Shrinky Dinks. Shrinking 1/64 scale vehicles to 1/87 scale.

[onequiknova]

I don't know about you guys, but to me there is a major lack of appropriate automobiles for a 70's era layout. Neo and Brekina have done some wonderful looking cars lately, but you can only have so many 1976 Buick Le Sabers and 69 Corvettes on a layout.

While playing with some Hot Wheels with my 2 year old son a couple weeks ago, I was admiring how well proportioned some of the nicer cars were, and wondered if there was a way to some how shrink them down to HO scale. It was then I found a way to shrink an RTV rubber mold up to 25% by adding the right proportions of solvent to the mix. A search of 1/64 diecast cars will reveal a large variety of nicely tooled cars. Companies like Auto World Greenlight, and Johnny Lightning make some great 60/70's cars that a model railroader could only dream of. Not just sports cars either. Four door Imapala's, Caprice wagons, Sedans. Everyday cars.

What follows is my first attempt at shrinking a 1/64 scale diecast to 1/87 scale. It needs some improvement before I can call it a success, but I'm optimistic. My original intent was to make a two part mold of each part that makes up the model, but the RTV I used set up too slow with all the solvent added, and started to shrink before the RTV was even set up. I have a faster setting RTV on the way to fix that problem. These molds were poured two days ago, but it won't be done shrinking for another four days or so, so I expect another 5% or so shrinkage, which will hopefully get me just about to HO scale. Right now It's about a foot and a half too long bumper to bumper.

Don't be concerned with the quality of my casting. The resin I used is about a year past it's usefulness, and did some weird things. I was just interested in seeing how evenly the mold was shrinking.

The original Auto World 66 Chevelle, and the shrunken casting.








And a couple with a Neo Buick to show how close to scale it is already.





Maybe me being a car guy has something to do with it, but I am absolutely gitty about having all these cool 60's and 70's cars in HO scale.

[onequiknova]

I should add, this shell was just slosh cast. If all goes to plan, my two part mold should yield a casting with little to no flash inside the window openings. I also made a mold of the chassis, interior, wheels and glass, but they will all need to be redone withfaster curing RTV.

[onequiknova]

Here are a few more cars waiting in the wings.

A 68 Impala 4 door sport coupe, a 69 GTO, and a 69 Kingswood Estate wagon. I know a GTO has been done in HO scale, but it looks more like a caricature to me than a scale model.

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

That certainly is an interesting project. Your early results are quite well done. Even used as they are now they sure would look a lot better than most of the solid resin vehicles that are out there.

[dhs12001]

pretty slick, John.

[onequiknova]

Thanks Karl. Yeah, solid casting is out of the question. You can never get the glass to look right. My ultimate goal is to get a similar look to the Neo and Brekina cars. The detail in the casting is certainly there. I have some tricks up my sleave to detail the chrome trim, light, etc. To acomplish that.

This is the first time I've tried to slush cast anything, and I got too much resin in the roof area, making opening up the windows up completely a challenge. I'm sure I can get better results with this method if the two part mold doesn't work out.

[edwardsutorik]

John,

Real nice work!



Ed

[TBird1958]

Fantastic! I'll take 4 dozen, please!

[roadkill]

Whoa...

[onequiknova]

Here's a few more with the windows hastily opened up and the parts assembled. Again, the bubbles are a result of old resin. I haven't quite figured out what to do about tires yet.

[WP 257]

Awesome--it's already a lowrider! Now you need the 1:87 fuzzy dice, the blue underbody lighting, and to make it "dance".

Disney's "Ramone" (the dads who've seen Cars might remember who he is) says "Eh, you need a paint job!"

[onequiknova]

May 5, 2015 17:26:59 GMT -8 WP 257 said:

Awesome--it's already a lowrider! Now you need the 1:87 fuzzy dice, the blue underbody lighting, and to make it "dance".

Disney's "Ramone" (the dads who've seen Cars might remember who he is) says "Eh, you need a paint job!"

I can shrink a 64 Impala and make Cheech's love machine.

[nsfantodd]

Wow that's great!

Todd

[lvrr325]

The only thing you have to watch using Hot Wheels is frequently the're scaled to fit the package, meaning the Chevelle that's shorter than the Impala is larger in scale, meaning a different shrink rate is needed to reduce to exact HO scale.

Now if you could start with 1/25th scale kits - that's a lot of shrink - but you could always mix the same ratio. And the kits come already apart and unpainted.

I read somewhere Sylvan N-scale pieces use the same tools as the HO, they just mix it to shrink more -

[onequiknova]

That is a very good point, but it doesn't apply to these Auto World and Green Light cars. These are true 1/64 scale collectables, unlike Hot Wheels and Match Box toys, where, like you stated, they vary the scale to fit into a certain size range.

[WP 257]

Will the 1/64 cars, though big, fit into HO autoracks as is? Has anybody tried?

[lvrr325]

I doubt it. Maybe you could put autos on a bi-level. They'd make the thing overly heavy. For autoracks you almost would be better to take your single resin car, make one to like 1/90th, and use it as a buck to vaccu-form body shells (one of those old Mattel pieces would probably do it) and make those into loads. The smaller size of the buck would take into account the thickness of your plastic.

[Great-Northern-Willmar Div]

May 5, 2015 12:08:34 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

Here are a few more cars waiting in the wings.

A 68 Impala 4 door sport coupe, a 69 GTO, and a 69 Kingswood Estate wagon. I know a GTO has been done in HO scale, but it looks more like a caricature to me than a scale model.

It's nice to see HO scale cars other than Mustangs, Camaro, Bel Air and other two door hardtops. The 68 four door hardtop could be modeled as either an Impala or Caprice. The 69 Kingswood Estate (Caprice level trim) could be modeled as a lesser trim full-size Chevrolet wagon such as Kingswood(Impala), Townsman(Bel Air) and Brookwood(Biscayne). In 1969 Chevrolet changed the name of the wagons from the standard Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala and Caprice to their own names reviving names they had used up until 1962 when the wagons were part of the full-size names. Its confusing if you aren't a full-size Chevy fan. Since I'm a 1960's full-size Chevy fanatic I can't wait to see the HO four door hardtop and wagon!

[Spikre]

??
outside of the horrid orange and being slightly under HO scale,
what else is wrong with the Reel Rides GTO JUDGE ??
it is smaller than the MP Olds 442.
but don't have the CMW Chevelle SS454 to do a full comparison.
and how about lets have some complaints over the Current CMW
Price structure .......!
by removeing the rear wing and hood scoops a regular Tempest
should result.
Vito L.,have You done that yet ?
Spikre

[onequiknova]

Looking at the GTO again, the proportions don't look as bad as I remembered it. It could be much crisper though. Perhaps some of the problem is the horribly thick paint obscuring the details. I stripped a Model Power 55 Chevy before and there is detailing in the tooling that just gets lost under all that globbed on paint.

[onequiknova]

Jim, there are a few more 1/64 "every day" type cars out there. Off the top of my head, there's a mid 70's Full sized Chevy Wagon, a mid 60's Nova wagon, a 74 Royal Monaco AKA the "Blues Mobile" a 70's Seville, and a hand full more. Of coarse Muscle cars are most prevalent, but it's pretty easy to turn a SS Chevelle into a run of the mill Malibu or 300. It's a little more work to turn a GTO into a LeMans since your going from a rubber nosed GTO to a chrome bumpered LeMans, but it can be done.

I got a 73 GTO in the mail today. That one would be easy to make into a LeMans or perhaps even a Malibu.

[valenciajim]

Very impressive!!!!

[lvrr325]

Let's see... in HO for 1960s-1970s era we've had: (from memory)

Fresh Cherries did:

- Ford Pinto wagon
- Mercury Bobcat hatchback
- Ford Maverick
- AMC Gremlin
- AMC Hornet
- AMC Pacer (1976)

Tyco offered these, no underframe but the body shells are well detailed:

- AMC AMX
- 1967 Camaro


Model Power/Reel Rides/related:
- 70 GTO
- 69 Cutlass
- 67 Chevy pickup (some issues)
- '72 Ford van
- '70s Dodge van

Mini Metals:
- 70 Chevelle
- 69 El Camino
- 66 Charger


Mongram's old HO line (sold to Herpa or someone since)
- '69 Mustang
- '63 Corvette
- '60s era Jaguar

Revell/Con-Cor:

- '61 Chrysler Newport convertible
- '61 Imperial
- '61 Plymouth wagon
- '61 Dodge Dart
- '61 Dodge Seneca
- '61 Valiant wagon
- '61 Lancer sedan

Atlas at one point had a '68 Plymouth Fury sedan and a Ford LTD I believe also.


Athearn's Mack and Ford cabover are good for this era, that Ford was made with the same cab up through the 1980s.



I have a '66 Ford Pickup Walthers imported as part of their Auto series, I think it's a Viking or somehting like that. I've also seen a similar Dodge van. There's a '74-'76 Trans Am, too, although the door area looks poorly proportioned.


Worth noting the average lifespan of a vehicle, at least in the northeast, in that era was about 10-12 years. That going by plates left on or window stickers still visible in old salvage yards. Meaning most of your cars on a 1975 layout should be 1960-1975, but a few older ones wouldn't be out of place at all either.


Some of these vehicles you might have to fudge a bit, a 1979 model passing for a 1973, but most of them use the same body shell for many years so they'll look right.

[dtinut]

Brekina makes a few nice vehicles
- a 60's Dodge van in passenger/work configurations.
- 73 Camaro
- 73 Corvette Stingray
-

I think Model Power had a Dodge Power Wagon of 60's era

I'd like a nice 75 or 78 Ford pickup/Bronco, and the Econoline van.
Need these to fill so open bilevel autoracks....

Modeling the DT&I - need FORDS!

[onequiknova]

I went ahead and slush cast another body with some fresh resin. This time tinted gray so it shows up better. I didn't bother pressure casting, so there are some bubbles, and I didn't bother trimming the windows open. There are some issues with the mold causing some minor distortion, but I know how to fix that on the new mold. I'm happy with the detail level of the mold. Hopefully I can get a two part mold to work so I end up with an even thickness and no window flash.

The model currently measures about 17 1/2 scale feet bumper to bumper, I believe I need to get to 16 1/2. It has shrunk some since my first casting, but the rate has slowed way down.

[Deleted]

May 7, 2015 16:19:27 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

Let's see... in HO for 1960s-1970s era we've had: (from memory)

Fresh Cherries did:

- Ford Pinto wagon
- Mercury Bobcat hatchback
- Ford Maverick
- AMC Gremlin
- AMC Hornet
- AMC Pacer (1976)

Tyco offered these, no underframe but the body shells are well detailed:

- AMC AMX
- 1967 Camaro


Model Power/Reel Rides/related:
- 70 GTO
- 69 Cutlass
- 67 Chevy pickup (some issues)
- '72 Ford van
- '70s Dodge van

Mini Metals:
- 70 Chevelle
- 69 El Camino
- 66 Charger


Mongram's old HO line (sold to Herpa or someone since)
- '69 Mustang
- '63 Corvette
- '60s era Jaguar

Revell/Con-Cor:

- '61 Chrysler Newport convertible
- '61 Imperial
- '61 Plymouth wagon
- '61 Dodge Dart
- '61 Dodge Seneca
- '61 Valiant wagon
- '61 Lancer sedan

Atlas at one point had a '68 Plymouth Fury sedan and a Ford LTD I believe also.


Athearn's Mack and Ford cabover are good for this era, that Ford was made with the same cab up through the 1980s.



I have a '66 Ford Pickup Walthers imported as part of their Auto series, I think it's a Viking or somehting like that. I've also seen a similar Dodge van. There's a '74-'76 Trans Am, too, although the door area looks poorly proportioned.


Worth noting the average lifespan of a vehicle, at least in the northeast, in that era was about 10-12 years. That going by plates left on or window stickers still visible in old salvage yards. Meaning most of your cars on a 1975 layout should be 1960-1975, but a few older ones wouldn't be out of place at all either.


Some of these vehicles you might have to fudge a bit, a 1979 model passing for a 1973, but most of them use the same body shell for many years so they'll look right.

Great list, thanks. I haven't seen anything like this elsewhere.

[SOMECALLMETIM]

Classic Metal Works just released a 1960 Ford Pickup. The body style is good for 1957-1960.

[peoriaman]

May 7, 2015 16:19:27 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

Revell/Con-Cor:

- '61 Chrysler Newport convertible
- '61 Imperial
- '61 Plymouth wagon
- '61 Dodge Dart
- '61 Dodge Seneca
- '61 Valiant wagon
- '61 Lancer sedan

Ah yes the Virgil Exner collection. Revell probably tooled those back about, oh, maybe 1961? I bought a set as recently as 1990-something. A remarkably long-lived product.

[dhs12001]

I'm unfamiliar with the term "slush cast". Can you describe a bit further?

[onequiknova]

Dave,
Slush casting is when you pour some resin into the mold cavity, then spin and turn the mold by hand to cover the entire inside of the mold with resin. When the resin starts to firm up, flip the mold upside down and let the excess run out. This method creates thin spots and thick spots. I've been getting too much build up in the roof area, while other areas turn out paper thin. I'm sure I could get better results with some practice, but hopefully the two part mold works out, because I don't like this method much.