24 replies to this topic

[AntsCalifornia]

A guy on YouTube, Ant Invasion, made a tutorial where he used sand rather than modelling clay or similar to mould his chambers, his reason was because he could wash the sand out rather than having to remove the hydrostone/plaster to take out the clay, of course his chambers were perfectly coated with sand. Perhaps you could adapt the method to suit what you are doing, maybe coat your mould with sand then when the hydrostone is poured the sand will be imbedded into the hydrostone when dry?
Just thinking out loud really.

I might try this sometime as a small experiment, but my main concern is that it will make it near impossible to get the clay out afterwards, or that the clay might pull the sand back out.

Edited by AntsCalifornia, December 7 2018 - 4:50 PM.

[AntsCalifornia]

So I said I wasn't going to make formciariums for a while, but I found a bit of free time today and made a mold for a new formicarium. This new one was made to be more like Ray Mendez's formicariums. After a bit of studying and comparing nest size to other objects in the video, I figured I could try it. The chamber in his is a lot smaller than my first one. I now realize that my first formicarium is probably not really a founding formicarium. For this mold I used the same acrylic box drew uses for his small dirt boxes. I also tried to add in the overhead lighting feature this attempt. Here is the formicarium next to my first one for scale.

 It's a little lopsided, but I'll fix that in the next version. I'm still getting waves on surfaces in contact with the acrylic, and I can't really figure out why. If anyone has any ideas as to the problem, please share them.

Also, does anyone know where I can find hydrostone pigment to color it?

Edited by AntsCalifornia, December 8 2018 - 5:34 PM.

[FSTP]

I'm not really sure why you're getting those wavy lines. One thing you could try, if you're not already doing it, is after you pour the hydrostone into the mold is try tapping and lightly dropping it to get all the bubbles and to allow the hydrostone to settle properly.

 

As for the pigment, I use concrete pigments, its the same type of pigments Ray Mendez uses in his builds. 

 

 

https://www.ebay.com...cat=14441908016

[AntsCalifornia]

Thanks for the link! I am also wondering, does anyone know what container THA uses for the talus, I want a container like that for my next project.

[FSTP]

Thanks for the link! I am also wondering, does anyone know what container THA uses for the talus, I want a container like that for my next project.

 

 

 

https://www.pioneerp...ntainers/185c/