Greg Wann

Hi All, Here is a tire mold that Mike started Sunday and I finished during the week. This is the second batch in this mold. The first batch was four really nice tires out of six. The second batch after a little more venting gave me six out of six. This is Polytek PT flex 60 with a little black dye added. This is really good. I can only hope it will perform consistently. Notice the fine dark lines in the mold? Those are lines I cut with a exacto knife to help vent the mold. I use 70 PSI with lots of weight on it. In the first photo, the part on the right is the molds lid. Mike clayed up to the line on the tire. I'm uncertain what that line is but most all tires have it. That part started out as clay with the tires setting on them. With this in mind, kit production can get under way. Terry Jessee Got his and he was impressed. Most likely it will get magazine coverage. Mike and I decided to send each kit with the two different styles of door panels, dashes and steering wheels so the builder can decide what year they want to build. So...the kit I sent to Terry weighed just under 12 ounces, I thought it would weigh much more. It cost $5.15 to mail it to him from here in Sun City.

Thank you, Tonio. Here are the first couple of bodies out of a fresh mold. Once again notice how thin the flash in the window openings is. Some of it just pops out on it's own upon demolding. Cradling the mold in heavy sheet metal and adding the dimples was a great invention for myself. While these inventive ideas are probably considered my intellectual property, I share them so that other casters might be successful in making parts that are actually useful to a model builder. My parts are Modelhaus quality if not better.

Tim, I just ordered my copy. I can see what subjects to focus on as a resin caster with this book. I can say that Dwayne L is going to keep me busy for a good while with four door police subjects. I know Mike Hanson. I make parts for him. He's not much of a people person, very private. He has had some high dollar cars in his shop to work on. A 64 DB4 and a 2000 something Ford GT come to mind. Mike was very encouraging to me about my resin parts. When I first met him he told me my parts are as good as any Modelhaus parts.

Mike will bring the rear bumper and make a mold of it.

The first half of the mold is complete and fits nicely in the sheet metal.

Finally getting around to claying up the 70's Firebird body.

I made some really nice tires. Figuring out how to get the best out of a mold has a learning curve. The table is filling up with good parts for kits. Getting closer.

Here is the hood ornament. The pic is a bit fuzzy. It was nice that it stayed in the silicone and not stick to the clay when I pulled it out. Here is the front grille. It did OK for a first pull. The flash is very thin and I like that. I would still like a photo etch part. Dwayne, you did an amazing job creating this part! Dwayne, you should move here to Sun City. You would never get bored here. With learning resin casting and three recreational centers where you could make other cool stuff this is where you could be and you could join a couple of model car clubs too.

WOW! They look amazing.

Here are the two dash parts.

Here is the front and rear bumpers, front clip and hood ornament ready for the mold making process. There is a small brass rood inserted where the hood ornament goes. This will become part of the mold to keep the hole open.

It has been awhile. Mike was helpful in organizing, something I am just not good at, Thank you, Mike. I can become quickly overwhelmed! Here is the front grille part that Dwayne made. It is a work of art unto itself. Dwayne's detail is just over the top for me and for Mike as well and Mike is a very detail oriented guy. I mixed up some silicone and poured it over the grille and then put it in the vacuum chamber. I have found doing this is very important. Vacuuming the silicone will remove air from the silicone that is mixed and remove moisture that can be drawn into the resin components. Anyway, vacuuming insures that the silicone material becomes well seated into the tiny detail of this grille part and other parts. Otherwise the silicone may trap air over the detail surface causing a bad mold to be made. If you are attempting to do something like this you can do something with a brush called stippling. I think this is the term where you use the bristles to sort of poke at the surface that would have silicone poured over it. It would break up the surface tension and allow the silicone to settle into the detail. A good use for one of those cheap acid brushes from ace hardware found in the plumbing soldering area of the store. An old toothbrush might work too.

These three kits are probably the most valuable I own.

I might be able to help you out. I have some Tamiya military kits. I will have to look.

I have several molds to make yet. I have been dealing with real life family issues too. I also work a 40 hour week. I want you all to keep your pennies saved up and don't run away. No, we don't have a price point yet.

I have the kit shown above. It has a lip that tucks under the tulip panel. I also have a original AMT 69 Pace Cart kit. A photo of it is posted in the Pontiac Bonanza thread. I think it might have a uptop but do not know for certain. Time Machine Resin has a nice one too.

I do have a mint 71 and 76 MPC Formula kits. They are 1:25 scale kits. I also have a mint 1/32 scale 71 Trans Am Monogram kit.

I found a piece of woodworking equipment called radarcarve. Hopefully this post won't go way since I did not post the website. I was told by the moderator that posting a link to a site that was not model related was a huge NO NO. That is what I thought off topic topics were for but shame on me anyway! So this is a cool tool if you want to copy something into a wood item. I am going to need it for my speaker cabinet design. Thought you might like to know this exists. Instead of a link I will push my luck and post a photo. He didn't say I could not post a photo Greg

I have a mint fresh MPC 71 Formula kit. It would be easy to cast a part that would be much like a photo etch part. This vent and the 400 script are on the body. There is probably little physical difference in size. Perhaps someone local has a Otaki body I could borrow?

http://ponchoperfection.com/ https://horsepowersports.com/clear-wheels-for-your-car-by-forgiato/ Thank you for your suggestions, Snake. Mike Schnur has looked at this 67 kit. He said the body is the most accurate one that he has ever seen. Tim Sickle made contact with me about the parts above. He writes for Pontiac Perfection Magazine. He wants some of these parts to write a column about them. Here is a experimental project I worked on a few years ago. Someone was selling a concept convertible Camaro body. I thought a Pontiac Trans Am Roadster was a better idea. I made a few parts that would be created in a "What If" scenario for a car to be built out of modern materials that were transparent. I really like the spoiler I made. Actually if you do a search for transparent wheels. I found that such a thing really does exist for real cars. Unfortunately for me my interest is all over the map and I am a horrible organizer too. I have trouble staying focused on things. My head gets full of ideas. I also have a interest in vacuum tube stereo equipment and speakers. I have built some kits. It is quite a lot of fun to build these amplifiers. I am a member of a Audio Video club here in the valley. The group met at a record shop. The owner also sells audio equipment. I mentioned building kits. He said that he did not think it was possible to build such a thing. It is a shame that the allure of Heathkit is long gone. Most everyone today wants that instant happiness. These gold transparent parts had House Of Kolors Pagon Gold Kandy dye added to the mix. Transparent resin is not always fun to play with, it can be a real pain. I also made this hood with the traditional shaker scoop. At some point I dropped the body and broke the windshield frame off. The fender vents and spats were in my MPC 76 Formula kit. The spoiler parts are sanded down wheel spats. I do like my deck lid spoiler. One of these 1 to 1 would look cool and have a real attitude!

WOW! I like it.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, much appreciated.

I am sad to learn that my Mother passed away early this morning. She was 92. She lived a pretty good life. She was a RN. Both of my parents are gone now. My father passed in 2011. He was a farmer. I grew up on a farm in Indiana. I have two other older brothers still living. I pray I don't fall into a depression as I did when my oldest brother passed away.

I would suggest Showcase Hobbies Ran by Ismael. He is in Cali. I think he has a facebook page. He offers several years of Impala Skirts familyfunc50@yahoo.com Try him here, tell him I sent you. He is into custom and low rider stuff.

I sent Dwayne some bodies, hoods and some wheels and caps that I made. He really was not liking the caps so much. He sent me some photos of ones that he likes. I do like these better. So, once again I turned to Joseph at Fireball Modelworks. He is going to design a new tire, wheel, cap package that will be original to this kit. He suggested in hindsight this would have been better done to begin with and I agreed.