After my show the other night,it was 4:30 am and I was still wound up from my double espresso black coffee.

Decided to stop at the 24 hour Walmart to look at the cheezy tools.

Came across these Yat Ming Road Signature 1:72 diecast cars.
This Ford GT is an out of the park home run:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/fordgt.jpg

Any of you resin casters see these????? They look like they would be perfect T Jet size.

There was a bunch of others too.A new Mustang,Viper,Porsche,C6 Vette and a Dodge Magnum,just to name a few.

Tho I didnt buy any,the price was right too.A buck seventy seven a throw.

WHat do you guys think???????
Might us these as my first attempt at casting.

Mike

Mike, I have resin cast several of the Ford GT and Mustang GT bodies and they are the perfect wheelbase for a TJET. However, some of the yat ming bodies are very low profile like the Ford GT and require the rear window to be opened up in order to get the body low on the chassis. Many casters that sell FRAY bodies use these diecasts as the masters and open the rear window and put very short posts in so the bodies can be slammed. Here is a picture a couple of the GTs that I have done. One is a street version of the Ford GT (bottom pic) and the other is a FRAY version of the Ford GT (top pic)

I have also cast some of the C6 corvette, McLaren F1 GTP, Lamborghini Gallardo, Aston Martin DB7, and Porsche 911 as FRAY bodies.

http://www.gm454dragbodies.com/images/ford_gt_for_hobbytalk.jpg

Here is one of the Porsche Fray bodies that I just finished. This body fits the TJET chassis in short wheel base configuration. The Ford Gt, Mustang, C6, Aston Martin, McLaren, and Lamborghini all fit the TJET in long wheel base configuration.

http://www.gm454dragbodies.com/images/Gulf_Porsche_911_for_scaleracers.jpg

i like the corvette fray body i bought from you on ebay. do you sell bodies other than on ebay?

where do you get those red o-rings?

thanks
mike

Mike I would like to get a webpage setup to sell bodies but at this time I haven't had the time to do that yet. I am slowly working on putting together a webpage whenever I can find the time but I haven't had much time for that lately.

I am not sure where those red o-rings came from, I got those on that chassis in a trade with a guy from Colorado. I have been able to find various sizes of black o-rings at the local Westlake Tru-Value hardware store but I have not been able to find the red ones yet.

I just took a few different sized front rims into the local hardware store and went to the plumbing area and searched through the different sizes of o-rings and found ones that fit the different rims. You may get lucky and find some of the red o-rings at a local hardware store. I know the guy that I got the chassis from from buys o-rings for his chassis at a local hardware store in Colorado.

i am fortunate enought to live near Tacoma Screw's headquarters and retail outlet. They stock a wide variety of fasteners, including o-rings. I go there ever 6 months or so. I have been able to find O-rings (black only!) for Tjets, JLTO, and magna-tractions and X-tractions. For JLTO and Tjets, I like the 3/16x1/16 or 5/32x1/16. The 3/16 are about 0.315 tall on a standard rim, and the 5/32 are right about 0.300. I bought alot of the 5/32 but they are so close to 0.300 that they may or may not be legal.

GM454- Awesome casting. The Ford's look great and detailed really well. My wife is from Golden, so I know where Westlake is. Too bad I live in Florida now. I would be interested in some of your casts, so PM me!

Jim

Tjet Jim, I mispoke in the post about the hardware store. It is actually a Westlake Ace Hardware....westlake being the name of the store owner I think. I am actually in Springfield, Missouri but have traded with a guy in the Denver area.

Right now I am working on getting more bodies ready to offer as unpainted bodies, with lexan glass, and decals for the headlights, tail lights, grilles, stripes etc. I currently do not have a web page available or kits available in large quantities so I pretty much put up each one I have available on eb@y. With any luck I will soon be able to get geared up to produce in larger numbers and get a website up so I can bypass using the bay.

Mike, I have resin cast several of the Ford GT and Mustang GT bodies and they are the perfect wheelbase for a TJET. However, some of the yat ming bodies are very low profile like the Ford GT and require the rear window to be opened up in order to get the body low on the chassis. Many casters that sell FRAY bodies use these diecasts as the masters and open the rear window and put very short posts in so the bodies can be slammed. Here is a picture a couple of the GTs that I have done. One is a street version of the Ford GT (bottom pic) and the other is a FRAY version of the Ford GT (top pic)

I have also cast some of the C6 corvette, McLaren F1 GTP, Lamborghini Gallardo, Aston Martin DB7, and Porsche 911 as FRAY bodies.



Nice.
Would any of the Yatmings a make good doners for magnet chassis casts? I'm thinking of the McLaren F1GTR

I am not sure about the magnet car chassis in these bodies. I am pretty sure that all of the ones that I mentioned above are just barely wider than a tjet. Makes for a good fit on a tjet but not sure if the magnet chassis would have room to fit with the body clips on the side. In fact, I have a 49 Ford Woody that is 1:72 scale and I actually had to cut into the body to clear the chassis clip on a tjet because it was that close of a fit on a TJET chassis. I guess they might work if you drilled holes and used a pin on setup like the lexan bodies on the magnet chassis without the body clips.

Here is a pic of a McLaren F1 GTR that I have done in the past. You can really see how much the rear window has to be opened to allow the body to rest low on the chassis.


I just measured the inside width of the Ford GT body and I got approx. 2.2 cm wide from inside to inside. Again, that would be a good ballpark number on the majority of the yat ming cars I have cast...the McLaren and Lamborghini might be a tiny bit wider but not by much. Not sure on what the width is on the magnet chassis you are thinking about but that may give you some idea if they will fit. (I don't have any of the McLaren bodies right now or I would have measured one of them for you)

http://www.gm454dragbodies.com/images/Gulf_F1_GTR_for_scaleracers.jpg

Correct me if Im wrong,but is your name Gary,and did you not post a bunch of killer drag cars a couple of years ago????????

The Ford GTs look AWESOME!!!!! Heck,they all do,outstanding work my friend!!!!!

I thought that those Yat Mings might work,but I havent yet gotten into the habit of keeping a tjet chassis in my pocket to check diecast for size,so I let them sit.
I guess I have to go back and get some.My son and I want to start casting bodies.These wouldbe a good start.

Thanks for the pics,and thanks for the info.ANd most definetly keep us posted on the progress ofyour website.Id love to grab some of your bodies when they become availible.

Thanks again...... :wave:

Mike

Mike, you are correct, I posted some Funny Cars and other drag cars here a year or so ago. Still making the drag cars but thought I would branch out and try some street cars and fray bodies.

That is pretty funny about carrying a TJET chassis around....I looked at those yat ming cars several times and couldn't decide if they would work or not. Then I finally started taking a shelled out tjet chassis with just a set of stock rims and tires along with me when I looked. I would recommend taking a spare chassis along to double check the fit just to be sure, but I know several of them are just right for a tjet.

You will also want to look at how the profile of the body will fit with the gear plate on the chassis. Many cars are the correct wheelbase but have clearance issues with the gearplate and back of the chassis so you may not be able to fit a TJET in without major cutting on the body. I have seen a VW Nardo used for a tjet but a hole had to be cut under the tail lights to let the rear of the chassis (where the screw goes) stick through the body since there was very little rear fender/rear deck area behind the wheel wells.

I am not sure if some of the 4 door sedans will work(bmw, mercedes etc) because I think they have a slightly longer wheelbase than the Mustangs, Ford GT, C6 etc. I could be wrong on that though because I have seen some Alpha Romeo and other 4 door sedans on eb@y. I am not sure if those utilized a front axle hanger to extend the wheelbase or if the LWB tjet chassis fits.

I really thinned the underside of the body on the street version of the Ford GT to get the body as low as possible on the chassis without opening the rear window. It still has to sit a little high on a chassis though because the body is too low to slam it on the chassis without cutting the window and letting the chassis stick up through the body like the FRAY bodies.
For the Fray version, I opened the rear window and put very short posts in and when that body is as low as the rules allow, the gear plate clamp is almost touching the underside of the roof of the car.

Gary thanks for the info.
At least we can find the Yat Ming cars at Walmart these days.

Now Im going to hi jack my own thread........
I was looking at some pics of your stuff on another site.I dont think Im allowed to post links to other forums here.

Would you mind posting some pics here of that KILLER Blazer you did,as well as the new Mustang.
Hell,they're all awesome,post them all.

Excellent work my friend.Really makes me want to get my you know what in gear and do some of this resin casting.


Mike

Here is the 69 K/5 blazer that I made up to look like the 1972 Blazer my family had when I was a kid. One of these days I am going to modify the front of this body and make a '72 grill and make an exact replica of the Blazer we used to have.

http://www.gm454dragbodies.com/images/Blue_white_top_blazer_for_scaleracers.jpg

Here is one of the 2005 Mustang GT bodies...you can see it is a very close fit to a TJET chassis in LWB configuration. If you want to run larger rear tires you would have to open up the rear wheel wells a bit. The RRR wheels fit nicely and just fill up the space without rubbing.

http://www.gm454dragbodies.com/images/red_white_Mustang_GT_for_scaleracers.jpg

the Blazer and the Mustang are PHENOMENAL... wow... :thumbsup:

--rick

I agree with all of the guys Gary: your casting and detailling are absolutely gorgeous, I love the Mustang 2005 and the GT 40

I'm totally unable to make cars like yours, but website and webpages are what I can do far better, so if you need some ideas/help to put one up, just tell me and we could maybe find a way to please both :wave:

That mustang is Killer. I wish more casters made stuff for magnet cars. :(

Thanks for the kind words guys. I just wish that I would have known how to do this when I was younger...before I started modifying the original TJETS that I had.

Zanza I appreciate the offer but I am actually building a website when I have time but I just can't seem to find enough hours in the week lately for everything I have to do. I am sure that is true with everyone here though.

Montoya, I will have to look around for a link that I once had to a site that made resin bodies for tjets and magnet cars. At the time I saw the webpage they didn't have a huge variety of bodies for magnet cars but if I remember correctly they had a decent mix of muscle cars and European racecars.
I have over a dozen cars in line for the "next to do" list and I think a couple of them may work for magnet cars. I haven't looked at them in depth yet but I think I have a Lotus that may work for a Tomy Turbo chassis or maybe a Tyco 440, but again....too many projects not enough time. I have had some of the in progress cars going for a couple of months and can't seem to get the final finish work done on them.

I have 4 cars from the Mead boys and they all look great.. the only problem is they they use a clear coat that's easily messed up. I like to wrap my cars in lint free, chemical free cloth and store them in Matchbox car cases... these are cloth squares the we use to clean the heads of our 150K broadcast video machines at the TV station I work at. These cloth squares are as soft as can be, but for some reason they messed up the clear coat on the cars I bought from them.

When I wrote TMead to ask what product he used.. so I could try to fix them, he basically told me to screw myself, it's not his fault and then he blocked me from any more of his auctions. The guy wouldn't even tell me the name of the product he used so I could try to save the $150 investment I made on his cars.

Classy, huh?

Thanks for the kind words guys. I just wish that I would have known how to do this when I was younger...before I started modifying the original TJETS that I had.

Zanza I appreciate the offer but I am actually building a website when I have time but I just can't seem to find enough hours in the week lately for everything I have to do. I am sure that is true with everyone here though.

Montoya, I will have to look around for a link that I once had to a site that made resin bodies for tjets and magnet cars. At the time I saw the webpage they didn't have a huge variety of bodies for magnet cars but if I remember correctly they had a decent mix of muscle cars and European racecars.
I have over a dozen cars in line for the "next to do" list and I think a couple of them may work for magnet cars. I haven't looked at them in depth yet but I think I have a Lotus that may work for a Tomy Turbo chassis or maybe a Tyco 440, but again....too many projects not enough time. I have had some of the in progress cars going for a couple of months and can't seem to get the final finish work done on them.

I know how that feels!
I have input with a guy making a chassis (see the 'new chassis' thread) and the thinking at the moment is for it to be a magnet car but to have screw post compatibility as it seems caster prefers that.
The other issue is weight. When you have Hellonwheels8 on ebay casting copies of Rokar Datsuns down at 3.5g it kind of move the goalposts. Having said that I'd buy a body for magnet cars from you if it weighed 10g, the finish is so good.

VideoJimmy- That stinks. It doesn't even sound like you wanted your money back, just a way to fix them. If the cloth you used marred the finish, then eventually you would have had problems somewhere even if you didn't store them the way that you do.
Jim

Montoya try a search for "eagle racing slot cars" and that should get you to the eagle racing page. they have bodies that fit tomy super g+ and g3 chassis. I had a guy weigh an upainted Ford GT fray body of mine and he said it weighed in at 2.68 grams...and there is room to work on the inside of the body to lighten them up. Some of the drag cars that I do are closer to 5 g but there is also room for weight reduction there as well but I leave that up to the individual on how thin they want to make the cars.

I didn't ask for my money back, I just wanted to fix the cars. He got mad when I told him that his cars are the only cars in my collection that the cloth messed up and I suggested he use a better clearcoat or at least give people some tips on the the best way to store them.

Actually, one of the cars had a small intendation on the roof from the box he sent it in. That tells me either the clearcoat is very soft, or it wasn't completely dry when he packed it. In either case, I'm out my investment and the guy took it personally, rather than professionally and give the info I needed.

You the know the funny thing is.... If he would have told me the info I asked for, I would still be buying cars from him. Look at ebay rating (videojimmy) and see that not only is it perfect, but I buy literally HUNDREDS of cars a year. I'm the kinda customer you would think dealers and sellers would want to build a good relationship with.


Oh well, no biggie. There are plenty other cars out there to buy, right?

Ok, in reference to videojimmy's comments on the cars he purchased...there are two sides to every story. T-jetjim would you care to hear the other side?

Did Videojimmy mention that he had the cars for 7 months and did something to mess them up and then sent a somewhat impolite email wanting to know what my brother was going to do about it? Jimmy did respond in a later email saying that he may have overreacted a bit in the tone of his first email. (see how both sides of the email story is told here.....one side where he sent an unpleasant email and the other side where he later tried to smooth things out)

How many people here would give a refund after somebody had an item for 7 months and you have no idea what they did to it? I would venture to say that almost nobody here would feel any responsibility after 7 months of time has passed and you have no way to know what happened to the items.

VideoJimmy also said in the email that the cars were wrapped in tissue paper (which contains acids) and the tissue paper stuck to the clear coat and some of it remained on the bodies when he unwrapped the paper from the cars. He said that now the bodies were ruined because the clear coat had tissue paper stuck to it.

Now when presenting his side of the story here he claims that he used cloth to wrap the bodies. In my line of work i have had a ton of experience in curating items (museum quality curation).....tissue paper and any paper other than acid free paper must be used to store items otherwise anything will be affected overtime when stored in materials that contain acids.

Also, my brother didn't tell Jimmy to go screw himself...he simply stated that after 7 months he had no way of knowing what happened to the bodies and therefore felt he had no obligation to fix the bodies. My brother also told him what we use on these cars... which is automotive paint as it is the toughest paint we know of to use....Does the clearcoat on your car that you drive get messed up easily? I figure if it can withstand the elements and abuse of daily driving and works on the cars you drive down the road each day, it should be sufficient for use on slot cars.

Videojimmy you buy hundreds of cars a year and my brother sells hundreds of cars a year also and has never had any other problems. Take that for whatever it is worth.

I would suggest that everyone consider that there are two sides to each story before passing judgement on somebody's work.

This type of mudslinging and attacks on people without telling the entire story is one of the reasons I stopped posting on here for quite some time until recently. As many here already know this type of behavior has already led to several of the (ex)regulars here to leave this board. I guess now I will likely go that route as well because I will not continue in that type of behavior beyond what I posted in response to Videojimmys post.

That being said, I appreciate those on here that know how to be helpful and civil and do not blame their errors on others. I also appreciate the good tips picked up on this board and hope that I have been of some help to others when I could.

So... I guess I have fanned the fire now...so flame away if you must.

On the subject of G+ hard bodies.......

I built a vaccum forming machine last year to make my own lexan bodies for my magnet cars.

The amount of "donor" cars out there that can be used is phenominal.There are many,many,many cars from Matchbox,Hotwheels,and Johnny Lightning,just to name three,that can be used.

Next time you go out shopping,throw a G chassis in your pocket and see for yourself.

I gave up on making lexan bodies.They came out good enough,but the level of detail on the bodies is not what Im into.I would rather resin cast them and make hard bodies.

The vac machine will be used to make glass for my resin cars.

Gary,thanks for posting the pics.

Mike

Mike (^RacerX^),

Sorry the thread got hijacked by the discussion of the drag car bodies by videojimmy and myself. It was a bit inappropriate to have a discussion on this matter in your thread about resin casting the 1:72 scale cars.
I wish you luck with the casting...they make some great tjet racers.

Mike (^RacerX^),

Sorry the thread got hijacked by the discussion of the drag car bodies by videojimmy and myself. It was a bit inappropriate to have a discussion on this matter in your thread about resin casting the 1:72 scale cars.
I wish you luck with the casting...they make some great tjet racers.

It was my thread and I hijacked it about 12 posts back.I was the one that brought up the drag bodies.

So hijack away. :wave:

Mike

Mike, I sent you a PM

I NEVER asked for refund so don't lie and imply that.... all I did was ask for the product info, which I never got (and it's something you could've posted here as a response but chose not to do)

I NEVER asked him to fix the bodies either.. so stop implying that too.

Listen, you guys have a business to run and you'll say whatever it takes to discredit me.. fine, so be it. You win, I'm just a big liar (feel better now?) If you think me talking about what happened to the finish on my cars is mudslinging, then your ego is as frail as your brother's. You guys make great bodies, too bad you use such shoddy cleacoat that can be ruined by a simple lint free cloth.

Also, the cars I had for months were never run, the day I got them, I wrapped them up in cloth and stored them away. Like T-Jim said.. if a lint free, chemical free cloth designed to be used on extremely expensive television equipment was too harsh for the car's clearcoat... I would have trouble at some point regardless.

And also like I said.... ALL I WANTED WANT THE PRODUCT INFO SO I COULD FIX THEM

You want to talk about tone? I have your brother's emails. Shall I post them?
yes, I was upset when I took the cars out to take a look at them but I never asked for a refund... all I did was ask for the product info and suggested he either give out tips on storage or use a better product. To which, he took offense. Just like you, he got all defensive and made some claim about the clearcoat he used being a great product. I did mention to your brother (in response to his email) that someday this would come up on the forums, and I have every right to relay my experience to other slotters.

I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else.

The cars were expensive and out of more than 1,200 cars I own... the four cars I bought from you guys are the ONLY cars that got messed up by the cloth. I'll take pics and post them if need be. 4 out more than 1,200.... yeah right, the clearcoat is top notch.

Heck, even Krylon works better for crying out loud :rolleyes:

I stand 100% behind ANYTHING I sell. When one guy bought one of my Little Red Wagons from me, he wanted to sand an area down to make it smoother so he emailed me for the paint info for touch up... not only did I give him the entire product line I used to make the car, but I also offered him FREE decals if he messed up the touch up. I was under no obligation to offer him anything, but as a fellow slotter I wanted to help him out. I often throw in unadvertised freebees with my auctions too.

That's how I roll. :wave:

Jimmy, you’re not being at all honest about this situation. To refresh your memory, I have included a screen capture of your original email where you clearly mention TWICE that you wrapped the cars in TISSUE PAPER (which as explained in an earlier post, contains acids and chemicals as a result of the manufacturing process and should never be used for long term storage of anything). Yet in this series of posts you are claiming that they were wrapped in a lint free, chemical free cloth designed to be used on extremely expensive television equipment for the 7 months they were in your possesion. What gives?

http://www.tm427dragbodies.com/sitebuilder/images/VJim_Email-600x457.jpg

The colored O-rings that are being used for front tires are from Radio Controlled cars. The "shock re-build kits" for the 1/8 or 1/10 scale RC cars ( I can't remember which scale) have numerous pairs of O-rings in them. The kits come in different colors; thus, the colored O-rings.
These colored O-rings are usually a little softer than the O-rings found in the hardware store. This makes them quite good for use on the rougher, sectional tracks. However, they do seem to be a little too grabby when racing on smooth, routed tracks.

where do you guys get ure silicone for the mold and resin for the body?

Check your local hobby shop or do a search online, Dunk. You will be amazed at the amount of information available to you!

Be aware though, that you will need a hefty chunk of money to start casting.
A basic casting kit starts at about 40.00. This will net you 2 decent 1-part molds (for slosh-casting) and enough resin to wear out your molds and then some. A super-sized casting kit will double your mold potential but will double your price.
Do you want to buy in bulk? The stuff I use is 125.00 for 20 lbs of rubber and 150.00 for 2 gallons of resin. I get very smooth casts from the materials I have chosen to use. Some materials will leave you with a pebble-type finish.

Other casters, please weigh in, eh? I believe Dunk should know what he is getting into.

It is a great hobby, Dunk. It can be exspensive and it is certainly time chewing, but it is also very rewarding. There are atleast a half-dozen casters here who have a wealth of information to share. Start saving your pennies! :thumbsup:

DUNK, I sent you a PM.
but like joez870 said- look around, there is a variety stuff to use out there...do some research into price and quality before laying out the cash.

I have bought bodies & kits from the Mead brothers for quite a while now. I've had no problem with the clear coat finish on any of my cars and I know that it is the same stuff that they have been using from the beginning. Seems to me that any kind of acidic paper that is wrapped around any paint product will ruin it given enough time sitting on a shelf - especially tissue paper.

Dunk, I started off using Aluminite, I recently bought a Micro-mark kit to do a comparison. As ussual it sits and awaits it chance to sway me. But you'll have a blast there are so many things to cast and things to use it for. I would suggest a full starter kit so you get everything you might want to try out. If you do use Aluminite it is a regular product at Hobby Lobby and as one of the chaps on here pointed out they have a 40% off coupon quite often on the hobby lobby website that gets the price down quite a bit and Micro-Mark offers a one time only deep discount kit. Two cheaper ways to start off. Good luck and Looking forward to some Dunk_works cars soon!


Coach

Mike, I have had the blue decals to make a replica of the diecast car you posted for about three weeks but never managed to get them on a resin body until this weekend. The white and blue look pretty good together.

I reposted your pic here for a side by side comparison.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/fordgt.jpg


http://www.gm454dragbodies.com/sitebuilder/images/White_Blue_stock_stripes_GT-600x295.jpg

I like the slot better than the DC! (well it really DOES look better!)
Sweet job!

I really like that body, but it is too bad that it is such a low profile body that you have to hack out the rear window to get it to ride low on a tjet chassis. With the stock rear window, like in the pic above, the gearplate rests on the underside of the body and makes it sit high on the chassis. The underside of the body has been thinned as much as possible without making it paper thin and easily broken. If you put larger tires on it as I did in the pic it fills the wheel wells up to help how it looks.

Boy I'll tell you what Gary,that is one sweet looking car no matter what you have to do to get it to fit.

Let me know when you'll be offering them up for sale.Nice stocking stuffer for my kid.

Mike

Racer X, you have a PM.