Sizzlin’ Liz, bucking the Mustang

Try a couple runs in a cheap plastic Dixie cups first. That way you'll get an idea of the removal process.

Once you have a couple of pulls with different plaster consistencies you'll get the hang of it before the "real deal."

A couple of old socks with dried beans or uncooked rice make great levelling bags. That way you won't need to keep cutting cardboard to make mold rests. Just pop the molds on the socks.

Leave the casting in a warm area, no direct heat or significant sunlight so it doesn't dry out unevenly. Oh, and practice how much plaster to mix by filling the "molds" with water, and then dumping the water into your mixing bowl. That way you know how much volume to mix before hand. You will want a bit more than "the fill" so you can't fall short. Adding more later causes a weak zone between the two batches.

I filled to just a bit more than scraped level...it is easier to scuff the mound from the back of the casting down to the break line if you go 1/16"-1/8" over full. Really, once the plug is done, having a bit of excess shoulder isn't a problem unless it creates a significant "negative draft" which makes removing the replacent plastic/pull from the buck (after vacuum table work) a bit tougher..

I scan the woods full size, and scan the build sheet in overlapping sections. The sections get stitched together in visual stitching software. You need to look for the setting that does "flat scan stitching" not Panoramic. Panoramic does the perspective/rounding/vantage point simulation to smooth those digital pictures with different depth perceptions (think mountains and valleys as opposed to the two-dimensional plans sheet).

Once woods are scanned, I remove the parts from the woods and manually trace the parts into white paper with a sharp pencil or very pointy pen (to get right on the cut edge). All of this gets scanned. The plans are then adjusted up in size to larger paper so the image can be adjusted to final size. Adobe Reader has a measuring tool that you can use to measure a few dimensions so as the picture is re-sized and saved, you can validate final size.

I hope that makes sense.

Marley, PM your email...I'll send one your way so you have an example. I have about 4 hours into scanning/digitizing the P-40. Well, all but the plastics.