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Zactowoman has my tripod....

You do realize what you just said..... :rofl:/>

The sad reality of it is...

She went on vacation, camping with family, while I stayed behind to run Zactomodels, finish the F-14 intakes and consume more Jäger/banana/Nutella/bacon samiches than humanly possible.

And she took the tripod too.

:beer4:

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*Then there's the unexpected disaster* that can de-rail everything as when I broke the first intake pattern.

The disasters have continued but I haven't given up! I have way too much time and money invested in this project.

Now all I need are intakes to put in them (and instruction sheets).

The first full set of production molds is finished and I'm getting good parts (with some extra effort).

Intake_39_zps87e14b8a.jpg

I am proceeding with a second set of molds and trying to cast sets in between things.

I'll be starting the instruction sheet artwork next.

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I don't recall any aftermarket company advertising that their parts don't fit, but I want you to be aware of the problems and solutions with my parts before you spend your hard earned money on them.

My F-14 intakes don't fit... Without some extra effort on your part.

Casting resin shrinks, sometimes very unpredictably.

I did my best to estimate the shrinkage in advance, made the original patterns over-sized and even poured a test mold early on.

As described earlier in this thread, I broke one of my original pattern while making the first production mold. I chose to cast a new set of parts (using that first, good production mold) to be used as patterns. Even though these news patterns were cast in a very expensive, high-tech, low-shrink resin, there was shrinkage.

So, I now have double shrinkage on the production parts. There are also some fit issues because my original patterns were made over-sized and could not be attached to the kit to confirm the fit.

However, it's not that bad!

The parts can be made to fit with a little effort. The adjustments shouldn't require any skills that most of you don't already have.

I really hope this doesn't keep you from buying and using the set.

Zactomodels future depends on it... :cheers:

I'm going to show some pictures to illustrate how I would adjust and fit the intakes (if I had time to build the kit).

Please feel free to add comments, suggestions or ask questions.

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Before I start I want to show one method of preparing to re-scribe lost panel lines after you finish fitting, puttying and priming.

Before attaching a part, in this case the rear engine trunking, fill the existing panel lines with black coloring. I like using a black Stabilo "All" (# 8046). You can also use regular water color paint (which is cheaper and easier to find).

Fitting_1_zps0fd32760.jpg

Put a piece of clear tape over the area and using a slightly dull pin, gently scribe the lines through the tape being careful not to tear the tape.

Fitting_2_zpseace64e6.jpg

Remove the tape to be used later for re-scribing. When you are ready just put the tape in place and carefully cut along the lines or poke holes through the tape at each corner point, remove the tape and use these points to help re-scribe the missing lines.

Fitting_3_zps2fee5616.jpg

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On to fitting the intakes...

The rear section where it meets that rear engine trunking is the most difficult area.

You can see here that the intake casting is smaller and different shaped than the kit part. The solution, make the plastic fit the resin.

Fitting_4_zps7e89cac0.jpg

The previous picture was the left intake which fits tight to the rear trunk part. The right side has a big gap... This was my mistake (how embarrassing!), not the fault of shrinking resin.

Fitting_5_zps9f5c924a.jpg

So on the right intake you'll need to fill the gap. I added a piece of .020" styrene. The remaining gap can be filled with putty.

Fitting_6_zps85ead4fc.jpg

On to removing plastic. I use a homemade sanding block (a really handy tool!!!) with 100 grit and 150 grit, double face taped to a block of wood.

I applied some masking tape in areas that I don't want to sand.

Fitting_8_zps01624fb5.jpg

Fitting_9_zps69aecc55.jpg

Continued...

Edited by Zactoman
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Test fit the part as you go. If anything, remove a little extra plastic and putty to match the resin later.

Fitting_10_zpsc00746c3.jpg

Fitting_11_zpsaac1f4e5.jpg

Fitting_12_zpsc31cc010.jpg

Fitting_13_zps1261dab1.jpg

Even if my resin parts had fit properly, the joint would have needed to be puttied and eliminated and the panel lines behind the intake would have needed to be correctly re-scribed.

I will be including details in the instructions showing the correct panel line locations.

Continued...

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The other problem is with the width. The intakes can be position so that the outer sides fit correctly leaving resulting gaps between the intakes.

Fitting_15_zpsa16b65ed.jpg

About .015" needs to be added as shown. The remaining gap can be filled with putty.

Fitting_16_zpsc85fcdcf.jpg

It's not a good defense of my parts not fitting, but the kit parts don't fit great either.

Fitting_14_zps18ea7d29.jpg

As I said above, please feel free to add comments, suggestions or ask questions...

I'll be posting instructions as soon as they're finished.

Soon after that I'll supply a link to the purchasing page on my website.

:cheers:

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I don't see anything that would hold me from buying your intakes!

Nothing special that some putty and sanding can't fix...as long as that awful profile is fixed.

Now let see if the price tag can shock me :-)

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...as long as that awful profile is fixed.

The majority of the intake shape issues have been addressed as best I could (which I assume is what you mean by "That awful profile").

Regarding the profile of the rear intersection. Somewhere either in this thread or another Trump Tomcat thread I commented that the rear intersection of the Trump part looked too squared off while the Tamiya looked a little too egg shaped compared to real photos that look somewhere in-between. After removing the material I showed in the pictures above, my intake ends up somewhere in-between...

Now let see if the price tag can shock me

I really wanted to keep it close to my Su-27 intakes which are $57 (+ S&H) but considering that the Tomcat intakes are bigger parts and include a whole bunch more parts with more detail, all of which means bigger molds, more resin and more work, it will have to cost more.

If I were to price them such that I could recover all of the time mastering them and tons of extra time fixing them, nobody would pay that much.

So I'm going to have to price them low enough to not scare off customers yet high enough to try to make some profit.

Tough call... I'm still considering it.

:cheers:

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For those that are worried about the minor fit issues with Chris' intakes, here is a shot of my trumpy 1/32 Tomcat build using the KIT intakes.

tomcat77.jpg

The two big globs of putty on the right side shows how bad the kit parts' fit was. Even though Chris' parts may not offer Tamiya-esque fit, they'd still be an improvement over the kit parts.

And here is a reminder of why one would need the Zacto intakes to begin with: the badly mis-shapened front profile of the kit intakes.

tomcat74jpg.jpg

Hope this helps.

Terry

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I ain't Skeerd, brint it on...As for price I know what you're saying but most peeps should expect this to be pricy since it's taken you how long due to a very diificult and complex part. That alone one would think you would have to bring up the price. And as you said it has to be worth your while to stay in business to keep making "us" our modeling goodness that we have come to expect from you...

Jim

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For those that are worried about the minor fit issues with Chris' intakes, here is a shot of my trumpy 1/32 Tomcat build using the KIT intakes.

tomcat77.jpg

The two big globs of putty on the right side shows how bad the kit parts' fit was. Even though Chris' parts may not offer Tamiya-esque fit, they'd still be an improvement over the kit parts.

And here is a reminder of why one would need the Zacto intakes to begin with: the badly mis-shapened front profile of the kit intakes.

tomcat74jpg.jpg

Hope this helps.

Terry

Actually a good reminder from you Terry...and quite shocking how much off they are...the Zactoman intakes are a must and huge, HUGE improvement in my opinion! well done Chris. A price tag of about 59.99 should still attract enough customers...:).

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  • 3 weeks later...
A price tag of about 59.99 should still attract enough customers...

Sorry Tim but I just can't go that low...

I mentioned the $57 price for my Su-27 intakes. Consider that I've only raised the price by $3 since releasing them seven years ago despite material costs skyrocketing. Because Trumpeter "corrected" their intakes, demand went down and my raising the price would mean I'd sell even less.

After much thought, I’ve decided that I’ll be selling these for $68 +S&H. Even at this price it will take a ton of sales for me to break even considering the vast amount of time I spent making these things (and all the problems I had along the way).

I also gave some thought to how much other aftermarket companies would charge and other than Fisher models (who should be charging much more considering how big, how many parts and how nice in his kits are), I can’t imagine any of them charging any less than $68. Looking at other products from some of the popular aftermarket companies, if they were to release just ONE intake with the included parts, I'd guess they’d be charging upwards of $60, $40 at the very least. Considering the size of the molds for the main intake though, I doubt many would ever even do this project in the first place. I’d say $40 for one full intake would be a bargain but I just don’t think I could get away with doubling that amount for the pair.

I’m hoping that as people start receiving them that good enough feedback will come in to convince everybody to buy them.

I've already sent out a few sets without instructions, a couple of which should appear soon in already in-progress builds on LSP.

I'm getting really close! Watch this space...

Pages one and two of the instructions are finished and the third and final page is almost finished.

Pg1_sm_zps8143e947.jpg

Pg2_sm_zps7e13c260.jpg

:cheers:/>

Edited by Zactoman
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That price is more than fair!!!

We don't want you to spent all your money!!!...We expect a lot more of your great work in the future :-)

I can't await to send my order

Edited by coneheadff
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