Nike MAG replicas (V2 and V3 only)
- Thread starter lukebrynycz
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- back to the future
WizardBTTF
Sr Member
Its pretty close man, I must admit I was quite tempted to cut the soles and do one piece molds, create seams and then just glue them back. I actually hate making 2 part molds of flexible/rubber parts.
cavx
Master Member
Thanks WizardBTTF. I am just working off images at this time as I don't have the shoes yet. To get these perfect, I am going to have to make new base plates and probably replace the rear inner wings. Cutting them down was interesting. I had to use the longer part from the back inner-wings to make up the length of the front parts. They are only about 1/2 to 3/4 the height of the original V2 parts. Outer wing is modded to lose some of that tail. I think I need to take more off yet.
The open back molds will give a more clear part unless your master part is perfectly smooth. As you would know, the silicone will perfectly replicate any imperfections on the surface, including finger prints. Because you are unglueing the sole off the shoe to make a new master, you end up replicating the previously glued surface, hence you recreate that texture and can never have a glass clear part. My first attempts had that issue resulting in slightly frosted side wings.
Then as you mentioned, the issue with two part molds. My first 2 part molds were simple top and base parts leaked heaps whilst I was working out what was going on. In frustration, I ended up making a bowl and plug version that prevented leaks, but was always trapping air under the top surface of the lid. I ended up adding the fill holes on the peaks of the wings and this resulted in lots of trimming and at times, a loss of details. The open back solved that provided they were slightly overfilled.
The other issue I had with those molds was either I got perfect wings and lost details on the tread, or got perfect tread and got bubbles in the wings. Open back molds just solved all those issues and gave glassy parts. But then I got feedback on the tails splitting. I don't think this is going to be an issue on the V3 soles because the outer side wing does not wrap around the back of the shoe like the V2s do. Therefore, the side wing is not required to bend as much. I noticed when mine split, it was right in line with the taper of the outer wing and I've just glued it up for now, but will remove and fill it in with grey rubber to replicate the look of the V3 and of course, the real shoe.
When I do get my shoes, I will probably mask them up, paint the outer surfaces with this new clear silicone (vario-40), let set and layer it up several times. Once that is done, peel off the mold as a U shape part. From there, I will look at dividing the parts. Definitely DO NOT want to get silicone on the fabric, so making tape and plastic bags will be 100% required.
WizardBTTF
Sr Member
My soles of course had glue left on them too, took the dremel to them to sand off the back to get a smooth surface..but of course you're right molds will replicate a sanded surface ect. Sooo...two things I do to get around this. First when making molds of rubber/flexible parts I always use a tooling resin not silicone to make the mold (specifically I am using smooth-cast 385) this allows you to sand/polish the actual mold. Second thing I do depending if the adhesive sticks to the part I am molding, I lay gloss vinyl (Oracal 970ra glossy) over the actual part. Like the side of the shoe...you of course want a perfectly smooth finish where the lights shine through, so on the back of the panel I cut that vinyl to fit...covering up the sanded surface. Works really well. I'll post pics of my molds when they are done too.
Vormz
Sr Member
WizardBTTF cavx
Can you guys go to China and teach them how to make non-yellowing soles? Cause after 3 generations of Mags it still seems to be a major problem for them... I really appreciate and loved cavx's soles when I bought them for my V2s but for a $600 shoes... this is not serious.
Can you guys go to China and teach them how to make non-yellowing soles? Cause after 3 generations of Mags it still seems to be a major problem for them... I really appreciate and loved cavx's soles when I bought them for my V2s but for a $600 shoes... this is not serious.
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cavx
Master Member
Will be interesting to see how these come out.
I'd love to go back to China.
Klen
Well-Known Member
I think that we should give the process to David and see if the soles can be updated to get the soles not yellowing.
Mikey McFly
Active Member
What day of mixed emotions! Received my V3 Mags nice and quickly. Was super excited opening the box. Found the shoes weren't charged out of the box so I put them on charge for a few hours. It appears I have defective electronics in my left shoe. Dream shattered!!! :cry
lukebrynycz
Sr Member
I know that on my genuine Mags, one shoe you had to really push the charging lead in tight as inside the buckle, the port wasn't as low as it should have been. You should feel a very faint click when it fully inserts. Tried using the same port on the dual charging lead? Also, try holding the power lead in at slightly different angles (gently) and try pushing the switch to turn the lights on.
lukebrynycz
Sr Member
This. I would wait until they're either cheaper, then pay someone who knows Mag electronics to do what they have done to the V2s, or wait for a non electronics version. If he sold them as a kit, I'd buy a pair.
Vormz
Sr Member
I was kidding but yes I think they should change their materials and apparently electronics too... I'm ready to pay, I really want them but I want to try them on without breaking the electronics or let them in their box cause of the yellowing.
RVLF
Sr Member
...
And get some additional discount...:rolleyes
Me too, but, too expensive for a shoe that I won't wear... So i still hope for a non electronic version that i might upgrade to a GITD and just keep the EL on the strap logo.
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Mikey McFly
Active Member
Thanks for the tips. Will give them a run and see how it goes. Fingers crossed. Just didn't want to force the charging port too much and get told I'd damaged them somehow
Klen
Well-Known Member
Agreed i cannot Understand how the V3s can break after the demo on video we saw.
Could you guys (all the people that have an electronic trouble) just send me a little pm to keep a track on how many shoes got troubles and the kind of troubles they have to see what are the weakness of these V3s. (plus picture if you have one) Because i would like to make a database of the fails.
Thanks to all of you !
Mikey,
I just noticed the same issue on my right shoe. It appears that the battery will not hold a charge. Everything lights up when the wall charger is plugged into the shoe, but once removed....nada!
I've emailed Rebecca and am waiting on an answer. I'll let you know what they tell me.
I just noticed the same issue on my right shoe. It appears that the battery will not hold a charge. Everything lights up when the wall charger is plugged into the shoe, but once removed....nada!
I've emailed Rebecca and am waiting on an answer. I'll let you know what they tell me.
I'd put money on 99/100 fails being down to EL failures. It's a fragile product. Hell, you can't even properly glue it to something without it breaking, so I don't know why people are surprised that when you put a 180lb person on top of it, it might not last.
EL failures while they suck affect the RDs as well. And if I have a broken $600 shoe and a broken $6,000 shoe, I know the one I'd be more likely to cut open to fix.
All other failures, lik failures to charge will no doubt be rectified by David and his team, they've been nothing but responsive so far! So thanks to them for all of their hard work.
-Nick
OK I received QC pics of my 2nd pair (because the first pair they sent pics of had issues with the fabric). But for some reason they didn't send any pics with the lights on...
So I've asked Rebecca to send pics with the shoes lit up. But here's what they look like so far. If we thought new batch would have icier soles, we were wrong. They look good to me though. What do y'all think?
So I've asked Rebecca to send pics with the shoes lit up. But here's what they look like so far. If we thought new batch would have icier soles, we were wrong. They look good to me though. What do y'all think?
shoxxo
Active Member
MattgomeryBurns In my opinion these don't look bad, similar to the QC pics i received when I got my pair, Mine are UK 11/ US12, and I am happy with mine. Though my QC pics were with the lights on. The top lace on the right-foot shoe looks slightly off but that's pretty minor, and the right-foot swoosh very slightly misalligned. They all seem to have small flaws. If the lights look OK, I'd be OK with these, but that's just my opinion.
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I wish davidjones888 would sell an EL kit for the soles. I honestly think that it's simply because the workers putting these together don't know how fragile the EL is. I would make a tutorial showing exactly how to swap out the panels in about 30 minutes. It's very simple but we just need the panels.
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