Silverleaf
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2003
- Messages
- 1,127
- Reaction score
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Howdy,
Some of you may be aware that I recently recieved a replacement Shuttle w/Stacks from Christine at Estes, after my horrendous no ejection/crash/demolish by the pickup from heck. Drew Tonko had mentioned to me about possibly cloning this kit, because as I've been following his Energia- Buran project closely and breathlessly. The model he's building is based on this very kit.
So, I finally spoke with the kind folks over at Alumilite, and it turns out the Super Kit which includes:
AB28 Kit Alumilite Regular
1 lb. QuickSet RTV Silicone Rubber
1 lb. Alumilite Synthetic Modeling Clay
2 oz. Rubber to Rubber Mold Release
1 oz. Measuring Cups
Stir Sticks
How-To Booklet
is 70 Bucks. The mini kit is 30. I'd need the Super for all the parts that would need masters made for sure, plus I'd also need to go with Dow Corning HSII which is another expenditure. The Dow Corning HSII would be used because of its flexibility in mold making.
Obviously, this isn't the easiest kit to recreate, but I truly believe the work would be worth the trouble, and to be honest I know it would work based on speaking with a few people that have used their products in the Squish method - and how light a copy is when done. The cloned Shuttle would glide ...ok, so the original doesn't exactly fly..lol
I planned on doing one run of parts so I could do a Energia-Buran similar to Drew Tonko's project and to see how they looked - plus save the shuttle w/ stacks as an original unbuilt kit and build a duplicate. Then, if all worked out with the masters, I planned on asking Estes IF I could sell a few kits - ala Sandman and his Little Joe project here on TRF. Alot of ifs ...but, the downside is I can't afford a hundred bucks or more for this kit and all that I need to do this kit properly.
My sincere apologies to anyone whom I may have let down.
Some of you may be aware that I recently recieved a replacement Shuttle w/Stacks from Christine at Estes, after my horrendous no ejection/crash/demolish by the pickup from heck. Drew Tonko had mentioned to me about possibly cloning this kit, because as I've been following his Energia- Buran project closely and breathlessly. The model he's building is based on this very kit.
So, I finally spoke with the kind folks over at Alumilite, and it turns out the Super Kit which includes:
AB28 Kit Alumilite Regular
1 lb. QuickSet RTV Silicone Rubber
1 lb. Alumilite Synthetic Modeling Clay
2 oz. Rubber to Rubber Mold Release
1 oz. Measuring Cups
Stir Sticks
How-To Booklet
is 70 Bucks. The mini kit is 30. I'd need the Super for all the parts that would need masters made for sure, plus I'd also need to go with Dow Corning HSII which is another expenditure. The Dow Corning HSII would be used because of its flexibility in mold making.
Obviously, this isn't the easiest kit to recreate, but I truly believe the work would be worth the trouble, and to be honest I know it would work based on speaking with a few people that have used their products in the Squish method - and how light a copy is when done. The cloned Shuttle would glide ...ok, so the original doesn't exactly fly..lol
I planned on doing one run of parts so I could do a Energia-Buran similar to Drew Tonko's project and to see how they looked - plus save the shuttle w/ stacks as an original unbuilt kit and build a duplicate. Then, if all worked out with the masters, I planned on asking Estes IF I could sell a few kits - ala Sandman and his Little Joe project here on TRF. Alot of ifs ...but, the downside is I can't afford a hundred bucks or more for this kit and all that I need to do this kit properly.
My sincere apologies to anyone whom I may have let down.