Resin Casting

Wow,Jim, that is impressive indeed! Resin casting is a skill that’s hard to master,and you do very good work!

Awesome stuff there!

Where do you get your resin materials from,if you don’t mind us asking?

Todd

Thanks Todd,

I started casting in 1985, I was part of a group of 5 people here that pioneered home casting. Unfortunately 3 are gone and I've lost touch with the forth. One of them John Nitka developed and sold a casting kit under the name of ACE Resin, man, he sold hundreds of those kits world wide and that was before internet sales!

I have casted over 1000 parts before I quit counting. I had a casting business (Castmasters) in the 1990 and advertised in SAE mag.

The biggest downfall is when you do a lot of it, it is messy, I have a dedicated area for casting with a glass desk top.

I use Alumilite Resin and RTV I buy it from Alumilite direct. I bought it from Hobby Lobby, but this type of thing is usually better to get direct than a third party vendor.
I used to use Dow Corning RTV, but they changed it. As I told Kieran my Willys molds are 25 years old, now the Alumilite RTV, lucky to get 5 pulls.





Jim

Hi Kieran,

I have bought 3D parts from three different vendors

These were the most expensive from the most well known printer company (I don't want to say the name because it will ruffle feathers and I'll get called out on it).

These are 1/12 scale parts (I had high hopes for and only needed one set)



Not bad from a distance, here is close up,







It's almost a furry texture surface, that you can't sand, it won't soak off.
The rear rims I'm gonna try and cast, the headers and the ft rims, I will use as a template to scratch build.

Here is more from the same vendor, but different issues
1/12 M/T BBC valve covers, 1/12 rear end cover, and 1/12 Hilborn scoop















It is almost a sugary type of coating on the part, it comes off slightly with Alcohol, but then reappears, so if you were lucky enough to get paint to stick , it will probably form under the paint.

I did make a mold of one of the valve covers and casted this, it is not a perfect part, I casted better ones this is my only pic so far, also made a mold of the rear cover, but haven't casted yet but it looks like it will work.

Here are some usable parts from a different vendor that I liked, but then He lied in an ad and then changed materials, and would no longer reply to me.

1/12 headers I bought 2 sets at $25 a set, 1/8 Ford rearend, Bought 3 0f these at $12 a set Also bought resin parts from him he casted from his 3D, and they were pretty good, (no pics yet)





the bottom right hand corner is the 1/32 teardrop hood scoop from a third vender who I have dealt with for years but he just got into the 3D, I bought this and two pair 1/32 headers, they are nice but still a hard to work with material. I casted the scoops cause I needed several.
This is what they look like in the boxes I built before I pour the RTV.



If you notice they are three different material types, the grey is the best, I believe it is a resin, and am told it is one of the harder materials to print.
The First big vendor I mentioned, on some parts offers diff material, I opted for the most expensive. They offer parts by various designers, when I contacted them they just passed the buck, then eventually told me I didn't know what I was doing, and cut off all communication. I spent $250 with them and was planning another $5oo if the parts were good, Guess they saved me a bundle, LOL.

It's too bad because otherwise the parts look pretty good as far as design and scaling.

Sorry about the Rant, but it was too hard to explain in one word... Unless that word of course is F...!

LOL
Jim