Alumilite, Alumires resin casting kits no longer at Hobby Lobby?

[Hawk312]

I used to buy these kits at Hobby Lobby, but I am not seeing them in my local store or in the online store. Did they stop selling these?

[Dave Van]

Gone sice the purge that got rid of Tamiya tapes, putty and primer. Dumped Flexifile stuff and glue. Dumped a lot of stuff.  I bought a lot of the dumped product at pennies on the dollar.  Good for me....but sad HL stopped carrying the good products. 

[Mike C.]

I gave up on that stuff years ago. It worked way back then. Simply does not work anymore. The silicone mold and the rein both. Pure and utter junk! Total rip off. Save some grief and flush your money down the toilet. 🚽

[Hawk312]

Thanks guys. Any suggestions for alternatives for both the molds and the resin that is readily available for someone who casts only occasionally/as needed?

[Pico]

Smooth on has small trial sizes and excellent Youtube videos: Smooth-On, Inc. | Mold Making & Casting Materials | Rubbers, Plastics, Foams & More!

[maxwell48098]

FYI - The Amazing Casting Resin, and their other products are made by Alumilite. It's a more consumer friendly brand name that was first promoted to non-modelers.

https://www.alumilite.com/amazing/

 

A.J.

[Phirewriter]

Although not directly model related, Hobby Lobby has also dropped most of the high quality art supplies in favor of their house brand labels. Needless to say most of it is garbage and gives me even less reason to shop there.  That was the opposite situation years ago when they were the only chain that had better quality products vs Michaels, etc... but then they had a great selection of model kits as well. My LHS stocks most of the model supplies such as Tamiya tape, paints and other items so that's never been an issue but for those who only have HL at their disposal it's not a good situation.

I prefer not to buy art supplies online but slowly I'm being forced that direction. I have over time emailed HL expressing my displeasure with the quality of the products but probably makes zero difference since professional artist supplies don't really fit their target audience anyway. Just a convenience issue for me. 

[Hawk312]

3 hours ago, maxwell48098 said:

FYI - The Amazing Casting Resin, and their other products are made by Alumilite. It's a more consumer friendly brand name that was first promoted to non-modelers.

https://www.alumilite.com/amazing/

 

A.J.

Thanks A.J. Does anyone know if this works as well for creating small parts? I just need to cast a set of 1/12 scale wheels.

Thanks everyone!

[peteski]

Not sure why Alumilite products would be junk. Maybe you got a hold of stale resin?
I used to use Alumilite (simple small 1-piece open mold castings) but I moved on to Smooth On.  Back when I was using Alumilite (probably around 20 years ago), they had a very small selection of products, while Smooth On had much wider range of resins and RTV.  But I never had a problem with Alumilite products (again, unless they were stale).

Edited February 7, 2023 by peteski

[Casey]

On 2/7/2023 at 5:32 PM, peteski said:

Not sure why Alumilite products would be junk. Maybe you got a hold of stale resin?

They merged or were bought out by another company a few years ago, and product quality suffered immensely. I had to get PayPal involved when I received two gallons of defective (as in, parts A and B would not react, no matter the ratio) product. Customer service was very poor, and coupled with the product issues, as Mike C said above, heed others' advice and choose something better.

I have now used Smooth On products for a few years, and have always been very pleased. Jeff B from Motor City Resin Casters recommended them long ago, and he was 100% accurate with his recommendation in my experience. Smooth On has trial sizes, a wide selection if various mold rubbers and resins, so you should be able to find a product which matches your requirements.

[shucky]

I've been using Alumilite white (resin) for close to 20 years and have never had a bad batch. It is still my "go to" resin. I have tried Smooth On resin as well and while it does the job, I find Alumilite white to be easier to work with (for me at least). I do really like Smooth On's "Onyx" resin though, it is wonderful if you need something cast in pure black. 

[Mike C.]

20 years ago, it was fine, but I stopped using it when they changed the formula (seemingly to save money) and it became consistently junk. Thats when I bailed on any more resin casting. Now with all these 3D casters, I leave the heavy lifting to them. The stuff you get today simply does not work.

Fine 20 years ago, junk today.