impala59 Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Having the need for a butt plate for a new addition to my Ithaca collection, I experimented with a trial kit from mouldcraft.co.uk. Ithaca parts are unobtainable in the UK so needs must! Firstly, I made a very rough mould box, laid a couple of butt plates of differing style and size in it and mixed up my silicon. Very slowly so as to not create air bubbles I poured over the originals (complete with age related patina marks etc!) after an hour or so, I removed the silicon mould, thankful that my originals were none the worse for the treatment. I then mixed my two part plastic and carefully filled the moulds (including one for a pistol grip cap as I had some silicon over) I missed the colour a bit, probably my mixing, but overall I am happy that I can now duplicate these rare butt plates. I will make further moulds of different styles in the future, all in all, a simple process that is actually very rewarding and fun to do! The mould box with originals Covered with Silicon mix Filled with plastic mix Originals left, the moulds and clones right Detail of my repro butt plates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Well done Mate, nice to see parts are available, as long as you have one to copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffgg Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Lovely job. Now thinking of all the small parts i needed that were not made any more when working on my rebuilds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmaxphil Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Well done that came out better than I would of thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 (edited) just love this can do attitude that most of PW have....top banana 1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said: Well done Mate, nice to see parts are available, as long as you have one to copy. in alot of cases you could make a template....even make butt extensions.....are there different colours resins avaiable ? Edited November 26, 2021 by ditchman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impala59 Posted November 26, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Yes all colours available, also casting rubber too. I have a number of my guns with cracked/glued butt plates, I will be looking at fine sanding these to get a decent master then casting a new one in solid. Incidentally, when I removed from the mould, they were still a bit warm and slightly pliable, I rested them on a sheet of glass for flatness but they could if needed be fitted to slightly curved surfaces if done early enough. This morning they are rock hard and look to be sandable for perfect fit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 (edited) That's nice. There did used to be in the USA a guy that made replica Webley, Colt and Etc. grips to duplicate the original hard black rubber grips such as on the Webley .455 and Colt .455 and the Harrington & Richardson and Etc. https://www.vintagegungrips.net/ I think that he also did buttplates for shotguns.The issue with his stuff was that it was betrayed, as it were, by lack of the original pattern escutcheons and screws. Also unlike the originals his didn't have the same shiny semi-matt yet silky gloss external finish. Anyway for those that don't have the skills and time of the OP here's a link to that American outlet. Hope it is useful. Edited November 26, 2021 by enfieldspares Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon R Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Very impressive and useful too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impala59 Posted November 26, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 For what it’s worth, the skill levels are fairly low. I picked a silicon that is 50/50 by weight (not volume)and a polyeurethane resin that is also 50/50 by weight. Mixing slowly in clean pots (washed and dried thoroughly yogurt pots) using clean wood coffee stirrers for mixing and pouring from about 10” above with the smallest stream possible, starting in the lowest part of the mould or mould box, the same technique for both making the mould and casting the resin. It’s certainly something that I will use again and as ditchman says templates can be made and then cast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_R Posted November 26, 2021 Report Share Posted November 26, 2021 Looks good, which silicon did you buy? Some of them are pretty expensive, especially those that can stand up to casting metals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impala59 Posted November 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2021 (edited) The silicon is Mouldcraft HT-560 RTV and I believe that this can take low melt point metals Apparently, it is a 'shore 60' ?? and is stable up to 280 degrees C, £24 per kg but I only bought a tester of 250g (£8) Edited November 27, 2021 by impala59 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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