Re: Mold Masters

	
	John Crimmins writes:
	>I was in Kay-bee toys today, making my weekly check (The damned
>Micro Machines Star Wars Robots pack is STILL at regular price!), and I
saw 
>some molds meant for a product called Mold Master, which has been
getting a 
>lot of discussion on r.g.m.m. of late.  Apparently, it's some sort of
toy 
>that is used to melt metal, pour it into molds, and produce miniatures
of 
>various sorts.  The molds that I saw were for a pair of spaceships, and

>actually looked half decent.  Unfortunately, there were no photographs
on 
>the box, and there was no way of telling the scale of the ships. 
Frankly, I 
>can't imagine something like this producing models of really good
quality, 
>but I've been wrong before.  Plus, if the metal is soft enough, it
might be 
>pretty easy to modify the results and produce different ship classes. 
Has 
>anybody heard anything about this item?

 
 There is a Toys R Us across the street from my office so I took another

 look at this product during my lunch hour.
 
 It was called Metal Molder Die-Cast Factory and for $25-$30 you get the

 base that melts the metal and pour it into the molds along with 4 
 different molds (wizard, motorcycle, skull, dragon) jewels(?) and
enough 
 metal to do several castings.	Then there is the Spaceship mold set for

 about $10 which includes molds for two different spaceships, jewels(?)
and 
 metal for a few miniatures.  Extra metal was $8 for an 10 miniature
supply
 
 The spaceships look more like fighter types with wings and such.  I
have 
 seen the molds and the minis are smaller than I thought, not even and
inch 
 long and wide if I remember correctly.  They remind me of Silent Death 
 miniatures and are about the same scale.  They could be used as escorts
or 
 small cruisers.
 
 I recently saw another ad for the base unit with different box art that

 had a spaceship of the Flash Gordon type (smooth with fins in the
back).
 
 The whole setup looks interesting but the cost seems to be higher that 
 just buying miniatures.
 
 Mike Miserendino writes:
 >I've seen what you're describing.  For casting my own minis I've used 
 >products from Castolite and Synair and obtained fairly good results. 
 >Currently I am using resin to cast my minis to produce lighter ships
for 
 >mounting on bases.  If you wanted to cast metals, the molds work fine 
 >with lead and have casting products available for additional metals
and 
 >composites.
 
 Mike, what are some good mail order or web sources for these products?
 
 
 Dean Gundberg
 dgundberg@bcbsnd.com
 
 If the only tool you have is a hammer,
 you tend to see every problem as a nail.
 - Abraham Maslow