Elbow Grease (day 74)

It’s been a bit of a slump with this 100 day challenge in recent weeks and this week is no exception. But part of the challenge is to just keep going, even if things aren’t working out quite how they’re supposed to.
Previously I used epoxy putty to create hollow copies of the upper leg part from a rubber mold. The process was a bit experimental and due to quality problems with the castings I wasn’t sure if I was going to actually use them. I’ve made up my mind that I will use them, so for the past couple sessions I’ve been working on smoothing them out. I did some gap filling on them and now I’m sanding them to get them smooth again.


The sanding work has mostly succeeded in getting the parts looking smooth, and while they’re not going to be perfect (even the part I copied them from has a little bit of asymmetry to it) I think they’ll be good enough. I am having to engage in a fair amount of manual work to give these parts their smooth finish back, and that’s not really ideal, but starting over with another method to duplicate the parts would also require additional work. Sometimes it’s best to just go with what you’ve got.
I will say I’m not sure if I’d use this approach again. I have something else in mind for creating hollow duplicates of the lower leg parts.. Perhaps there are some circumstances where this kind of method really would be a good choice, but I think there are probably better ways to go. Though honestly, until I get my pressure casting equipment set up again, and fresh mold rubber and resin, casting is going to continue being a problem no matter what methods I use.

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