New source for 1/48 scale vehicles…is the drought over?

Hmmmmmmm!! 

Rick

Mark,  I seen that episode and totally agree with you. It should work but will take some trial and error. It's worth it if you get the vehicle you want. 

GEF posted:

Mark,  I seen that episode and totally agree with you. It should work but will take some trial and error. It's worth it if you get the vehicle you want. 

I totally agree with you. Once you get the proportions right, you could probably create any vehicle you can find. I see a cottage industry for those ambitious individuals so inclined.

Odd that's be a problem in HO, with all those vehicles available in that scale out of Canada.  Define "shrinking"?  Is this that computer replication process that gets mentioned on here?

I forgot to add....I was in a "die cast" and model car show this morning.....a waste..very little diecast, but millions (maybe literally) of Hot Wheels....(which I never had and know and want to learn nothing about, except they look to be all the same scale, whatever that is, HO? which is a giant step foward).  I was looking for a Matchbox item that is 1/43rd and that has proven elusive.  Matchbox there, not a lot, was all over the map in scale.  I saw none of the popular 1/43rd pickups, not one, was not looking for those, but I blew through fast when I saw what was the common item.  If cloning these of some material is what is discussed, there will be a lot of painting and detailing to do.

colorado hirailer posted:

Odd that's be a problem in HO, with all those vehicles available in that scale out of Canada.  Define "shrinking"?  Is this that computer replication process that gets mentioned on here?

The video explains it better than I can, but essentially they create a mold of the 1/64 vehicle and using liquid silicone and add a certain amount of a solvent to it. Then the solvent shrinks the mold. The more solvent you add the it shrinks. The trick is to add enough solvent so you end up with 1/48 scale down from whatever the scale of the original is. So you need to start with a vehicle in a scale larger then 1/48 and by trial and error create a mold that ends up being 1/48.

But, like I said, watch the video. It explains the process a lot better and shows off the resulting vehicles. Really very interesting.

What a fantastic concept. I wonder what the ratio would be from 1:24 scale models to 1/48. 

I am game to try. 

Are there lots of 1:24 models around to shrink?

There are a lot of 1/24th, 1/25th, 1/33.3rd, 1/18th, and every other useless scale of model cars to choose from...I mentioned in another post how it baffled me that even back during the 1/25th auto model craze when I was in school, one company did 1/24th while everybody else in that market was doing 1/25th. (1/43rd vs. 1/48th) No "NMRA " standards in that hobby, still.  But there are a lot of nice models to clone, all over the map in scale, to 1/48th AND 1/43rd.  It is like getting Lionel or MTH to make your favorite prototype: they are lemmings, but marching in every direction, over the cliff.