How is a Model Kit made?

[Leigh]

K the first one to say with glue and paint gets slapped in the face with a wet kipper, right now I'm getting into a lot of resin casting and it got me thinking as to the actual processes in getting a kit into a box and on the shelf at the store. Now I understand that the styrene is injected into two part molds, and have actually seen that process at work and the amazing machinery it entails albeit for a completely different type of product, but what happens before that? How is the mold made? How is the master for the mold made. Is there some little old guy sitting with some blueprints carving and sanding a piece of balsa? I would imagine alot today is done with computers as you can get them to make three dimensional objects for you now but how was it done in the grand old days?

Vac forming over wooden/resin masters.

Was the master built whole then they tried to figure out how to break it into parts or was it the other way around?

Dear Jim could you fix it for me to see how Airfix kits are made?

[desmojen]

Well, I can tell you how a Trumpeter kit is made........

Jen.

[Nev]

well go on then!

*drums fingers impatiently*

[desmojen]

Well ok.

To start off, they have a team of lads (none of them are very old) who collect reference material. This ranges from stuff they find on the internet, through books, plans, photos and even other kits of the same subject.

From all of this, they create 3D drawings on computers which they then forward to the next department. Here, more young lads start to break the drawings into parts.

They can remove and reassemble all these parts, add locating pins etc and swivel everything around as much as they want until they're happy with the parts breakdown.

The drawings they end up with can be sent directly to the CNC machines, but just to be sure, they make masters by hand and use a 3D scanner on these. All the info is put together and the results are fed into a cnc machine.

For the detail parts, there is yet another team of young lads who actually handbuild small parts. I saw them making bits for tanks and interior parts for an upcoming large scale Jaguar kit.

These are entered into the system by the 3D scanner.

The CNC machine cuts mould masters from all this info. The mould masters look the same as the kit parts eventually will, and are made of brassy material.

These masters are fitted to special machines which use them to spark erode the solid steel moulds. This process is extraordinarily long and drawn out. They were making the 1/32 F-100 moulds when I was there and the boss explained that each sprue mould for a kit that size can take as much as four days to produce.

So that's four days for one half of one sprue mould! How many sprues are there in the F-100 kit?

Once the moulds are cut, they are sent through and test shots are made. They use these to check for flaws and flash where the moulds don't fit correctly. If any are found they are sanded and polished by hand until they fit properly.

They had just invested 1 million dollars in a polishing machine which they use for doing transparency moulds, until then they had been done by hand as well.

Once all that is done they can set up the injection machines and do a run of mouldings. They do have a limited number of moulding machines, so they tend to do short runs of things as and when they need to rather than tying up the whole production line to do just one kit.

From there, the bins full of sprues go up to the packing line where they are all bagged and boxed to be sent out.

Hope that helps!

Jen.

[T-Tango]

Very informative, many thanks Jen.

[Nev]

Thanks Jen! Did you take any pictures of all this? (that you're allowed to share).

I do sometimes wonder why model companies don't show more "behind the scenes" development of their kits, taking their lead from say the computer game industry, where journalists are taken, almost from day 1, to the development studios for regular updates on the progress of a game.

[entlim]

Brilliant idea, why haven't they done this before

lotus used to do limited tours of their factory one time for enthusiasts

[Col.]

I would pay good money to have a tour of a model factory. Dare say there'd be an almost guaranteed sale or two at the end of it as well.

[miduppergunner]

Hope that helps!

Jen.

No - not really - want to see some pictures! (please)

David.

[Neil]

lotus used to do limited tours of their factory one time for enthusiasts

They did indeed. We once had Lesley Joseph walk around the place (Dorian, in Birds Of A Feather) wearing a 'tasteful' leopard skin coat and black stockings. I remember that because she had 'laddered' the back of both stockings somehow ....

I don't think she realised at the time

[Richard M]

How about these Airfix ones from a 1976 Valiant comic book article, originally posted on the Airfix Collecting Forum.

pp40-41

pp42-43

Best

Rich

[Mike]

I would pay good money to have a tour of a model factory. Dare say there'd be an almost guaranteed sale or two at the end of it as well.

Me too

[John]

They did indeed. We once had Lesley Joseph walk around the place (Dorian, in Birds Of A Feather) wearing a 'tasteful' leopard skin coat and black stockings. I remember that because she had 'laddered' the back of both stockings somehow ....

I don't think she realised at the time

I've met her too. Short, isn't she?

John

[thx6667]

Jen's description of Trumpeters facilities are spot on, different kit companies do things different ways - some have it all in house, others farm out design work to other companies. The Japanese and Koreans tend to use Beryllium Cooper tooling the Chinese and a lot of companies in Europe still use use spark erosion (which has come a long way since the 70s).

The big advance over the 80s and 90s has been the advent of CAD, as opposed to the old methods of making large size masters and then pantographing from them. CAD offers the ability to design and mill parts on a CNC machine to test for things in resin ahead of going to cutting the tooling.

[Col.]

Jen's description of Trumpeters facilities are spot on, different kit companies do things different ways - some have it all in house, others farm out design work to other companies. The Japanese and Koreans tend to use Beryllium Cooper tooling the Chinese and a lot of companies in Europe still use use spark erosion (which has come a long way since the 70s).

I heard that the Beryllium copper (?) moulds don't last as long as traditional steel tooling, although steel is still used to make the master from which the moulds are cast around. Is this correct Jonathan?

[Neil]

How about these Airfix ones from a 1976 Valiant comic book article, originally posted on the Airfix Collecting Forum.

pp40-41

pp42-43

Best

Rich

Richard

Is the Tamiya shop in Ledras St. open during regular hours these days? I think I remember you saying it can be a bit hit and miss possibly? Going there next week with a bit of luck.

[Richard M]

Richard

Is the Tamiya shop in Ledras St. open during regular hours these days? I think I remember you saying it can be a bit hit and miss possibly? Going there next week with a bit of luck.

Just in there today actually, picked up an Airfix 1/48 Jag and a Airfix 1/72 Nato weapons set! Talking to his grandkids it seems Mr Dedeyan doesn't go in much now, so the shop is closed before lunch, the grandkids open it up late afternoon (3/4pm) and on Saturday mornings. I think next week it might be open during the morning as his grandson is off college for another week, but the afternoons are safest.

Best

Rich

[Neil]

Just in there today actually, picked up an Airfix 1/48 Jag and a Airfix 1/72 Nato weapons set! Talking to his grandkids it seems Mr Dedeyan doesn't go in much now, so the shop is closed before lunch, the grandkids open it up late afternoon (3/4pm) and on Saturday mornings. I think next week it might be open during the morning as his grandson is off college for another week, but the afternoons are safest.

Best

Rich

Okey-doke, thanks Richard. I will try and time it accordingly.

[thx6667]

I heard that the Beryllium copper (?) moulds don't last as long as traditional steel tooling, although steel is still used to make the master from which the moulds are cast around. Is this correct Jonathan?

Not that I'm aware of. Tamiya and Academy used the Beryllium process, I doubt they'd invest in moulds that would not last the distance.

Likewise, there were stories that the Airfix TSR.2 moulds were only good for limted run of kits before wearing out or some such rubbish - they're conventional steel tooling and capable of years of production.

[AntPhillips]

I saw them making bits for .......interior parts for an upcoming large scale Jaguar kit.

Very informative Jen, and I'm surprised no one else has commented on the quote above

[John]

I heard that the Beryllium copper (?) moulds don't last as long as traditional steel tooling, although steel is still used to make the master from which the moulds are cast around. Is this correct Jonathan?

Back about the time the Academy Ventura came on the scene there was an article in one of the mags which said the moulds for it had been made by making beryllium hobs in the shape of the parts and using these to burn out the steel mould cavities.

John

[thx6667]

From memory Beryllium is just part of the process, the moulds are made from nickel-chrome steel.

Either way, the mould tools that the major kit companies make are designed to run for decades.

[Leigh]

Thanks guys, Jens description and that Valiant article pretty much covered it.

Still a bit sad though, hoping it was summat a bit more magical, like they left the plans out and came back the next morning and the masters had been made by Elves.

[thx6667]

Thanks guys, Jens description and that Valiant article pretty much covered it.

Still a bit sad though, hoping it was summat a bit more magical, like they left the plans out and came back the next morning and the masters had been made by Elves.

I think it would be more magical if they were made by Elvis!

[Leigh]

Elvis made kits? Cool

"Hunka hunka molded Frog"