A Whale Of a Tale About Smooth‑On Rubber

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A Whale Of a Tale About Smooth-On Rubber

Smooth-On's silicone rubber takes the lead in making 45' (13.8 m) animatronic whales for the film, "Ocean Warrior," which was produced in Europe.

Wanted: New Technologies – The whale's skin needed to be soft and paintable. Silicone was softened with Slacker® deadener, which gave the cured rubber the look and feel of real whale blubber.

Painting a Silicone? As anyone who has ever tried to paint a silicone will tell you, it is quite difficult. Smooth-On Psycho Paint® was created for just this application. It was sprayed onto the surface of the rigid mold using a spray system and deadened Dragon Skin® was poured into the mold. The Psycho Paint adhered to the cured rubber, which provided exactly the needed effect.

The finished giant has a belly full of electronics and enough of a motor to actually swim.