I wonder if the mold is busted.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Today I bought another Monogram '40 Ford coupe kit, and confirmed something odd I thought was a isolated problem.

The hubcaps and trim rings come on a separate bag, and on one of my previous kits one of the hubcaps had being cut out and replaced with another. How do I know that? The replacement hubcap still had two bits of sprue attached to it, and no, they were not from the same sprue that was in the bag with the remaining 3 hubcaps. 

I'm wondering if they busted the mold somehow, and are doing this to the newer kits. 

Not really a problem, more a curiosity anyway. 

 

 

[Renegade]

Seems reasonable, but they would have to trash a whole chrome tree for one part.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

4 minutes ago, Renegade said:

Seems reasonable, but they would have to trash a whole chrome tree for one part.

I guess one tree for every three kits, if one of the hubcaps is really busted on the mold. 

[Renegade]

True. Still seems like a waste.

[1930fordpickup]

It does seem like a waste, but if something happened 3/4 of the way through an order it is cheaper to regrind parts than to stop the press and start it over. A very time consuming operation. Not only that press time is scheduled in at plants and the next opening may not be in several months after you wait for the shop to fix the problem in the mold. 

[Art Anderson]

7 hours ago, Renegade said:

Seems reasonable, but they would have to trash a whole chrome tree for one part.

Actually, this is more common than you might think, with modern-made model kit tooling.  it's easier to do it that way, and doesn't really add very much to the production cost.

Art

[espo]

14 hours ago, Lovefordgalaxie said:

Today I bought another Monogram '40 Ford coupe kit, and confirmed something odd I thought was a isolated problem.

The hubcaps and trim rings come on a separate bag, and on one of my previous kits one of the hubcaps had being cut out and replaced with another. How do I know that? The replacement hubcap still had two bits of sprue attached to it, and no, they were not from the same sprue that was in the bag with the remaining 3 hubcaps. 

I'm wondering if they busted the mold somehow, and are doing this to the newer kits. 

Not really a problem, more a curiosity anyway. 

 

 

Have you tried contacting Revell about this ?? It is probably something they already know about and only Revell could give you an accurate answer.   

[Luc Janssens]

Just guessing, but it looks like the "problem" was catched during the run, and the quickest fix was to run some additional (to be plated) trees and clip off the the needed part.

Then after the run (full or short) I'm sure they will fix the tool, anyway that's how I should do it....

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Like I said, it's more a curiosity and not really a problem, as all necessary parts are there. 

Since I got one kit that didn't have the issue, and two that have, it is really something that happened during production. 

I just hope the mold is not badly busted, because if so, I'm afraid the factory stock version of the Standard Coupe will net be re released soon. 

[peteski]

How about an alternate scenario?  Just your parts tree had a partially molded or malformed part. Or there was some nasty schmutz in the plating which was caught by the quality control inspector. They just replaced the bad part by including one from a spare parts tree.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

9 hours ago, peteski said:

How about an alternate scenario?  Just your parts tree had a partially molded or malformed part. Or there was some nasty schmutz in the plating which was caught by the quality control inspector. They just replaced the bad part by including one from a spare parts tree.

Thought that the first kit I had with it. When I got a second, that made me wonder what the issue is. 

[peteski]

If in both examples the part was cut from the same exact spot on the tree than I agree that it might be more than just a random flaw caught by quality inspector.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

3 hours ago, peteski said:

If in both examples the part was cut from the same exact spot on the tree than I agree that it might be more than just a random flaw caught by quality inspector.

Exact same spot, the last hubcap on the right, on both kits.