|
Post by shaxper on Aug 6, 2003 13:14:28 GMT -5
If you took one apart, made clay molds from the pieces, filled them with colored plastic, and baked them in the oven, couldn't you easily come out with an army of repros? You'd have to hand paint a few parts, but it seems easy, otherwise. Why isn't anyone already doing this and who can we talk to about getting it started? I've been in contact with Ken at KCC Collectibles before, but his interest seems to only be in Takara Transformers/Diaclone items. We'd also need someone to donate an original or two. They'd get the originals back (put back together carefully), but you probably wouldn't want to risk it with a prestine Jumbo.
|
|
|
Post by mechapunk on Aug 6, 2003 14:10:10 GMT -5
If you took one apart, made clay molds from the pieces, filled them with colored plastic, and baked them in the oven, couldn't you easily come out with an army of repros? You'd have to hand paint a few parts, but it seems easy, otherwise. Why isn't anyone already doing this and who can we talk to about getting it started? I've been in contact with Ken at KCC Collectibles before, but his interest seems to only be in Takara Transformers/Diaclone items. We'd also need someone to donate an original or two. They'd get the originals back (put back together carefully), but you probably wouldn't want to risk it with a prestine Jumbo. Just a wild theory... might it be a tacit agreement amongst JM collectors to preserve the authencity of their collections? But it does seem easy to reproduce them. If you can reproduce parts from plastic kits. Surely the same can be done with JMs.
|
|
|
Post by shaxper on Aug 6, 2003 22:19:19 GMT -5
Just a wild theory... might it be a tacit agreement amongst JM collectors to preserve the authencity of their collections? The difference between a repro and an original would be relatively obvious. Even the best repros never look like they walked off a factory belt, especially when details would need to be painted on. I suspect it hasn't been done before because 1: most people don't realize how easy it would be to do, and 2: Those who do realize how easy it would be to do are uncomfortable about dissasembling their pricey JMs and then putting them back together. I'll gladly donate my Great Mazinger to the cause, but he's missing his left fist, chest plate, and missiles
|
|
|
Post by OmegaWeapon on Aug 7, 2003 11:23:31 GMT -5
People seem more interested in making small repro parts, and even those are often sold for ridiculous prices for such small pieces of repro plastic. That tells me that whatever they sold a complete one wouldn't be cheap at all, and you could probably get a real j-machinder for less (unless it's an ultra-rare one).
I wouldn't mind a repro, especially one made of a better plastic than the shampoo-bottle plastic used in the 24" original ones, because like it or not, that type of plastic is just not meant to last forever, and in the long run repro'ing them out of a thicker and more durable plastic may be the only way to keep them around.
|
|
|
Post by shaxper on Aug 8, 2003 5:13:50 GMT -5
People seem more interested in making small repro parts, and even those are often sold for ridiculous prices for such small pieces of repro plastic. I think that's largely due to the fact that repro parts are usually made to order. Therefore, a lot of time is put into each one. I'd think with JMs, there'd be enough of a demand that a few people could get together for one weekend and assembly line the darn things. Cost of plastic and the loss of one weekend aside, it would be very inexpensive.
|
|
|
Post by OmegaWeapon on Aug 8, 2003 7:56:03 GMT -5
True enough, but if you produce them in large enough numbers, you can expect lawyers for some toy company to send US customs agents to your door.
|
|
|
Post by jmachinder on Aug 8, 2003 9:54:03 GMT -5
I'm confused on how you're planning to cast the parts hollow. Or are you suggesting casting them solid?
And I must say I'm constantly surprised as to how well polyethylene holds up. Certainly better than vinyl or hard plastic, which both tend to crack more over time.
|
|
|
Post by shaxper on Aug 8, 2003 15:14:17 GMT -5
Solid would be easier, but you'd have to weigh the cost of plastic. It might be more cost efficient to cut the seams and redevide each arm, leg, and chest into two pieces and reproduce them that way.
|
|
|
Post by waruderos on Aug 12, 2003 13:03:12 GMT -5
How about resins, which have come a long way? There are new types less than 3 years old which take on vibrant colors and are more durable than most thermoplastics used in toys. Hollow castings of a large part can be done by hand with the 'slush mold' method. -Let's say you have a two-part mold of a JM leg: open the mold and pour your color tinted resin into one half of the mold (enough to fill it 3/4). Now place the other mold half back on (closing the mold), and begin to rotate the mold around by hand to allow resin to coat the inside of the mold. (this is also called roto-molding...rotational molding). The resin sets up in less than 2 minutes, forming a strong shell. After you remove the leg, you can drill a hole in the top/hip and drop in a bunch of bb's or lead shot to weigh down the feet, then squirt in some expanding, insulating foam to keep them in place. The shell can be made much thinner if you use less resin. If it is too thin, you can pour more resin into the shell itself after, or fill the whole part with insulation foam. The coolest part about big molds is that if you have some color details you want to cast in place without paint (ie. face reatures like eyes), they are big enough to open up and pre-cast those litte parts right in the mold. Then just leave them in place as you pour the main shell, and they will become part of the shell itself. This can only be done with rubber molds, and big molds like that would be $400-$500, to factor into the cost of how many you made. There would be very little waste of resin/plastic, because roto-molding produces a perfect surface (no air bubbles get trapped).
Ward
|
|