Ace's Nitro 9 canisters

[Oblivion]

Built using an authentic canister for one prop and a resin copy of the can for the second.

[superrichi1a]

Been following this, mainly just amazed you have an original canister! How does one even track that down?

I think Battlefield gets a really bad rap, it has a few annoyances sure (like the Brig being stuck in a helicopter for so long, too many allusions to unanswered questions etc, a very weird UNIT) but I think fundamentally its a strong one. That whole last season is, really. Possibly still one of the best in the whole of Doctor Who!

[Oblivion]

I've had it for while but I've only just got around to doing what I wanted to do with it. You need to search places that supply or deal with vintage set dressings for period movies, plays, television shows etc. I had help I admit, which, well, helps  

[galacticprobe]

What's really amazing about this is that, at least in the photo, it's impossible to tell which is the original canister, and which is the resin replica! Once again, Oblivion, you astonish with a job not only well done, but also with the surprise of replicating a prop using the actual item used to make the original prop!

(So, does that make it a "replica"? Or an actual prop that just happened to not be used? Sort of like that Saturn V rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; it was one of the "back-up" rockets they had on stand-by in case they needed it - which they never did since I think it was made available after the Apollo 13 incident. Sort of a "replica", but totally complete and made from the exact same components as its sisters, and if assembled, prepped, and fueled up today, it could be launched tomorrow because it's a "real" Saturn V.)

Dino.

[Oblivion]

To be honest Dino, looking at them, even in the 'flesh', you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. However you can tell which is which with just one touch of a finger, one's cold to the touch, the other isn't and one's as light as a feather, the other as heavy as a brick. I'll keep the mold for the can (I usually melt my molds down after use) and I'll try and make a mold of the cap at a later date, I'm not sure how to do that.

[galacticprobe]

To be honest Dino, looking at them, even in the 'flesh', you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart.

Then you have definitely achieved the perfect replica! (Just a note: All of your other replicas are just as well done as this, but this is the first time I think I've heard you agree with me on that one! )

However you can tell which is which with just one touch of a finger, one's cold to the touch, the other isn't and one's as light as a feather, the other as heavy as a brick.

Well, that is the one drawback of casting in resin. While it's true that in very cold weather your tongue won't stick to it like it would to the metal canister (though why one would stick his tongue to a can of Nitro-9 is beyond me), the resin version will weigh a ton! On the plus side, you can fling it twice as far (probably) because its weight will give it extra momentum, whereas the can's light weight will provide less momentum, and also make it subject to wind.

I'll keep the mold for the can (I usually melt my molds down after use)...

That would be a good idea. If the resin replica is that heavy, the wrong bump could knock it off of a shelf or a table, and it will break apart when it hits the floor. This way if you still have the mould on hand you could cast another replica without having to recreate a new mould first.

...and I'll try and make a mold of the cap at a later date, I'm not sure how to do that.

The cap will be a little trickier. If you're making the mould from silicone then you'll need to really cover the cap with some cooking spray so the silicone doesn't adhere to it. Cooking spray is far less expensive than the mould release some places sell, and it's pretty much the same stuff... only the cooking spray is non-toxic. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.) Once you've made the mould for the cap's outside then you can cast away. That said...

There are two ways to go about it: more difficult version first;

You'll need to make a mould of the cap's inside as well to use as a "plug", just like Matt did with the Fresnel lens replica he made for his Met Box Build, because you'll need that hollow space inside so the cap fits over the canister's neck. Once you've got both parts to the mould, then you'll need to pour the resin into the "outer" mould, and leave enough room to insert the "inner" mould without having too much resin overflow. Something to hold the inner mould in place is needed or it will try to float out of the resin due to those laws of buoyancy and displacement (which are too technical for this topic).

Once that resin sets, you just pull the inner plug mould out, and then remove the casting from the outer mould and you should have a replica cap. Mind you, the wall on this replica cap will be thin - as thin as that on the original - and I'm not sure just what sort of flexibility resins have, or if some have more than others, so you'd have to test it out to see if the replica cap would crack when you put into the replica canister.

The above method was necessary for Matt's lens because he needed a large, hollow lens with a thick wall. For a thin-walled cap, there is that second method I mentioned, which is "somewhat" easier. (At least it will yield a hollow, flexible replica.)

This method - which may require some assistance if you're not versed in vacu-forming - is to make the outer mould of the original cap as above, but just cast a solid replica of the cap. Then you would use the solid replica as the master form and vacu-form a flexible and hollow replica from vacu-forming plastic around that. This would give you a replica cap that would stand up to the rigors of sticking it onto, and pulling it off of the replica canister. (This method might be easier in the long run, and you'll still have a master for vacu-forming replacement caps as the need arises. You could even make several caps at once by making several solid masters. This way you could keep the original cap out of harm's way even on the original canister, using a replica cap for both canisters when showing the Nitro-9 "boom-thingies" to friends.)

I know this was a lot to throw out there, but hopefully you'll find some of it useful, and helpful.

Dino.