1988 - 1991 Ford LTD Crown Victoria Scratchbuild

[Maindrian Pace]

I spent all of Sunday at the Master Caster Remote Desert Outpost. The mission was to set up the new shop, organize the many projects, and pre-stage them on a long counter divided and labeled by project and in order of when received. We got a lot done, almost half of the shop is now organized, and casting can begin again in the new digs. In the number 1 spot is the Crown Victoria, followed by three other jobs, as we felt that four jobs on the table at any one time should suffice. Casting is all about organization, and without it things can get confused quickly.

Greg has also been working on a new, large center island table that the actual casting takes place on, with an encircling high pressure pipe array that has chucks for the many surrounding pressure tanks, powered by a new large compressor. A new industrial style A/C system has also been installed with exposed duct work and vents, and you can make it cold enough to hang meat in there. A lot of work has gone into this shop, and it's going to do very well.

A few pics:

[peteski]

The shop looks good, but I have to ask:  Are the air lines plumbed using standard water/sewer PVC piping?  If yes, You might want to rethink that.   Please see https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/resource-center/using-pvc-pipe-for-compressed-air/ and other online warnings about not doing that.  Friend of mine used such pipes for compressed air and we had one burst after coupe of months.  Fortunately it did not injure anybody, but I would never do that again.

[christian-w]

This is a great project. It's amazing to see, how such a car goes from a cube of plastic to a well know car. Amazing!

[PARTSMARTY]

This is very cool !!!

[DEL]

Organization!!  That's what it takes.   And WORK!!

Fascinates me!  I can sit and watch it for HOURS!!!  (as the old joke goes)

Happy to see it all coming together.  The build of the facility is a major undertaking all in itself.  I am MPRSD!!

Thanks for the help to Greg too, Mike...

[SfanGoch]

Dwayne, add me to the list. This is one helluva must have car!

 

[Greg Wann]

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.

Edited July 14, 2018 by Greg Wann

[Greg Wann]

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.

Edited July 14, 2018 by Greg Wann

[Greg Wann]

Here are the two dash parts.

[Maindrian Pace]

Very cool, not many small parts left! I am almost done with the '88-'89 steering wheel and column mods.

[my80malibu]

Looks like the Beginnings of a top Notch operation.

 

[DEL]

On 7/11/2018 at 9:13 PM, SfanGoch said:

Dwayne, add me to the list. This is one helluva must have car!

 

I have done so Joe!

To Greg & Mike:  WOW!!!

Greg, first, thank you for the kind words on the detail of my work but let me return the same to you on what you are doing in the arena of the casting work.  Perhaps with a LOT of practice and the expenditure of a great number of resources on my part, (in the immortal words of the great Eric "Otter" Stratton; "..It could take years, cost millions of lives...") then, I might be able to approach the level you occupy at this moment. That is what I feel makes this a great partnership.  I do this part you do that part and what you do is every bit an art in and of itself as it is a science.  Fantastic work Greg!  And thank you too, Mike!

Waiting to see what comes out of the molds next!

[Greg Wann]

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.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Greg Wann

[am73grand]

I'm really enjoying watching the process.

Thanks for sharing! I'm learning a lot!

[DEL]

I bet I would like it there Greg, except I am a sorta a UnaBomber woods-loving kinda guy.  Whenever I travel west and I get past central Texas and the trees give way to wide open flat panhandle I get nervous. No natural defensive cover.  I guess it's all in what you're used to or grew up with or can adapt to. I don't do well with change. 

But I would like being around other model building like-minded friends. The biggest hobby around here is killing Bambi or gutting Nemo. I have better things to do on a nut-frostin' winter Saturday mornin' at 4:30.

The progress is fantastic by the way!

[Maindrian Pace]

Update:

All molds are made, some had to be re-made because there were strange air bubble problems in the resin castings. It's a weird thing, what works well on some parts will fight you tooth and nail on other, very similar parts. The only thing to do is try molding in a different way that splits the part in a different configuration in the silicone. If that makes any sense.

Molds in process:

 

Some finished castings:

Test fitting of parts to body:

Lots of great progress made in the last few weeks, shouldn't be much longer. Thanks to everyone for your patience.

 

[Dale Gribble]

 That thing looks absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to get my hands on a couple of them !!! 

[peteski]

Looking good!

I wonder how much shrinkage there is (as compared to the original master pattern) when you make a copy of a copy?  Don't both RTV and urethane resins shrink as they set?

Edited August 8, 2018 by peteski

[av405]

I'm just waiting for you guys to take my money!

[am73grand]

I am beyond excited over this one!

[Oldmopars]

Can't wait for these to be done, I need to make one for my Daughter, and one for me, and one for.......

[Eshaver]

I've followed this story since the beginning because I have longggggg wanted to do my own line of Vintage service station pieces . Years back , I went to Oil company heads and pump companies trying to show them my idea . You're doing a Full size family sedan is filling a void in many a model builders collection . I know I'll be eyeing one as I work through a list of diorama projects that could certainly use a early 1980's piece . 

[Greg Wann]

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.

[DEL]

Oh YES it IS!!

Looking better and better all the time my friend!  Glad to see you got ahold of that tire problem and made it your b, ... er, .. ahem.. subservient other.

Looking better and better about to reach ultimate bestness! 

I love this stuff.  Thanks again to you Greg, and to Mike or anyone else for any help he or they may be rendering at this point

[Maindrian Pace]

More test fitting - lenses this time. These are test lenses in opaque resin, all lenses in the kits will be in clear resin. The bottom part of the taillight on the 1:1 is the backup light, so do the top portion in Tamiya or equivalent clear red, front turn signals are amber on '88-'89, clear on '90-'91.

First round clear lens test shot, a little milky but putting the resin in the vacuum chamber pulled the air and moisture out of it, and the production lenses will be more clear. (Clearer?)

And here's the very first part that I made from start to finish, a '67 Galaxie hood to replace a missing hood on a kit. I did the clay-up, mold making, and resin pouring all under the supervision of the Master Caster, with quite good results.