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Sr Member
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to purchase Frank C's molds and master patterns made directly from the larger pyrotechnic X-Wing parts that John E discovered on the shelves while working at Apogee, as well as some of the smaller stuff which he sourced in subsequent years from friends at ILM. If you're not already familiar with the story and are interested, there are several threads here where Frank describes in some detail how he came into this stuff and why.
Frank used the molds he made directly off of John E's stuff to produce castings for what I believe was the most incredibly generous kit run in the history of the RPF, and I feel really honored and fortunate to have had Frank trust me with becoming the caretaker of his patterns and molds.
Patterns and a few of the smaller molds:
Fuselage mold jacket, which holds two different RTV fuselage inserts:
Frank made only one fuselage mold directly off of the production-sourced fuselage pattern that had been very carefully and lovingly restored by John E. and I'm fortunate enough to have several hollow castings from that first fuselage mold directly from Frank, in addition to the mold insert itself. This fuselage mold in particular is a studio-scale holy-grail to a longtime X-Wing nerd like me and when I discovered earlier this year that its useful life was probably coming to an end soon, I decided it was now or never to make something useful out of it.
Earlier this year I started playing around with three different types of resin and several casting techniques that were new to me in order to get the lowest possible amount of shrinkage in order to render an entirely brand new fuselage pattern that was as true to the original pyro fuselage pattern as possible. Here are two of the fuselage castings I made on the left, sitting next to a Salzo V3 on the right for size comparison:
Of all the pyro fuselage castings I have collected over the years, the two castings on the left are by far the largest in all dimensions, and just as importantly, also have the least amount of distortion.
I've been working off and on on the white pattern on the left, as the resin is a lot easier to work than the pattern in the middle. Here's what the Project Pyro Pattern area of my shop looks like this evening:
Am now working on reintegrating a full-size canopy which I've cast using the same material as the outer shell of the pattern. I also need to address some mold damage in the wing root area as well as point up the fuselage midline, and some other touchups.
Frank used the molds he made directly off of John E's stuff to produce castings for what I believe was the most incredibly generous kit run in the history of the RPF, and I feel really honored and fortunate to have had Frank trust me with becoming the caretaker of his patterns and molds.
Patterns and a few of the smaller molds:
Fuselage mold jacket, which holds two different RTV fuselage inserts:
Frank made only one fuselage mold directly off of the production-sourced fuselage pattern that had been very carefully and lovingly restored by John E. and I'm fortunate enough to have several hollow castings from that first fuselage mold directly from Frank, in addition to the mold insert itself. This fuselage mold in particular is a studio-scale holy-grail to a longtime X-Wing nerd like me and when I discovered earlier this year that its useful life was probably coming to an end soon, I decided it was now or never to make something useful out of it.
Earlier this year I started playing around with three different types of resin and several casting techniques that were new to me in order to get the lowest possible amount of shrinkage in order to render an entirely brand new fuselage pattern that was as true to the original pyro fuselage pattern as possible. Here are two of the fuselage castings I made on the left, sitting next to a Salzo V3 on the right for size comparison:
Of all the pyro fuselage castings I have collected over the years, the two castings on the left are by far the largest in all dimensions, and just as importantly, also have the least amount of distortion.
I've been working off and on on the white pattern on the left, as the resin is a lot easier to work than the pattern in the middle. Here's what the Project Pyro Pattern area of my shop looks like this evening:
Am now working on reintegrating a full-size canopy which I've cast using the same material as the outer shell of the pattern. I also need to address some mold damage in the wing root area as well as point up the fuselage midline, and some other touchups.
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