This morning I was able to pour the plaster for my mold. I bought a 24 lb bag of Plaster of Paris (which was only about $13) and a 5 gallon bucket to mix it in. I also bought a fancy mixing rod attachment for a drill. This proved invaluable when mixing that much plaster.

Here the plaster has been poured into the mold. That big bag turned out to not be enough to fill the box. It was just barley enough to cover the cone. I scraped the excess plaster from the bucket and used it to fill the edges (hopefully to give the finished mold more support.)

After letting the mold dry in the sun for a couple of hours it was time for the moment of truth. I would either have a nice mold, or a sloppy mess. Which would it be? Here is the mold upside down (right-side-up actually, I built it upside down) ready to have to foam pad removed.

Cardboard bottom is removed and you can see the foam boot cone.

Success! The foam cone took a little convincing to remove, but it came out and I was left with a nice mold.

Remember how I said the face of the mold would come out looking pretty rough? Well this is what I was talking about.

I will use some kind of sandable filler (probably bondo) to fill in the cracks and gaps, then sand it all smooth.

I wouldn't want to start laying up fiberglass or carbon fiber in the mold the way it is. All those cracks and crevices would make it real tough to get the finished part out of the mold. So, I still have some work to do on the mold before I am ready to start making parts, but that's okay because I still need to order some epoxy.

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