I have another thread about auto racks and I need a cheap way to fill them. I've seen the vacuum forming machine from Micro Mark wondering if anyone here has used one or a similar machine?
I realize that the finished product won't be super detailed but for placement in an auto racks, the loss of details won't be so noticable. As a bonus they'll be light weight too. And any mistakes or malformed shells can be used to populate a junkyard (Rocky's in Mingo junction)
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
I bought a vacuum forming machine that my daughter and I used to make 100s of repetitive scale armor pieces for a CosPlay costume. It worked great for that.
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I do not believe one of these has any use in Model Railroading. There is just no detail on the finished pieces. An open frame auto rack would be near impossible. An enclosed one might look OK from a distance.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Kevin, I wasn't intending to make the racks, rather the vehicles inside.
Are you saying the details would be so bad that even that's not worth it?
Mike Budde is one of Ken Patterson's sidekicks. I think he casts vehicles.
https://www.google.com/search?q=mike+budde+auto+racks&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
ruderunnerKevin, I wasn't intending to make the racks, rather the vehicles inside.
I am pretty certain that would not work.
Anything formed in a vacuum forming machine MUST be wider on the bottom than the top. Automobiles do not look that way at all.
I think you could get acceptable results with resin casting in home made silicone molds. I have done this with Aluminite (I might have spelled that wrong), and it is not too hard to reproduce detail parts.
That would be my choice.