailed.  But that required a lot of work.  I had to use a silicone with a long pot life.  I would lift and drop the molds on the table from a few inches up.  I would take needles and use them to poke the silicone into tight crevices.  I would use my exacto knife and lightly drag it through the silicone after it was poured to break up air bubbles.  And by doing all these things, I was able to make some very good non pressurized molds.  But I couldnt do any real casting with clear resins.  They always had air bubbles no matter what and it bugged me. 

The pressure pot helps give me for the most part a very good cast.  There is always 1 or 2 casts that dont turn out.  Roboid was made with pressurized molds and casts.  The pressure pot helps to give good clear casts and it also helps to PUSH the silicone into very tight spaces that simple gravity can't.

First and foremost, your mold is only going to be as good as the effort you put into it.  Pouring the silicone is the easy part.  Setting up the piece to be cast is where it makes or breaks you.   Its always a pain for me to make a mold, because I want a good cast.  So I take my time.  I use a knife to push the clay in and around the piece to be cast.  I use light brushes to clean it before making the mold.  A friend gave me a halogen magnifying lamp which really helps.  But it generally takes me quiet a few hours to prep a piece.

I am making clear Membros weapons for my chess set.  These are the molds for them.  I like to drill my own holes but decided this time not to.  The Hydralaser has a small hole where the hydrapipe fits in.  If you zoom in you can see that the pressure pushes the silicone into this hole.  Its in the right side of the left half of the mold.  Without a pressure pot, Roboid would not have been possible.  The clear chest canopy was made using a pressure pot.  This gave me an almost perfect mold that even replicated the threads so it could be screwed together.

Do you need a pressure pot?  Again it depends upon what you are casting.  But for clear resins, better molds and better casts.  I would recommend using one.  You dont however necessarily need a vacuum chamber.  The cost/quality ratio is too high for virtually the same quality product.

Smooth On Oomoo 25 VS Oomoo 30

I have now had the opportunity to use a new silicone for molds.   OOMOO 25.  Its technically the same as OOMOO 30.  By that I mean it has all the exact same properties as OOMOO 30...

EXCEPT.....

OOMOO 30 has a pot life of  30 minutes.  OOMOO 25 has a pot life of  about 3-4 minutes.  OOMOO 30 has a 1:1 volume ratio and cures in 6 hours.  OOMOO 25 has a 100:130 mixing ratio by weight or 1:1 ratio by volume and cures in 75 minutes.

I like to leave my molds in the pressure pot for the entire cure time.  The OOMOO 25 offers me the ability to make molds in a much shorter time.  That doesnt mean I can make more molds in a day.  Because the OOMOO 25 has such a short pot life, I can only make 1 maybe 2 mold halves at a time and they have to be small molds.

When you pour your silicone, you want to do it from a respectable height and in a controlled small stream.  This breaks up most of the air bubbles caused by mixing.  This takes some time.  And if you are using the OOMOO 25 the silicone is starting to set by the time you have poured the one mold.

With the OOMOO 30 you have the luxury of a 30 minute pot life.  So you can make more molds at once and depending on the size of your pressure pot and depending on how you utilize the space in that pressure pot, you can actually make more molds in a day with the OOMOO 30 even with a 6 hour cure time.

The more relaxed you are the less likely you are to make a mistake or have a mishap.  With the OOMOO 25 you feel rushed and you have to pour your silicone into the mold as fast as possible.  Mixing air bubbles and all.  You dont have the time frame to afford an error.

Each product is made for a specific purpose.  And if you use them for the proper purpose they will both work fine.  My recommendation is if you are only going to make one mold or a couple of relatively small molds...then use the OOMOO 25.  It will be faster and the shortened pot life shouldnt affect you if you are organized.

But if you have a few molds you want to make at once or are making larger molds, then I highly recommend using the OOMOO 30.  You can follow all the procedures without being rushed and the extended pot life means you can also make more molds without having them start to cure at an accelerated pace before you get them into the pressure pot.

*** When I say a small mold, I am referring to a mold that would make a 3 3/4" figure part or an accessory for a 3 3/4" figure.  When I say larger mold, I am referring to a mold that would or could cast say a Magno Leg or anything larger or even a 3 3/4" figure if it were all in one piece. ***