Reliable Resin?

[Guest Sickfish]

G'day guys, I have a few Questions about RR..

Has anyone dealt/purchased products from them? If so was the quality any good?

How was their service & shipping time's?? Basically I'd like to know about them because I'm interested in getting their '70 'Cuda transit kit/parts. It's a fair whack of $$ & I'm obviously from Australia, so I don't want to be ripped off or taken for a ride. I'm hoping that someone can advise me on whether they're good to do business with??

Cheers & thanks, Cliffo 

[Dragracer]

Or a google search for that matter...just saying

John Paul Jones, didn't you play bass/keyboards for Led Zepplin? (LOL)

[Eshaver]

I have seen some not too flattering reports on this company . I would be careful here ........ Ed Shaver

[Darin Bastedo]

Seeing as how you're MCM's resin columnist, I'd sure hope so! If you didn't that'd be kinda like a restaurant critic finding a hair in his soup at a place he's reviewing!

Considering the fact that Mark has only had that position for a few months I doubt he received any favoritism.

[Reeves Racing]

I have seen some not too flattering reports on this company . I would be careful here ........ Ed Shaver

For me products were good, customer service was awful...

[Darin Bastedo]

I will state that first and foremost I am a friend of Don at Reliable Resin, and I do some of the masters that he uses, so take what I say with that in mind.

1. Don is a great guy when you get to know him but can be hard to take at first. (very outspoken, and sometimes less than diplomatic)

2. He does not suffer fools, and has a bit of a temper when he encounters one.

3. He does some excellent casting work as you can see in MCM's review of his 1968 Firebird transkit.

4. He has been in business for many years under the same name and ebay ID. thus far he hasn't had to suspend order taking or change the name of his company to hide who he is from people who got cheated out of their money.

5. He is an excellent model builder himself, and has been building museum quality models by commission long before he began casting parts for others.

6. Resin, and model building is his only job, and sole source of income.

That is Don in a nutshell. Sometimes you will find that there are delays due to high business volumes or the need to repair a mold but you will always get your parts and they will be of high quality. Beyond that if you are lucky to become a close friend of his, he is generous to a fault, and will stand beside you no matter what. There are those who will throw Don under the bus, and say that I'm biased, but I don't care. I calls them as I sees them.

[slantasaurus]

It has been a while since I ordered from RR, but I have ordered several pieces from Don and had no problems what so ever. I haven't seen any of his resin bodys in person, I ordered a couple conversion kits and some other small parts.

[Chuck Most]

I've heard a few negative things, but you know what? The guy makes some good stuff, and I've got a few pieces from Reliable on my wants list. From what I've seen, yeah- some people have some issues, but I've heard about as many who had good experiences with him. And from what Darrin says, Don sounds like my kinda people.

[Rob Z]

I've ordered several small items from RR, hoods, wheels and such and have never had a problem. Delivery was rather prompt, pricing was fair and parts were top notch...

[chris coller]

Alright I am going to throw my hat into the ring here. I have had to dealings with the man. First one not so bad but waited a little long for my order considering it was an "in stock" item. Not to big of a deal as I got my project finished.

Now on to my second experience with Don. So I paint slot car bodies for guys and it so happens one of my customers wanted a LX Mustang. I thought this is gonna be good based on what I have heard from credible fellow club members, slot car guys and my conversations with Don. I said to my customer to have a back up plan.

Well this is how it goes down. Contact Don about the "slot car " package he lists on ebay. Quotes me a price and tells me what else I need to finish the car. I was like cool let me get with my customer cause he was on a budget. Get back to Don told him what my customer said to me about the price ($65 for the body, rear window, "correct tail lights" and front bumper)now I did some math and the guy was including shipping costs on all the additional parts not included in the auction. I call B.S. on a $15 vacuum formed window and say I will make my own. He fires back saying "good luck" and " you must be a better modeler than me". I just laughed and that was the end of the conversation at that point.

I post on this site are there any other options to the LX Mustang as the the individual I was dealing with I didn't want to deal with due to him calling my 19 year old customer a "cheap ass". He then proceeds to email me and call me about removing my post because it was detrimental to his business. I agreed to do so and thought things were okay. But the more I thought about it the more it bothered me. I just don't like being bullied or talked to like that.

I will say this and this is not something I do, I have seen his work in person at the NNL East a few years ago. He does not build museum quality models, he is not a quality resin caster. Now mind you these are my opinions and a mans reputation speaks for itself. Those who know are much wiser than those who don't know! Take my experience for what it's worth. Remember "modeling is meditation".Right Don and Darin?

[Guest Sickfish]

Well thanks guys, I appreciate the input, negative & positive. I also did some searching & based on all the input I don't think I'm willing to risk my hard-earned $$ on RR. If the feedback was alot more on the + side rather than the - side, I might've taken the chance but i wouldn't be happy losing that kind of $$ & then getting shafted...

Cheers & thanks again guys 

[aarondupont]

Okay, my turn. I've dwelt with Don on a number of occasions. I received one of his phone calls. He can come off harsh. But through that hour and a half phone call, we've become friends. I have a large order in with him currently. I realize it will take some time to fill due to the size of it. Would I like to have it quicker? Of course. Will my world stop turning if it does not come soon? No. My point is that resin casting is a hand process. It's not like injection molding plastic. Turn on the machine and let it run. I know because I do steel mill model railroad cars with State Tool & Die. But mainly, I find Reliable Resin's products to be superior to others. An email to him could probably answer casting and delivery times. But also remember, more time spent on the computer and phone is less casting and shipping time. Also remember when dealing with resin casting, Things are run in batches or as ordered. Not a lot to shelf stock on hand. Just my two cents. Aaron Dupont

[Terry Sumner]

Okay, my turn. I've dwelt with Don on a number of occasions. I received one of his phone calls. He can come off harsh. But through that hour and a half phone call, we've become friends. I have a large order in with him currently. I realize it will take some time to fill due to the size of it. Would I like to have it quicker? Of course. Will my world stop turning if it does not come soon? No. My point is that resin casting is a hand process. It's not like injection molding plastic. Turn on the machine and let it run. I know because I do steel mill model railroad cars with State Tool & Die. But mainly, I find Reliable Resin's products to be superior to others. An email to him could probably answer casting and delivery times. But also remember, more time spent on the computer and phone is less casting and shipping time. Also remember when dealing with resin casting, Things are run in batches or as ordered. Not a lot to shelf stock on hand. Just my two cents. Aaron Dupont

You LIVED with Don?

[aarondupont]

Terry; LOL. NO I've not lived with him. I guess I should pay attention to spell check! He and I would probably kill each other. Thanks for the laugh at my expense! I'm sitting grinning like a fool! Aaron Dupont

[Darin Bastedo]

Terry; LOL. NO I've not lived with him. I guess I should pay attention to spell check! He and I would probably kill each other. Thanks for the laugh at my expense! I'm sitting grinning like a fool! Aaron Dupont

I've seen his apartment. I don't think the two of you could fit in it.

[Darin Bastedo]

I will say this and this is not something I do, I have seen his work in person at the NNL East a few years ago. He does not build museum quality models, he is not a quality resin caster. Now mind you these are my opinions and a mans reputation speaks for itself. Those who know are much wiser than those who don't know! Take my experience for what it's worth. Remember "modeling is meditation".Right Don and Darin?

Say what you will about his casting but I've seen his builds and seen the clientele they attract, and they are very professionally done. There was even a spotlight on his builds in Scale Auto years ago that really show off his work.

[VW Dave]

I don't want to be ripped off or taken for a ride.

Go with another caster then.

My first/last experience with RR was awful to say the least. I won't bore anyone with the details, but let's just say I was left twisting in the wind by dear old Don.

[Harry P.]

My comment about you receiving excellent service due to being MCM's resin columnist was intended in jest more than anything. By no means was I trying to impugn your integrity, Mark. Just wanted to make that clear.

There is nobody on the MCM staff with more integrity than Mark. Just for the record.

That's not to say that others are any less so. Just that Mark is a straight-shooter all the way.

[whale392]

Well, not dealing with him directly, I cannot judge either his personality or casting perfection. With that said..........

I am a FOX Mustang kind of guy, and to boldly state that he markets the only 'CORRECT' Mustang LX Coupe body out there is a big target to hold up. Now, I am not the only one who will make these same observations (based on extensive knowledge of the real subject); Dons LX is not correct. Up to this time, it is the most correct offering available for the 1987-93 crowd, but it is by no means correct. I can easily pick out 4 things that are not right now, one of them gets a hall pass when the roof gets hacked for the 'vert (but that brings its' own issues to the table). Anyway, the only gripe I might have with Don is his 'Boldness', even in the face of those who point out things to make his product 'more correct'.

[ra7c7er]

I have rarely heard anything bad about RR's products but it is extremely common to hear about Don's bad attitude. Attitude goes a long way in business. Some people get it and some don't.

Edited June 17, 2011 by ra7c7er

[Guest Johnny]

Congratulations! You have now officially turned this thread into a bash!

[Guest Sickfish]

questions asked, questions answered

Thankyou DoubleD..

Nothing more need's to be said on my request, my decision's already been made. Yes, some members have had positive outcome's & yes, some members have had negative outcome's. I appreciate them all. Although I'm not willing to risk a fair chunk of change I might be at least willing to risk purchasing some parts & see how it all pans out... 

While I've got your attention & the main point for me asking about RR in the first place was because I'd like to build an accurate '70 'Cuda ( bodyshape wise anyway  )

I have 2 kits, the 71 Pro Street Johan kit & the Amt Snapfast Cuda ( pics attached, both 1:25 scale ) What I'd like to know is, are these 2 kits based on the same mold? Or is the Amt kit based on the MPC mold, that RR has casted/selling? If so, would the AAR hood/grill/tail lights, chassis/interior bucket fit either of these 2 kits??

Any advice/help would be much appreciated 

Thanks again guys, Cliffo!

the OP did not ask for only positive experiences, he asked for both so that he could make the right decision.

rainbows and unicorn ponies

make love not war

it's all about ME!

blah, blah, blah

if you are looking for and have a need for a support group for your fragile feelings, this isn't the place to be looking.

[Darin Bastedo]

IMO, the quality isn't there to go with the asking price or the aggravation

in my experience and from what i've seen posted online of "as delivered" parts and bodies from Don, there is NO clean-up of the stuff when it comes out of the molds. the pics posted formerly on Ebay and now Facebook and the revised website to me are false advertising. what you see in the pics is not what you get as far as a nice useable part ready to go. years ago this may have been acceptable in the resin business, but again IMO it's not anymore and hasn't been for some time.

lousy attitude, lousy service, lousy quality, reliably everytime.

As far as I'm concerned I prefer to do the clean-up myself as too many times I've gotten resin where the item was damaged during clean-up especially around window and fender trim. The caster tries to do clean-up quickly while I have the time and patience to do it right. expecting to get resin or even styrene kits that are "ready to go" is expecting too much there hasn't been a model kit or resin kit I've ever bought even from top end vendors like modelhaus that have been ready to use right out of the box, and I've been modeling for 40 years.

Now I realise that you have a grudge against Don, but to imply that his is the only resin that requires prep time is erroneous.

[Darin Bastedo]

i don't have a grudge against Don, i just dont care for him, his resin or his business practices and that opinion is based on my personal experience with him and his products. i will admit to having a slight grudge against another former resin caster who never delivered though, and it wasn't AFXnScale. that person does post here though.

I apologize, Dave, It's just that your posts seemed too emotional for it to simply be an objective review of a business. I guess I read too much into it.

[jeffs396]

Cliffo: The AMT kit is based on the MPC promo tooling. The MPC annual kit was updated every year from 1970-4, as was the promo. The MPC-based parts will fit this body nicely. I used that one, along with Reliable's conversion parts, to do this quickie Cuda buildup over a weekened.

The Johan kit was tooled up as the Sox & Martin car, and was never issued as a stock kit, only the Pro Stock. It's too bad, as the kit was generally a bit nicer than the MPC Cudas detail wise. The AAR parts from the Revell kits would need lots of "massaging" to fit the MPC or JoHan bodies. The Revell kit body has some, ahem, unusual proportions and is widely criticized but the bigger problem...literally...is that it's 1/24 and the MPC/Johan kits are 1/25. You'd be better off scratchbuilding than trying to use parts from that kit, I believe.

I got '70 Cuda conversion parts for the '71 Johan from Perry's Resin years ago, nice items, not sure if he still casts them or not though...