robertburns

Misc expenses not listed above: Supplies & materials like latex gloves, resin tint, safety equipent, tools, boxes, shipping packaging, shipping tape $N/A Ebay fee $16.50 per kit Pay Pal fee $5.09 per kit Shipping $16.65 (included but I can charge for this if I need to) Donation to Doctors Without Borders $16.50 (optional through eBay) Handling (packaging, shipping, and time on eBay) 1 hour X $15 is $15 per kit pressure pot, vacuum chamber, maintanence, etc $N/A Master pattern research, blue printing, CAD model, 3D printing, scratch building, etc $N/A (paid with proceeds from previous run) Note: These numbers are based on selling at $165. I sometimes take a Best Offer, so some of these numbers may change)

Casting costs: Resin gets bought in 10 gallon kits and it's about $400. Body is 1000 grams (including spillage) $11.87 Wheels are 300 grams $3.56 divided by 4 is $0.89 Glass is 200 grams $2.37 divided by 3 is $0.79 Total per kit is $13.55

Molding prep: It took a total of 8 hours to prep the parts for molding, build flow gates, boxes, mix and pour silicone, and demold the parts. 8 X $15 per hour is $120. Divide by 25 kits to get $4.80 per kit. Note, cost of other supplies are N/A like latex gloves, paper towels, mixing sticks, cups, mold release spray and wax, metal or wood boxes, wood cores, hot glue, tape, etc. Casting prep. After the parts are demolded, the molds are prepped for casting. Fine finishing of the molds and making a box top and bottom for each mold. 2 hours X $15 is $30 divided by 25 $1.20 per kit. Casting labor 2 hours X $15 is $30 divided by 25 is $1.20 per kit.

Silicone: This kit has 3 molds and 6 parts. Body, black glass, and 4 wheel tires. As stated above, the body is one piece and is 17.5" long x 5" tall x 4.25" wide. I choose to make the glass black to make it a slammer because adding an interior would have made the kit more expensive and out of reach for most builders. Shooting clear glass is a hassle for me because the clear I use takes longer to degas, longer to cure, and requires an oven. The buyer has a choice to make their own interior and glass if they wish. There are 4 wheels in the kit, while the original had 8. I reduced it to 4 so it could mount to the sides and be displayed without a chassis. Costs: Material Body - $228.90 each mold can make one body and generally lasts for 25 good shots. Keep in mind, this mold is large. Divide $228.90 by 25 gives us $9.16 per kit Tire/wheels - $77.67 Each mold can make 4 sets and generally lasts for 25 good shots. Divide $77.67 by 100 gives us $0.77 per kit. Glass - $61.00 Each mold can make 3 good casting (2 rejects) and can last for 25 shots. Divide $61.00 by 75 is $0.81 per kit Silicone total is $367.57 Per kit cost is $10.74

yes, silicone is pretty expensive and is my 3rd highest expense, after 3D printing and labor

Case study number 1: 1/25th scale Futurliner $165 including shipping Master pattern cost: N/A for this project. Masters were paid for with the proceeds from the first run of the kit. The expenses included CAD costs, 3D printing costs, masters prep time, etc. Master prep cost: I took the previous masters and glued the separate body panels together. This way the model body was a single unit and is poured as a single casting as opposed to 8 castings. This save me labor and reduced the cost of the kit. Master prep. 8 hours of work X $15 per hour = $120. Paid a helper $140 for an additional 8 hours of work (finishing and paint inside and out). Total $260. Divided by 100 castings (assuming it will survive being molded 4 times and that I wish to cast that many) the cost per kit is $2.60

This thread will show actual expenses from some of my resin model kits. I get asked every once in a while why resin kits are so expensive. I wanted to post real world numbers for a few reasons: 1. To show resin kit buyers what kind of expenses casters may have. In our world of made in China cheaply manufactured products, people expect low prices. Anything low production and made by hand will be more expensive. Not everyone realizes this. 2. To give potential future resin casters an idea of what to expect. It's not my intention to dissuade anyone from becoming a caster. If it's your calling, then you should try. Having these numbers will help you. If this is a turn off and not be your thing, then I hope this thread will save you time and money. There is a learning curve to consider as well with lots of rejects, unusable molds, spilled materials before you get a system down. All this adds to the cost. These numbers are mine alone. Other casters costs will vary due to different resins and silicones, vendors, techniques, etc. Different patterns have differences as well. Molding an old rare kit will be different from making a kit conversion pattern. Styrene vs 3D printing will differ. I will include different model kit project to cover different techniques and scenarios This thread will have multiple posts so I dont type too much at once. Questions are welcomed. In addition to costs, I'll add a few benefits and things I've learned from each project. Thank you for reading

Yes. This number of hours has been used quite a bit and might hold true for some people in some fields. Others not. It's been debunked recently in a few studies, but it was a given that it can't apply to all fields. Especially sports. Modeling has different aspects like painting, scratch building, bodywork, etc. some might be a master at chopping, but a below average painter. There's an old (Jewish?) parable about a man who has 20 years experience but he basically had 1 year experience repeated 20 times. I think it meant that if you don't expand your knowledge and push your skills, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing something. I have 10,000 hours at mold making and casting. The nice thing is that each part is very different from the last and I learn a lot each time with immediate feedback. I'm pretty good, but will need another 10,000 to be a master

Hey Paul. Thanks for commenting. If you're interested in having some cars molded, let me know. When did you move from San Diego?

Hey Kevin, do you still make this and the '71 Galaxie?

thank you! Yes, the project is still progressing. I'm working on how to ready the files for the tooling process which is new for me. How would you make a die cast body? 3D printing in metal would be pretty expensive in that size

Thank you! Please post photos when you build

Thank you to everyone who posted comments

excellent point, thank you Sir

I didn't know it was like this Europe. Thank you for sharing and keeping on topic

This is not similar but reminds me of my good friend who was a Marine fire fighter who had to take the firefighter test 3 times until he passed while his female friend took the her lowered standards test once and passed. He was pretty mad. I think there were qualified female firefighters who spoke out about the lowered standards testing

thank you for posting your story, and yes, you do have the right to notice bias in your personal life. Strange how simply asking a question like this gets such an emotional reaction

I'm glad you posted because this is a perfect example of one thing I was talking about with my friend and predicted it would happen. Basically, it's called Manshaming. It uses humor and shame towards one's manhood to deflect talking about certain difficult or scary subjects. It is used by both men and women and is a proven technique because it can manipulate men into doing or not doing certain things.

? This thread is intended for mature people only, but thank you for your comment anyway

For me: 1.Accused of sexual harassment when a coworker at a gym I worked at asked me to photograph her because she wanted to try modeling (I went to school for photography). We never did, but a few months later, she complained to HR that I emailed her photos of naked women. Luckily I kept all the emails saying she wanted to model, and she wanted to see my online portfolio which included nudes. She had to use a password to see them, so she saw the warning and used the password. 2. Cousin completely lost his kids during a divorce even though he never mistreated the kids or his wife. 3. Friend was bankrupt and lived in his car for 7 months after a divorce and still has to pay alimony, even though she makes the same money as he did. 4. My female friend was divorcing and her lawyer suggested they can win everything if she implied her husband hit him. Luckily for him, she has a conscious and didn't lie

My female friend and I were having a discussion and male privilege and anti male sexism came up. I shared some stories of how men can be treated very badly for simply being a man and she didn't believe that it happened as often as I said it did. So I'm posting this to see this from other men's points of views to see if it's true or not. If you have any stories of yourself, friends, or family that have seen mistreatment during divorce, custody hearings, job situations, school situations, married life, parenting life, on line, etc please feel free to post. I would recommend not using real names. Thank you.

I'm in. 2 entries. 1. Pete 359 Snap kit not sure of the load, but narrowed it down to these 3: Renegade Camper with race trailer Or DSV sub carrier Or CNG tube trailer 2. Futurliner Stock in Olive green or Steampunk

I'm in. Corvair Rampside

Sure but you'll have to find a way of mounting the wheels after grinding away the inner wheel wells

I'm writing an article (plus a book about molding and casting) about shrinking parts and wanted to use a subject people would get excited about