After adding more coats of caulk to the treads, I decided to try my hand at creating a rubber mold. I used the trial containers of rubber from smooth-on thinking that would be enough rubber. I prepared the item I was going to make a mold out of, sprayed the release agent on and mixed the two part rubber. Brad at Smooth on said to make sure you thoroughly mix each part separately and then mix them together thoroughly. After doing that, I poured the rubber into my frame (a rubber tupperware container) and was disappointed to see that I mis-judged the amount of rubber that it would take. After pouring, it was about 1/2 inch short so I quickly set up two smaller molds I had prepared and poured the rubber out of the first mold into the smaller two. Pretty messy cleanup but it was interesting. Now I wait 16 hours to see how the rubber mold formed.
I sprayed one of the treads with a coat of plasti-kote and have to say the results are not what I expected. It's ok but not the quality I had hoped for.
I went to Kinkos tonight with a copy of the collar PDF and they printed a full sized template that I can use to align my collar ribs. This is so much more accurate than trying to tape individual 8" x 11" pieces of paper together. I tried that and the kinkos plan is much better. They only charge $4.50 for a 24" x 36" printout. If you don't live next to a kinkos, you can print it online and have them mail it to you.
UPS brought my urethane 321 from Smooth-on tonight.
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