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Hey all,

Firstly I would like to give a big thank you to all the tutorials, guides and "how to"s written by hobbyists around the world (mostly in the US it seems) on resin casting and mold making, really they (you?) have been a huge help.

So for anyone who has seen my blog might now I've been trying mold making and resin casting if only because I have more ideas for vehicle and terrain design than I can fit in my skull and thought I could sell some copies to help pay for the costs of casting. Thing is I've hit 2 snags...

The cost difference between the US and UK is truly absurd.

Just to show you what I mean I've picked two nearly identical products from one online store for the UK and the US (paint pressure pots from amazon), that can be used to pressure resin in a mold whilst it cures to shrink any air bubbles, now yes I know this is just one item from one store but it's pretty symptomatic of more or less all the tools suitable for mold making and casting that I have seen around. so take a look, considering that the exchange rate is currently 0.66 GBP to 1 USD.

US:
http://www.amazon.com/Pressure-Tank-Spray-Nozzle-Hoses/dp/B002ABWVRM?ie=UTF8&tag=t0bd8f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969
http://www.amazon.com/Pressure-Paint-Tank-Pot/dp/B001Z0RAW0?ie=UTF8&tag=t0bd8f-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969

UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Litre-Screwdriver-Accessory-Interchangable-Precision/dp/B00927CRZ8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373798426&sr=8-4&keywords=10+litre+pressure+pot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trade-Paints-Professional-Pressure-Sprayer/dp/B0079T4MSQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1373798426&sr=8-5&keywords=10+litre+pressure+pot

so about 2.5* more expensive in the UK as the US...

This is just ONE product on ONE site that isn't even specialized in this activity and I don't want to rant about it, I would just like to know am I missing something here? more or less across the board the prices for equipment like this are 2-4 times US prices in my country, I am well aware of market forces like "supply and demand" and "economies of scale", but there doesn't seem to be the same problem with casting supplies like resin and silicone for molding.

Feel free to scream in my face and kick me in a bottomless pit for saying this but ... this is madness.

Thats the first problem, the second:

I bought myself a degassing kit all together (http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/products/vacuum-equipment/complete-vacuum-degassing-system.aspx), I opted for a more powerful pump thinking I could use it to degas the resin in the mold and the molds themselves, saving myself a lot of hastle by having one big piece of kit instead of a degasser and pressure pot.

Now whilst it is a fantastic piece of kit and works perfectly but I'm having too many problems with resin bubbling out of the pieces I'm casting and I am seriously thinking of returning it, as obviously overkill for simply degassing the silicone and I can think of a number of causes and solutions to the resin bubbling out, but I could really do with opinions that are not my own on this.

Can anyone help me with this? or am I just doing it all wrong.

Thanks for any help or advice you can offer.