Thread: Mold-able material for scales

Has anybody tried to use anything like this to make scales?

InstaMorph - Moldable Plastic » About

I don't like how low the melting temp is. I would hate for my scales to start to deform under hot water! 140 degree F melting? hmmmm...

Just curious!

" Mold-able material for scales".
You just made my day, and now I've got coffee everywhere!

I think it's a bit low, 60°C / 140°F, I've got hot tap water hotter than that, but there is other thermoplastics you can use.
No links, sorry but shouldn't be to hard to find.

Horn is a thermoplastic, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Baxxer

Horn is a thermoplastic, isn't it?

Haha, no it's not, but it can be soften by boiling and some chemicals to make it plastic and other chemicals to make it hard.
It can also be pulverized and cast in any form again with water, heat and chemicals.
Sorry I don't remember exactly how, got some old books about it somewhere.

This seemed like an easier product to use to try and re-produce a good marble-ized plastic such as the old Celluloids... I am trying to find something that I can cast that re-produces that look. I guess I will need to mix up several batches of epoxies and play with mixing them properly to get the look!

You can make Celluloid plastic yourself, nitrocellulose dissolved in camphor and/or acetone but if you live in the US you better put on some coffee for the ATF guys.
There is lots of modern castable plastics to choose from, it all depends on what end results you want and your casting/mold making resources.

If someone is up to making things out of horn/bone castings I'll look for the books...

It looks really easy and melts very fast a few seconds and it turns clear and mold-able in hot water.

It looks like it would be fun to play with but like silly putty it won't last long. I think I would rather print my scales. WHAT? Print you say ???? Yep, print. I saw one of these working at a trade show about 20 years or more ago. They are getting cheaper by the year. It's on my want/wish list. I can make 3d graphic models with Maya and it would be cool to click and print them out.

3D printing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A good modern thermoplastic, that doesnt become pliable until around 240* I believe, is Kydex. I've wondered about how Kydex would look as a scale material as its pretty cheap. Might look into that as well depending on what you're going for.

Looks like a pellet version of this type of stuff Splinting Thermoplastics which comes in sheets of pre-formed blanks.

Used to do some splinting as a hand therapist - definitley NOT what you want for scales.
The working temp would be too low to get a lasting product.
These materials allow molding by dipping in hot water - usually an electric fry pan of hot (not boiling water).