Blue Stuff from Green Stuff: Give the boy a hand

[MikeTrice]

Some time ago I accidentally came across a product called Blue Stuff from Green Stuff World. Basically it is a plastic that can be softened in boiling water and used to make moulds allowing parts to be replicated. There are a number of videos on Youtube covering its use. At the time I thought that would be handy so ordered some just in case it would prove useful one day. It has since sat in a drawer unused until this week.

 

I dabble in many things, not all railway related, and for my sins was given a Pelham Puppet to attempt to restore. As can be seen here one of his hands was in a bad state. I also happened to have another hand from a second puppet:

 

Finally I had an excuse to try out the Blue Stuff to make a new hand!

 

Basically the Blue Stuff comes in bars like this.

 

One or more are put into boiling water for 3 minutes then removed and kneaded into a soft lump then one half of the master pushed into it. A blunt tip of a brush can be pushed in to provide some registration dimples.

 

On allowing to cool the process is repeated for the second side:

 

The two halves are allowed to solidify and are then pulled apart.

 

Here can be seen a number of mouldings taken from it using a few materials:

 

What can be seen in the photo from left to right is 2 * Unibond Repair Express epoxy putty, 1 * steel filled epoxy resin 5 minute glue, 2 * Plastic Padding Elastic, 1 * Milliput Fine and 2 * Isopon P38.

 

The putties were mixed, rolled into a rough shape and squeezed between the mould halves. Some oozes out and prevents the moulds fully closing which can result in a thicker moulding. For the more fluid glues/fillers after mixing both halves had the compound spooned into each cavity and spread out with a piece of dowel then the two halves of the mould brought together and squeezed to remove any excess. Being thinner the more liquid fillers were far more successful than the thicker putties. I had an old tube of Plastic Padding and although it gave good results it has remained slightly tacky. The Isopon being new has worked a dream.

 

Here is the best one using Isopon cleaned up and compared with the original:

 

So I now have a replacement part that I can use instead of the original damaged hand, however I though I would try repairing the original hand as an experiment. Isopon was spooned into the half of the mould corresponding to the damaged part then the original hand pressed into it:

 

It just needs tidying up and I think it will be fine:

 

The used Blue Stuff can be cleaned up then remelted to make a different mould.

 

Since purchasing the Blue Stuff there seem to be a number of alternative versions around, all appear to work the same.  Try searching for Oyumaru, available in a wide range of colours.

 

Although not related in this instance to a railway subject I am sure the technique could be used somewhere.

 

Hope this is useful.

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...I dabble in many things, not all railway related...

 

Hope this is useful.

 I know that plot: 'he' makes stuff, I will get him to fix it.

 

Could certainly see that being useful.

[BG John]

I discovered it a while ago, but haven't got round to trying it yet. The discovery was made just after I'd managed to scrounge an axlebox off a fellow RMwebber, that was missing from a Slaters kit I'd be given. It seems ideal for jobs like making one-off replacements for missing or lost parts.

 

I didn't know about Oyumaru. I'm not sure why it's available in lots of different colours, but there's a clear version that might be useful to see how well the moulding material has been worked in.

[The Johnster]

Many years ago, I was involved in a club layout which required some track with GW wartime concrete sleeper blocks; the prototype had been damaged by the incendiary bombing which was part of German foreign policy during the early 1940s, and relaid in this way.  I made a master out of Milliput, and impressed it into a lump of plasticene; only the top part of the block was to be visible.  I then proceeded to mould, I think, about 200 blocks in this way, of which about a third were rejects, a very dull and repetitive task.  This method might have enabled me to mass produce them in batches!

 

I then had to attach SMP Scaleway chairs to them.

 

No wonder I'm a bit funny in the head these days...

[MikeTrice]

I didn't know about Oyumaru. I'm not sure why it's available in lots of different colours, but there's a clear version that might be useful to see how well the moulding material has been worked in.

Yes, the clear is tempting for that very reason.