Ace-Garageguy

That's pretty much the technique. Usually, on larger parts that will need surface finishing, a material called gel-coat, which is nothing more than thickened resin, is applied to the inside of the mold first. This provides a slick surface (duplicates exactly the surface finish of the mold, which duplicates exactly the surface finish achieved on the master) which can be lightly sanded, and which isolates the glass reinforcing fibers away from the surface. Gel-coats may be clear or tinted with a wide variety of colors. The next laminations will be dry glass mat, "wetted-out" with liquid resin. Timing and thickness of the first layer gelcoat layer is somewhat critical. Too early with the additional laminations and you can disturb the surface and get fibers too close to it. Too thin and you can get a phenomenon called "alligatoring", where the gel-coat wrinkles and partially releases early from the mold. Laminating too late and you may have adhesion problems between the gel-coat and the reinforcing resin / fiber matrix. It's a lot of trouble to go to to make model-sized parts. I used to make molds for some of my own custom model parts from the identical glass-reinforced polyester material your early truck shell was made from (its in the center of the shot below), but now, after much experimentation, I use a high strength epoxy that makes much thinner, lighter molds and parts...and with the procedures I use now, eliminates the requirement to use a gel-coat to get a slick surface.

So sorry, Ray.

Yes, the tubes are integral to the propulsion and lift systems. The "mystic substance" is called Claudia. http://lastexile.wikia.com/wiki/Claudia

Absolutely amazing what you do. Beautiful models every time. Incredible detail and realism. Just a note...the shell shown below isn't "slush cast" as was speculated in the OP. Rather, it is polyester resin and fiberglass mat. I make things (full scale things) from this material all the time and recognize it immediately.

You must just be livin' right, Ray. Good karma and all that.

OK, maybe I picked a bad example for illustration. There does seem to be some intentional cross-marketing going on focused towards manga & anime (or whatever the correct term is) enthusiasts. These are Fujimi kits.

Yes, and remember if you do that, if the wire you use to secure the model to the base is wrapped around the axles or any other obvious part of the underbody, when the whole box is dropped upside down on concrete while handling, the axles or other attachment points will snap off the model, the body will slam into the top of the case, etc.etc.etc. And apparently, in many cases labeling anything "fragile" seems to be like saying "I bet you can't destroy the contents...so please, go for it". Ask me how I know this. I don't mean to seem overly negative about the prospects of safely shipping completed models, but it's good to have realistic expectations.

Not unlike Japanese car-model makers trying to peddle their wares to Gundam-model-builders now...

Glad you posted this. The more I look at that thing, the more I think it would be a blast to build one in 1/25 from junk. I have a couple of old GeeBee kits for stubby wings and root fairings, a gluebomb Auburn for the nose and partial fuselage, and certainly some rear fenders around to make the wheel spats out of. Hmmmmm.... The propulsion and flight dynamics are entirely imaginary and fantasy-based, but are well enough explained to make a model that conforms to the idea of how the things are supposed to work entirely feasible. More here: http://lastexile.wikia.com/wiki/Vanship http://lastexile.wikia.com/wiki/Claudia

I've bought many assembled models (almost all gluebombs) over the years...and without exception they arrive damaged. At the very least, small parts like outside mirrors WILL break off, because even the gentlest, softest packing materials are a lot 'tougher' than little glued-on parts. The last assembled model I bought was a 1/8 scale Pocher Alfa that the builder had made a "special" double-bottom box for, bagged the model, then surrounded it with puffed styrene packing peanuts. Apparently someone in the PO chain of responsibility elected to use it as a football, because it arrived with multiple small parts mixed in with the peanuts, the body and many large parts dislodged from the chassis, two badly bent metal-laced wire wheels, and a crack inside the body shell itself. Good luck.

Yeah, American cars of the day weren't known for their ability to go around corners well; even the "sporty" cars were wallowing hogs compared to something light and agile like a 911 or an old Alfa.

Yup. Balchowsky was one of my early heroes. Another guy who, like Mickey Thompson, built world-beater cars from junkyard bits.

I use rubber cement and tiny drops of liquid solvent-type cement, as well as low-temp hot glue on occasion...depending on the particular strength requirements and how long the thing needs to stay together. White glue doesn't usually work for me, as I find it takes a while to develop any handling strength. High-temp hot glue will penetrate styrene, depending on the exact composition of the plastic, and can be the absolute devil to remove. I need to look into the tacky-glues, as everything I use currently has some limitations and downsides. Liquid cement works well for me during the early phases of establishing overall proportions, stance, and ride-height. Bonds between parts assembled with a very small quantity will develop handling strength in a few seconds, but can be easily broken if fairly immediate re-positioning is necessary. That's great, but the downside is if you leave the parts assembled until a full-strength bond is achieved, damage to the plastic at the joint is almost inevitable when it's broken. Though it's usually very minor and easily dealt with during subsequent operations, it CAN be a problem if you use just a little too much liquid cement inadvertently.

I envy you. That must be a fun and rewarding job...I assume working with state-of-the-art everything.

Oh yeah, that's REAL nice.

If your masters are perfect, and your molds are perfect, you can pull perfect resin parts. If you have perfect resin parts with a nice pinhole-free glossy surface, there really shouldn't be a problem getting good "chrome" on them.

Art...didn't you cut a '27 T touring shell down to a roadster at one point? Do I remember that correctly? The doors on the A-Kart are about as long as A roadster or RPU doors, and from an ease-of-fabrication in steel perspective, it would have made a lot more sense to use the A doors so that the front jambs and hinges wouldn't have to be re-engineered entirely. Grafting A rear jambs and latch supports into the T rear body section, to fit the A doors, would be much easier.

You know...you're absolutely right about the rear of the A-Kart shell being '27. I'd forgotten. I don't have any build pix of the A-Kart first time around, so I don't really know whether the rear of the '27 shell was modified or not behind the doors. Of course, if it WAS modified, and IF the kit representation is accurate, you STILL won't get an accurate '27 from combining those bits. The A-Kart doors have rounded corners like a T, but lack the ribs that normally surround T doors. So what's there isn't pure '27 T, for sure. There are dimensioned drawings of the '27 T roadster shell available. The thing to do would be to measure everything and see. That was how I determined that shortening a '27 phaeton could yield a decent roadster shell. I'll see if I can easily put my hands on it, as I've already worked it all out. PS: From looking at an older resin '27 T shell, it appears that shortening the AMT '27 phaeton was exactly how that master was created as well.

Recently snagged another one of these in clean 100% unbuilt condition. Probably put all the best bits of several of these in the best box to save, and begin getting on with trying to build a nicely accurate single Ala Kart hybrid from the new-tool kit and old-tool kits combined.

Well, see, the Ala Kart body shell is a '29 A, so that won't give you a good '27 T. On the other hand, the T touring CAN be shortened to give an acceptable '27 T roadster shell. I've done it to build an old "little pages" Rod & Custom cover car I've never shown on the forum.

Man, I LOVE that thing. Looks like a hybrid Gee Bee / Auburn / steam calliope. What's the nominal scale?

It's a...oops. I dumbly did that once before.

Good luck with everything, Rob. Sometimes you just gotta go, and putting it off just makes it that much harder. Sounds like you're moving for a lot of the same reasons I am, so really, really, good luck.

Seriously high-quality work, as always. And as always, a pleasure to see it all come together.

I had only a wild guess as to its country of origin, so I disqualified myself and looked it up. Damm. I had no idea that existed. Pretty cool little car.