morganthirteen
Sr Member
Some of you with long memories may remember when I first offered this replica over a decade ago. I put it to rest around 2006 but always wanted to get back to it and correct a few things I couldn't live with.
I finally did.
Originally, I cast the grip, carry handle, and rear hose attachment as separate pieces. This time I thought it would make the thing much easier to put together if those pieces were cast already on the main body...I also filled in the top of the carry handle and made it solid (which is screen accurate). That made it all the more sturdy. I made only a few minor changes to the details on either side of the piece. Those were still looking pretty good.
Once molded, I knew I had to make a few changes in the way I cast it. I started by print coating the more detail heavy areas, and then poured solid resin into the carry handle, rear hose fitting, and grip parts of the mold. The grip has an .09 aluminum shim cast into the area where it meets the body to reinforce it, as I narrowed the width of the grip about an 1/8 of an inch, also to make it screen accurate. The rest of the body is then rotocast and foam filled. Special Thanks go to Harry Harris, who once again came through with some amazingly helpful reference!
Harry's biggest contribution was undoubtably the loan of the same style of hose fitting used on the originals. Here's a great shot of the first pull that shows all it's glorious details...
The other big improvement was the addition of screen accurate sling mounts, that I had machined up and are cast in the upper areas of the main body. I superglued resin stand-ins when molding the piece, and then inserted the aluminum ones into the molds. I bend the legs on them, and then those legs are captured by the resin. You can see them here (with some gray primer on them)...
I did completely rebuild the fuel cannister. That needed a total overhaul. The new one is of of course much more accurate to the screen used ones. As before, this is rotocast and foam filled and is affixed to the underside by a screw top I took off a 20 oz. soda bottle. The cap is in the body.
Finally, I was able to find a great tint from Smooth-On that allows me to make the resin a very dark gray. I'm very happy with it. I only added a super light coat of Duplicolor Hot Rod Gray Primer on this piece once I cleaned it up a little, and I'm hard pressed to see the difference between it and the unprimed resin...
Here's a right profile. You can see some tiny airbubbles on the upper cone of the cannister. I have to pre-fill them with resin so that doesn't happen again...
Thanks for looking!
Shawn
I finally did.
Originally, I cast the grip, carry handle, and rear hose attachment as separate pieces. This time I thought it would make the thing much easier to put together if those pieces were cast already on the main body...I also filled in the top of the carry handle and made it solid (which is screen accurate). That made it all the more sturdy. I made only a few minor changes to the details on either side of the piece. Those were still looking pretty good.
Once molded, I knew I had to make a few changes in the way I cast it. I started by print coating the more detail heavy areas, and then poured solid resin into the carry handle, rear hose fitting, and grip parts of the mold. The grip has an .09 aluminum shim cast into the area where it meets the body to reinforce it, as I narrowed the width of the grip about an 1/8 of an inch, also to make it screen accurate. The rest of the body is then rotocast and foam filled. Special Thanks go to Harry Harris, who once again came through with some amazingly helpful reference!
Harry's biggest contribution was undoubtably the loan of the same style of hose fitting used on the originals. Here's a great shot of the first pull that shows all it's glorious details...
The other big improvement was the addition of screen accurate sling mounts, that I had machined up and are cast in the upper areas of the main body. I superglued resin stand-ins when molding the piece, and then inserted the aluminum ones into the molds. I bend the legs on them, and then those legs are captured by the resin. You can see them here (with some gray primer on them)...
I did completely rebuild the fuel cannister. That needed a total overhaul. The new one is of of course much more accurate to the screen used ones. As before, this is rotocast and foam filled and is affixed to the underside by a screw top I took off a 20 oz. soda bottle. The cap is in the body.
Finally, I was able to find a great tint from Smooth-On that allows me to make the resin a very dark gray. I'm very happy with it. I only added a super light coat of Duplicolor Hot Rod Gray Primer on this piece once I cleaned it up a little, and I'm hard pressed to see the difference between it and the unprimed resin...
Here's a right profile. You can see some tiny airbubbles on the upper cone of the cannister. I have to pre-fill them with resin so that doesn't happen again...
Thanks for looking!
Shawn
