Resin Caster

[GOTH KUSTOMS]

i was going thru my favorite list and ran across this caster, and was just wondering, has anybody ever dealt with this caster, Hendrix Resins, thanks for all the info.....

http://www.resinrealm.net/Star/HendrixGallery/HendrixAll.html

[crazyjim]

I never heard of them but then I'm not into resin either. The pics on his website sure look impressive though. Hope somebody else will post about the outfit.

[GOTH KUSTOMS]

Yeah thats what i was thinking, some really nice stuff there, I'm a lil partial to the phantom deliveries.

Hope someone will be able to help me out on this...

[Danno]

Hendrix products are very good; not the best, but well above average. They often are the only source for some special vehicles, and you really can't go wrong with their product. Two thumbs up.

[impcon]

They do have an extensive line of products and some really unique stuff. I plan on ordering from them later this year - probably four or five kits. I have a Hendrix body coming in the mail. I bought it privately .. looking roward to receiving it and I am anxious to see how good it really is.

Edited July 25, 2010 by impcon

[GOTH KUSTOMS]

They do have an extensive line of products and some really unique stuff. I plan on ordering from them later this year - probably four or five kits. I have a Hendrix body coming in the mail. I bought it privately .. looking roward to receiving it and I am anxious to see how good it really is.

Well I do hope you will reply to this thread, on your observations, and quality of the body you recieve....

[JerryK]

Hendrix kits are sold by STAR Models (http://resinrealm.net/Star/STARModels.html) and The Resin Realm (http://www.resinrealm.net/). The Resin Realm versions come cleaned up with all flash and mold release removed and include glue, sanding sticks, a sheet of chrome vinyl and in some instances, even paint.

You can contact the Realm at resinrealm@yahoo.com or reach them anytime (well almost :-) at 402-387-2882

STAR Models can be contacted at stevekohler@cox.net or call him after 9pm central standard time at 402-896-4379

Edited July 29, 2010 by JerryK

[impcon]

Well, I did get the '59 Chevy 2 door sedan on Monday of this week but I have been too busy with too much to do to have a lot of time posting or really take a good, close look at the car. My wife left to visit her sister on Wednesday morning and the heat here during the day has been nothing short of brutal! To start off with, I want to say thank you to Marc for making this kit available to me. Thank you Marc - I truly do appreciate your kind gesture and Marc, I owe you one.

I'll attempt to give an honest, unbiased description of the car as best I can but again, I am just happy to get it, so I may be a bit leniant in my comments. It has it's good points and it's points that are.. well, not quite so good but all in all, it is pretty decent and I am very happy with it. I'll list the good things first and then the things that IMHO, the casters could make a few improvements on. With a bit of work on their part, this could be a very nice, unique model and totally accurate! It's close though..

The casting itself is really pretty nice and crisp with VERY little flash to clean up. As I look at it here sitting in front of me, there is only some minute, very light flash around the bottom of the rear window opening, in the door vent windows, around the back edge of the engine bay opening and in the grille cavity. Both front wheel openings have a tiny bit but I am sure not knocking the model because of this - the flash is no where near as bad as I have seen on some styrene kits. The tail light pockets look like they may need some minor cleaning up as I am not sure if the Impala tail lights will fit in as the pockets seem pretty shallow. All in all though, I would say that as far as the casting itself goes, I would rate it at a 9 out of 10. The one flaw - and it is pretty minimal, is a blemish on the passenger's side right in front of the tail light opening - that is by far and away the worst of the model's casting but it will clean up just fine IMHO. No real complaints from me in this area. But then, maybe I am more easily appeased than some people. I think most of you would agree with me though and I am just telling it like I see it.

It's fairly obvious that who ever did the master for this kit doesn't know an awful lot about '59 Chevys because it appears to me that what they did was take a Revell hardtop kit and used that body as the platform and this resulted in several errors in this casting. First of all, the roof is too low for a sedan as the hardtop roof was actually lower than a sedan, wagon, or El Camino. The convertible and two and four door hardtop all shared the same windshield which I seem to recall is about two inches lower than the sedans, wagons and the El Camino. But it is not that noticeable on this car really and to the person who doesn't know this - it likely would not be very obvious as nothing really would appear to be out of place to most folks. One other flaw with the roof is that it does not slope down properly over the top of the rear glass which on a two door sedan, is considerably shorter than on a coupe and sits on a steeper angle... but again, the inexperienced eye would not notice this and it is only apparent when you look at the car directly from the side. Another issue that will need correcting is the rear deck lid..the Impala 2 door hardtop has it's own unique rear deck lid. It is considerably longer than any sedan or that of the four door hardtop.

I have attempted to show the difference in windshield heights but it is difficult to do - but here is my attempt =

There is absolutely no side trim on the body at all ( including door handles - but the Impala kit will supply those ) and this could be both good and bad. The way it is, the car could be built as a dechromed rod or race car , or a replica of Junior Johnson's trophy winner. It could also be built as a Bel Air or the lower line el cheapo Biscayne. It would also be a perfect start for a businessman's coupe if you left the back seat out and put a platform for holding samples and sales materil in it's place. The El camino would likely be a good candidate to make castings of the full length side trim for this car or the Biscayne trim will have to be hand made from plastic strips or a casting taken from a Modelhaus Brookwood 2 door station wagon which has the Biscayne side trim - and as I recall, even it isn't perfect as it is longer on one fender than the other. It amazes me how stuff like this gets missed before the molds are made. *sighs* I'd just cast the one side that is closest to being accurate and use that casting on both sides. When I build my Brookwood, I'll just recast the flawed side to make both sides equal in length. So either way, if a person wants to make castings of the trim and attach them, then there are templates available. I have compared an AMT El Camino and it appears that the El Camino side trim will fit with VERY little id any work. The bodys of the cars are very close in length to the point where I really do not see much of an issue at all doing this. Also sadly missing is the Biscayne scripts off of the rear quarters. Not sure what can be done about that little glitch. If you want to build a police car, this would be the correct body style - but I think that a Bel Air two door sedan would be even more unique.

My car has no interior or chassis, so the Impala will donate a bit of that. I would be much more inclined to build this as either a six cylinder car or a small block 283 as you would not have found many Biscaynes with 348's in them. Of course the highway patrol or state police cars would likely be big block cars but this one will likely get the 235 that I just received from Model Car World or possibly a 235 from the AMT '60 Chev pickup. The AMT pickup has the wrong valve cover to be authentic but it could be modified. I do seem to remember that someone else casts a late '50's/early 60's 235 and the proper car air cleaner - I will likely do my due dilegence here before I open the MCW engine kit and see what else I can find.

As for the interior - well, the Impala is just too wrong to use as it is. A Modelhaus Brookwood wagon interior bucket would be the way to go here ( yes, they do sell those seperatly). I have one here and I cannot believe how it fits! It has the correct upholstery patterns on the seats and side panels for a Biscayne and if the rear cargo are is carefully removed and the package shelp made and installed, it will be so righteous!!!!!! It's almost scary that two resin kits from two different manufacturers can be combined and the fit is so close! The other alternative is to sand the Impala side panels smooth, and try to replicate the El Camino door panels - or substitute by cutting and glueing the door panels from an El Camino interior tub onto the Impala interior. The rear side panels on a Biscayne two door could possibly be modified from another El Camino tub as they have the same upholstery pattern on them as the door panels. But I think that the $10.00 plus shipping sent to the Modelhaus for a wagon interior would most definitely be the way to go! just a note to say that the side panels are all two toned on the Biscayne series.. either a light silver/gray colour on top with a dark grat bottom, or the same in blue, green, and apparently red or brown although I can not say with certainty that I have ever seen a Biscayne with a red or brown interior except in the sales brochure. I say these things about interchanging interior side panels not having really done any test fitting, but I think it may be possible. Others may disagree.. but I do see it as an option.

Here's the Hendrix Biscayne/bel Air sitting between the revell hardtop and the good old AMT El Camino... I wish I had my Modelhaus Brookwood wagon handy - they'd make a nice "family portrait". You'll notice how close the El Camino is to the other two models.. it appears that a lot of parts may well interchange to make for some awesome one off builds..

To do a Bel Air interior would take some imagination and creativity if you wanted it even close to stock, but I reckon that with a lot of time and patience, the Impala seats could be converted. I have seen things that seemed far more impossible done on these forums.. You'd want to use an EL Camino dash and steering wheel as well as the Impala has the wide aluminum panel that runs across the lower part of the dash. The AMT El Camino dash is wrong for an El Camino as it does not have the narrow aluminum strip running across it that the real 1:1 El caminos had, so it is correct for a Biscayne or Brookwood. Yeah, I know.. weird... The El Camino in real life was sort of a mish mash of interior trim - Biscayne upholstery and door panels, Bel Air dash trim and Bel Air side trim.

Here's the Hendrix car with the Revell Chassis and platform and below, it is shown with the El Camino chassis.. The revell chassis seems to be an awfully tight fit for width for some reason while the AMT chassis is a bit narrow but the sides of the car could actually stand to be tucked in just a bit anyhow.

So what else can I say? I have test fitted two different chassis - the AMT El Camino and the Revell hardtop All in all, I am really pretty tickled with this car and when it gets built, it will be interesting to see just how close to the real thing I can make it. Despite it's few little issues - all of which I have probably magnified and blown out of proprtion - it will make a nice addition to anyone's collection. The revell Impala fender skirts fit too, by the way - and I just discovered that they will fit the AMT El Camino with very little effort. I hope that I did not come across as harsh or condemning because I did not mean anything I said that way. I am just telling what i see and hopefully this thread will encourage some of you guys to step out and buy some Hendrix stuff. Even with the little issues, I'll likely be buying several more of these Biscaynes - one to build as a police cruiser and one to be built as a Bel Air and one for...??? maybe a businessman's coupe like the one that was on Ebay awhile back in Texas. It was a bizarre car - optioned out with the 348,. SOrry for being so long winded fellas but I am just trying to give an honest assessment.Hmmmmmm.. now of only someone would cast that four door Brookwood wagon that I have been longing for....

[GOTH KUSTOMS]

Thank you for taking the time to even write your observations, concerning this casters body,

as I'm looking to buy the '58 Edsel delivery sedan, and I can only assume it will take the AMT '58 Edsel pacer, to be the donor car.

But your description as to the quality of the body you have received really don't sound as bad as some of the other caster bodys I have heard about.

Thank you for your time Impcon....

[impcon]

Thank you for taking the time to even write your observations, concerning this casters body,

as I'm looking to buy the '58 Edsel delivery sedan, and I can only assume it will take the AMT '58 Edsel pacer, to be the donor car.

But your description as to the quality of the body you have received really don't sound as bad as some of the other caster bodys I have heard about.

Thank you for your time Impcon....

The casting really is pretty good IMHO aside from the little issues that I described. I forgot to add that the thickness of the body is pretty much on par with styrene kits.. and aside from the one little blemish on the rear quarter panel, it is very smooth and should paint up as nice as a styrene kit. Please give us your views on the Edsel sedan delivery - that one sounds interesting.

Edited July 30, 2010 by impcon