Moulding a custom synthetic stock

[Latvian291]

I don't think this has ever come up before, but as airsofters often modify their guns it might be useful to know.

I have made a custom stock out of wood, but since the wood version did not look too good on a tactical modern rifle, I've painted it black with textured tremclad paint to simulate a synthetic stock and it looks very nice.

However, I am interested to know if its possible to mould one's own synthetic stock and how you would go about that.

I would assume you'd start with a wood positive, make a mould out of plaster, but is there any commonly available material one can use to cast the stock?

Has anyone ever done this before and can they offer advice?

Thanks,

yes and yes.

you can use Aluminite molding plastic thats commonly avaliable at hobby shops.

even easier, is carve the stock out of styrofoam and wrap it in fiberglass. When its hardened, melt the foam out using either an oven or solvents.

[Latvian291]

I suppose one could also make it out of clay and then remove the clay from the mould.

Where would one find fibrelass to wrap it in? A hobby shop as well?

[Darklen]

Casting it with be costly pretty much anyway you go. I've been casting model parts for years (and recently a project for airsoft) and both molding and casting materials are not inexpensive. The cheapest way to mold the sock would be plaster with the wood sctock as the master. You'll have to do the stock in at least two parts, though three might be easier depending on the stock design. Using plaster wraps used to make cast would be easy and add a lot of strength to the mold. You'll need a lot of wraps (or home made substitutes) and modeling clay to bed it in. BTW, modelling clay is about $20/lb. and a pound isn't much for this application. It might do the inletting inside the stock.

Now, what to cast it with? Fiberglass? By itself, fairly heavy. If you can make a shell out of fiberglass in with the molds and use a pourable, rigid expanding foam inside, it might be ok. Fiberglass is usually messy to work with, especially if you're inexperienced. BWT, you can get fiberglass fabric & resin at Canadian Tire.

Your best bet is to locate a plastic/resin supply company locally. They can help out a lot more as they supply products for this all the time.