Building My First Hide Tomorrow

[saximus]

I've finally finished with all of my internship and working interstate stuff so I'm going to get stuck into making (attempting) my first hide. I've read quite a few threads (including my own sticky in this forum) so from that I'm going to put the steps I intend to follow below. If someone could comment on my steps and let me know where the probable issues will arise (or if I should be doing anything different) I'd be very appreciative.

1. Make mould/base out of aviary mesh for strength and stability
2. Coat mesh in expand foam (wearing gloves and careful not to get it on me)
3. Paint on a few coats of grout making the mixture thicker as I add each new coat
4. Sprinkle some sand on final coat for texture
5. Coat a few times with grout sealer or pondtite - will depend on people's recommendations and what I can find at Bunnings

Before someone mentions it these will be for snakes so I don't need to worry about claws - hence my use of grout instead of cement.
Hopefully the mesh will provide enough strength to counteract the brittle nature of the expand foam. Other than that I'm hoping these are the correct steps.
I'll make sure I take lots of photos of the work/disaster as it progresses...

 

[J-A-X]

Good luck and have fun

 

[saximus]

Thanks Jax. Does that mean you approve of my steps? I'll make sure I add this thread to the DIY group too. Finally I can have some meaningful input to the group

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Looks good dude!
What's it for and how big?

 

[saximus]

Thanks man . The first one will be for a Mac then if it's successful I'll go bigger for my Jungle

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Awesome, make sure to post some pics soon and cut up the expanda foam, it looks more much natural with a mixture of flat ridges and curves.

 

[Laghairt]

If I were you I'd use a polyester resin like builders bog instead of expanda foam. It will work out about the same price, be stronger and easier to work with. I would also consider using an epoxy resin rather than pondtite. With the resin you can paint it on and then just press sand into it. It will look a lot more authentic be just as waterproof and will dry a lot faster. Here's a pic of a Background I made from epoxy resin and red desert sand on the weekend.

There is also a product called liquid sandstone that will work a lot better than grout. It has an acrylic in it so you just paint it on and looks really authentic. You can buy a litre for $27 from bunnings and that will be enough for many hides. I wouldn't bother with gorut/cement mixes as they generally look crap.

 

[saximus]

I definitely will J man.
Hmm thanks Rondo I'll have a look at the prices and see. Can you get the epoxy resin from typical hardware places?

 

[Laghairt]

You can get a number of brands from Bunnings but I get it from a local boat builder very cheap. It is an expensive product but far superior to anything else out there for making fake rocks and you won't need much at all so you could buy a small tin. Your finished product will be strong, light and completely waterproof.

Alternatively, just use the liquid sandstone and the sealer made by the same company that has a natural (low gloss) finish. That will probably be cheaper.

This is the brand I use and they have it at bunnings:

Liquid Sandstone - Product Catalogue - Mega Treat 2000 - Quality Suppliers of Liquid Terracotta, Liquid Sandstone and Liquid Limestone

 

[saximus]

Oh man now you're throwing too many options into the mix .
That stuff looks interesting though

 

[Laghairt]

I used the Desert Gold colour and it's great. It will look better than any grout mix. The epoxy resin will be superior to all other options though.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Generally, how much is a 1L or 2L of builders Bog?

 

[Laghairt]

I think it's around $30/L but it gets cheaper for larger tins.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Cool and how much could you build from say 2L?
Cover a 3ft enclosure?

 

[cadwallader]

whats the weight like in comparison to concrete?

 

[Laghairt]

Polyester resin is much lighter but also a lot more expensive. Not sure how much it would take to cover 3ft. For something that big you would probably be better of using polyurethane foam to make a mould and then painting on epoxy resin and sand.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Thanks for that.

 

[Laghairt]

No probs. It's actually really easy to make great looking backgrounds/hides.

 

[Sofoula88]

I know ur moulding it rather than making it entirely out of foam but here's some pics of mine I made a while back out of styro..I also used grout to get it hard n stable..dunno if uve made it yet but yeh def dnt make the first couple of coats of grout to thick..ull find if u put a layer on too thick it will crack..another tip I can give u is if u want really smooth lines not rough n ragged in certain areas grout with a thick layer and then go over while it's drying n smooth it out with a very runny almost water mix..works greatanyway here are the pics =]. http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/...ucket.com/albums/zz121/sofoula88/b20280ac.jpg

 

[1woma]

Rondo- id love to see pics of how you did that.... i have no experience with any of those products but am interested.... i think it mite be to expensive though for lg walls

Sax- dont forget pva glue in the first couple layers there have been a couple threads using liquid sandstone, it seems a little bit expensive to me, it doesnt go as far as the clear pondtite. i dont use sand either, on the last layer of remder i just dod the brush all over it to hide any brush strokes. this makes the surface kind of rough..... i even watched one of my snakes use my rockwall to shed the other day soooooo COOOLLLLL!!!!!!!