Greetings! I've been browsing the net for tips on just this subject and your thread has answered a lot of questions - thank you! I just have one more inquiry - do you know of a way to make the end product of one-part self curing silicones (after curing) softer and stretchier (lets say more like human skin, goal hardness is 10-30 shore A)? The reason I'm asking: I am a resident in heart surgery and I'm trying to make practice models of parts of the human heart and tissue to use for training outside the operating room. As you said the platinum cure silicones are used for this purpose but the price difference is tenfold and they're a bit too expensive for us.

Lately, I have had several times when GE silicone has not dried -'cured'. The day after applying, I can wipe the caulking out like toothpaste! I have used this silicone (probably 100 to 200+ tubes) for years, but something is wrong now. Even the hardware dealer is baffeled. I called the 'help' number on the caulking tube and the lady I spoke with said perhaps it had overheated in my toolbox. She wanted to know the 'batch number' from the tubes, so I suspect they have been having others call in with the same problem. So, I bought a new tube and the same thing happened. This is VERY frustrating. Please let me know if you learn anything, and I will do the same.

There's a 3M "Caulk Remover" product that is said to help soften up silicone caulk if you leave it on a few hours (like overnight) and supposedly doesn't damage fiberglass, etc. I'm planning to give it a try on my shower door removal project. -Roger

That's simple enough.......and it worked...!! Thanks 'normel' for your advice.