CAL

I agree 100% just because it sells doesn't mean it's a good kit. How many Revell 57 Chevy kits (the ones with opening everything) did Revell probably sell during its god knows how many times since it's been released and rereleased? I suspect that's got to be the BEST kit EVER! Does that 250 kit come with an engine? I have the old Protar boxing and was thinking of getting one of the Revell AG kits.

Yeah the start to a good kit is when you open the box. It seems to be WOW! look at this... or ewww what is this. I must admit, and I cannot be the only one, but I have kits that I got because I saw one, looked in the box, or someone has told me about it, but not really had an interest in the subject. In fact, some of my best models I built I didn't always have that much interest in the subject matters. I sometimes build to build and refine my skills on something I don't really care about... so if it goes south it's not a big emotional loss. Maybe that's why they tend to turn out good. Furthermore I encourage people to expand their horizons. I know some simply refuse. At one time I was hardcore a Street Machine/NHRA nut and couldn't even discuss anything else. I don't know what exactly changed, but I got into road racing, researching and reading up on Porsche, Ferrari, F-1, LM, ALMS and found and whole other world, that quite frankly is more interesting. So needless to say, I do not put subject at the top of my list. It is up there but not necessarily at the top.

You can build a vacuum pump from a refer compressor. Understand that it's a compressor and not a vacuum pump. You do have to do some modifications and build a few things to convert a refer compress. you'll need to pull roughly 29 inches of mercury. Evilbay is a pretty good source. Thomas pumps? IIRC. and medical equipment sales. $100-$200 range.

the rubber keeps it shape and picks up the detal. I have used sculpy for simple molds, but the parts are not as crips as rubber.

you welcome if have any questions feel free to ask. 100+ pump is just a part of it. You will still need a vacuum chamber or bell, a compressor if a pressure pot, or a spinning table, rubber, resin, clay and some basic tools for resin casting and master making. You are probably looking at closer to a $500 investment to get started. You can always try doing it without a vacuum and pressure or spinning table, some people have moderate luck with it. In fact, I have pretty good luck doing basic simple molds and casts without, but everytime I have tried to cheat with something large or intricate it hasn't come out that well without going through all the steps. You can also try urethane rubber, they claim it works better without vacuuming it, but I still get lots of airbubbles if I don't. HTH

It is not iron but "white" or pot-metal which is pretty soft. You should be able to take a dremal or die grinder to it. Unless you plan on getting into resin casting you may just want to find someone to cast a one of for you because to get a decent cast of a body with a two part mold you will need some equipment and supplies. The single relief molds you probably can get away with out vacuum pump and spin or pressure casting. The body is a little touchier and tricky you may throw a lot of material away before getting a usable mold and casts. Basically this is how I do it. Get a plastic box or build on big enough to put whatever you are going to cast in it. Leave enough room so you have a sold rubber mold when you are done. 1/4 inch on small parts more as you get into bigger parts. I use clay in the bottom of the box and start building up around the part. You want a seem where the rubber will be split in two halves. So at this point you will be building up the clay so half is in clay and half is exposed. I almost forgot, you need a round something to put down first it will go between the part and the bottom of the box. This will eventually be the spout where you pour your resin. Ever part is different so you have to plan ahead. Plan your parting lines and you want to be able to remove the clay later without removing the rubber. This will eventually be the bottom of your mold. Once you have the part in clay I make an index or key in the clay so the mold goes back together exactly the way it should. Use a dowel or something to make 1/2-inch deep keys in the clay on the flat surface between the part and the box wall. Then you will mix you rubber vacuum it pour it and vacuum it again after it's poured into your box. You will need to pull about 29 inches of mercury from your vacuum pump. No a cleaning vacuum isn't going to work. That only pulls about 2. You should be able to find one for $100 $200. I usually let it sit a few days before pulling it out. Now you want to pull it out and clean off all the clay trying to be careful not to pull the part out of the rubber. Once all the clay is removed and it's clean flip it over and put the mold with the part back into the box. Now the top is the bottom. At some point you will, especially if you are spin casting want to cut some relief in the rubber - outwards so you don't trap air in the mold when casting, I use a gouge and make a few clean cuts from the part to the outside of the mold. You can use dowels or sprus to do this too. Just lay them in when you are claying your parts, spray a little release agent and mix and pour another batch of rubber the same as before. Wait a couple days and remove the rubber separate it and remove the part. Now you have your mold. Inspect it for defects and bubbles and such. You can do some small repairs to a rubber mold but anything significant wrong you toss it away and try again. Now it's just a matter of casting some parts, which is the easy part. Use release agent. let it dry. Assemble you mold back in the box and your ready to pour your resin. Now depending on if you are spin casting or pressure casting. If you are spin casting you set your mold up on the table spin it up and pour your resin, and you will have a part in 30 mins or so. If you are pressure casting you pour your resin and put it in the pressure pot and pressurize it 90-100 PSI, again you have a part in 30 mins or so. That is basically how to do it. I am sure others do things a little differently, perhaps better or something I haven't tried. Experience goes a long way. Trying different things. It's a learning curve like anything else. There is a book worth of the million little intricacies and is somewhat of an art in itself. Different rubber react different, resins respond different, temp is critical, moisture is the enemy, how you start your mold, your master, and how it builds and on and on and on. HTH

Personally I would take the thing apart and just make the parts you need. Regardless if you do just the parts or the whole thing you need to take it apart. You could grind fill and sand and smooth out the metal casting just the same as with resin. You just need to be more aggressive with it. There is a bunch of different ways you can go about make your masters and casting your parts. Have you done any resin cast before? Things like the fender flairs and skirts you probably just want to make out of Miliputt. The hardest thing is going to be wheels. Funny it's almost the same thing I am doing now. Only with a different vehicle.

I concure, it's great to have Revell AG on the shelves.

I hear you. Tamiya Porsche 962 that were formerly slot car kits that they are now pawning off as display model kits come to mind. I agree, detail, detail, detail does it for me, too. Parts count is another factor. I personally would rather build a so-so kit with 200 individual parts that a really good kit with 50. Even those not so good kits can turn out to be real show stoppers if you take the time to fix them up. Fit and finish always helps.

I posted this in the state of the hobby thread, but it's a topic of its own really. Somewhat of an after thought It came to me in the form of a question. It seems that no new tools have been very successful, not like they once were. Why is that. A number of companies tried and seem to have failed. What does the car modeler want? AMT Pro Shop kits with PE and BMF... was it the subject? Cost of the kit? Or, what I feel, is they didn't quite get it perfect. I thought the PE was a little light and the BMF was junk. Good idea, poor follow through and execution. AM McLarens... had all the detail that most could hope for. Again was it the subject? cost of the kit? The complexity? My only real complaint on the AM McLarens was the windscreen and the junky braided hoses, (an the subject didn't do much for me, personally). Trumpeter They seem to have got beat up quite a bit for the lack of detail and accuracy for such an expensive kit. So what is it that makes a good kit good? It seems manufactures have failed at capturing the modeler’s interest. What do you guys (and gals) expect to see in a kit, want to see in a kit? What is your ideal kit, not necessarily the particular car model, but the kit itself? How much would you pay for a good car kit? Pocher kits bring upwards around a $1000.00. Obviously that’s out of reach for most of us, and we don’t have that kind of space. For me an ideal kit would be: Engineered like a Tamiya kit, which is almost fool proof. However, I think they lack a little in details. I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra for a kit if it included everything you needed to detail it. I know that doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a decent PE set and CF decals where applicable. I think something even cutting edge would be fascinating, while it probably is never going to happen I always thought it would be cool to have stamped steel car models. Maybe that’s what the hobby needs is something totally unique different and innovative. Part II What do you find annoying about models that already exist, but live with because there isn’t any other way around it. Two things that always bothered me about model cars. 1. Glass. They make decent vacu-formed canopies for airplanes… why not for model cars? Personally kit glass never seems to fit well or looks right. 2. Seams that there is no way in the world you can fill and sand. I was working on a Revell Ferrari F2003 and had to back-shelve it because there are some atrocious seams I haven’t figured out how to get at. Visible parting lines on chrome parts, which is a little less of a nuisance with Aclad II chrome, and places like Chrome Tech.

what was that last thing... looked like road kill. Yeah, sheesh I wish I could remember his name, I lived right down the street from him... ten years ago or so. Is he still on Ravenswood? Never even knew he did model chrome until right before I moved to Colorado. He does good work.

I hear ya. That's why I stay inside I was just wondering what resin Aaronw was using becuase I don't get much smell off 320 at all, but I have smelled some stinky resins.

Done and done.

That will probably work. I could still cast resin when it was colder than suggested. It was the silicone molds that never cured when it got too cold. What are you using for cast resin?

The guy I casted for used a spinning pottery table. It worked pretty good. I hear ceiling fan motors work well too. I haven't really tried spin casting yet myself, but I'd be interested.

Sweet. Nice little Porsche build there. The top looks very realistic. I have a few of those squirreled away. I love those Enthusiast kits, too. Mostly Porsche but I have a few Lambos too.

anything and everything. Balsa wood, milliput, plummers putty, parts from existing kits, Evergreen plastic, brass, aluminum.

Ribbon from a fabric store. Couple ft of black couple ft of red. Should be a lifetime supply.

Yeah, I am not sure I'd want to try that either. Only a little went bad. I keep the master container well sealed and use little 2 or 4 oz squeeze bottles for easier use.

Nope it doesn't it's all part of the hobby. I experiment a lot. Sometimes it works ... a lot of times it fails.

ooooohhhh is THAT what that is in my A bottle. I been trying to figure it out for a week now. All the sudden one day it was starting to crystalize. I had some goofy reaction but was still able to cast decent parts. My Pur A Kast never did that and I recently switched to Smooth On 320 so I never experienced that before.

I am not sure where you live or your what your humidity is like. you probably what to get an Hygrometer to keep track of relative humidity and dehumidifier if necessary. I live in the high-plains desert average humidity 10-20% so it's not a problem but for a couple times a year when we get 3 feet of snow.

It's not recommended. Humidity and moisture is more of a problem than temp, so you defiantly want to keep it dry and the humidity low. What I have found even at 60-65 degrees, which sometimes it gets that cold where I cast a couple of problems. 1. Drastic reduction in cure times. 2. The color and grain of the cured resin is slightly different. Lighter and grainer when it’s colder. 3. Parts stay soft for several days even after it warms up. compared to when it's 70 I can make a rock hard cast in 30 min 4. And I have had zero luck pouring RTV molds when it’s that cold. The center of the mold never seems to cure. So I just to pour RTV unless it's 68 or warmer. I can't imagine casting resin at 40-45.

That's a nice looking five-seven.

It will never happen. There is virtually nothing left of Johan's tooling. Johan tools simply do not exist any longer. Most of it was taken home, thrown away, or damaged by the employees who stopped receiving a paycheck. In the 90s Seville tried to resurrect Johan models, the few remaining tools that were not completely destroyed However they were too worn out to be of any use, and Seville sued Johan and won. The remains of that was purchased by Okey Spaulding in 2000 JoHan Models LLC. Who has for the last five years attempted to recondition what was left of the Johan tools without much success. They seemed to have had a limited number of kits from Seville's inventory, but I don't think Johan Models LLC has ever injection molded a single kit. They have resurrected a handful of old promo kits by making resin casting of them and selling them under a new company Accucast-X-El kits. Virtually any injection molding of any old Johan kits has stopped, and according to JoHan Models LLC are not likely to ever return again. Furthermore, they do not seem to have anything left in stock except for a few odds and ends. No complete kits that I am aware of. Anything resembling a Johan kit in the future would certainly have to come from a brand new tool, which according to Spaulding is a long way off: 5 to 10 years if ever at all.