Short history of vacform models?

[Rob de Bie]

I'm currently researching vacform models a bit, and I came up with a lot of questions like:

- when did vacform kits appear roughly?

- what were the 'big brands' in the early days?

- could you say they were the equivalent of what resin kits are now? I.e. relatively rare and expensive kits of subjects that are not covered by injection-molded kits?

- were the old kits made with male instead of female molds?

- anyone know what kind of numbers of each kit they produced?

- I started modeling in the eighties, and from that time I remember Rareplanes, Airmodel, Falcon, Execuform, Combat Models. But there were probably a lot more. Am I missing important brands?

- what companies still produce vacforms? I can think of Airmodel and Dynavector

- what's the future of vacform models? Will they be overtaken completely by resin models? Are modelers still willing to put a lot of work in a vacform model?

Any other kind of information or insights on the history of vacforms is equally welcome. Thanks in advance!

Rob

[FCM]

I preffer vacuform kits insteado full resin ones due the plastic used for vacuforming is the same used for injection molded, so the same materials can be used. I built vacuform kits from MPM (their first kits was multimedia vacuform), Welsh Models, Tom's Modelworks and Koster Aero Enterprises, and the biggest challenge with those kits was sometimes the vacuformed clear parts made in more than one piece (MPM's Do 217Z 1/48 scale), very hard to glue the parts...

I still have a lot of vacuform kits in my collection and I still prefer to face them than the resin kits, I will be very glad to build as vacuform some huge kits who the costs to produce them as injection molded turns prohibitive, including resin or low pressure injection parts for details and photo-etch.

Obviously these kits should follow modern standards of quality, as were those already produced by Koster 20 years ago.

[Flankerman]

From what I remember on this side of the pond, Gordon Stephens (Rareplanes) and Gordon Sutcliffe (Contrail) were the pioneers of the genre.

I once read that Gordon Stephens got the idea when he opened a box of chocolates and saw the thin plastic tray separating the chocs and realised that he could make aeroplane shapes using thicker plastic - and vacforms were born.

I can remember visiting Gordon Sutcliffe (Contrail) back in 1973/74 - I lived quite near to him.

He was a woodwork teacher and carved his own masters from wood, made the moulds and did all the vacforming himself in his garage in Evercreach, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

His early subjects were of large Soviet aircraft - Tu-95 Bear, Myasischev 3M Bison etc. He reckoned the CIA were amongst his customers.

I remember making his huge Junkers Ju-390.

He made a lot of British 1930's flying boats and seaplanes - Short Stranraer, Fairey IIIF etc.

He also made an XB-70 - but got the scale wrong, making it as 1:96 instead of 1:72.

I think he re-tooled it to the correct size later.

I'll try and add more as I remember it......

Ken

[Kevan Vogler]

Aeroclub kits sometimes contain some vac formed elements, do they not?

I think I've also heard of an outfit called Elliot (or perhaps Elliot's) that were said to produce some vac formed kits.

Of course, Echelon graced us with 1/32 Hunters and Lightnings.

[Rob de Bie]

From what I remember on this side of the pond, Gordon Stephens (Rareplanes) and Gordon Sutcliffe (Contrail) were the pioneers of the genre.

I looked it up in Burns' PAK-20, and Rareplanes started in 1969, Contrail in 1970. I always thought that vacforms started way earlier, say 1960 or so. Interesting!

I can remember visiting Gordon Sutcliffe (Contrail) back in 1973/74 - I lived quite near to him.

He was a woodwork teacher and carved his own masters from wood, made the moulds and did all the vacforming himself in his garage in Evercreach, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

His early subjects were of large Soviet aircraft - Tu-95 Bear, Myasischev 3M Bison etc. He reckoned the CIA were amongst his customers.

I remember making his huge Junkers Ju-390.

He made a lot of British 1930's flying boats and seaplanes - Short Stranraer, Fairey IIIF etc.

He also made an XB-70 - but got the scale wrong, making it as 1:96 instead of 1:72.

I think he re-tooled it to the correct size later.

I'll try and add more as I remember it......

Thanks for a great story! Do you know whether Contrail models were made in (over) positive moulds?

Rob

[Patrick_Nevin]

Any other kind of information or insights on the history of vacforms is equally welcome. Thanks in advance!

There also might be mileage in considering the manufacturers (e.g. MPM) who started off with vacs and moved to injection models, i.e. going mainstream with increased sales...

Patrick

[Rob de Bie]

I looked it up in Burns' PAK-20, and Rareplanes started in 1969, Contrail in 1970. I always thought that vacforms started way earlier, say 1960 or so. Interesting!

To add to that: PAK-20 reports that Airmodel started in 1969 too.

Rob

Edited March 20, 2011 by Rob de Bie

[Rob de Bie]

Aeroclub kits sometimes contain some vac formed elements, do they not?

I think I've also heard of an outfit called Elliot (or perhaps Elliot's) that were said to produce some vac formed kits.

Of course, Echelon graced us with 1/32 Hunters and Lightnings.

Looked it up in (again) PAK-20: Aeroclub issued 50+ complete vacforms, most in 1/48 scale. Elliot issued around 25 kits, 1/72 RAF and Soviet aircraft. Echelon only did the 1/32 Hunters and Lightnings that you reported.

Rob

[Quailane]

I think limited-run injection molded multimedia kits have definitely stolen the thunder from vacuforms, to the point where I wonder when the last time a new vacuformed airplane was released.

[Flankerman]

Thanks for a great story! Do you know whether Contrail models were made in (over) positive moulds?

Rob

No - in a concave (female?) moulds.

The wooden master (say two fuselage halves split vertically down the centreline) was placed in a box and resin-type gunk was poured over them.

I think the 'gunk' was Sutcliffe's own concoction - made from an auto filler paste type stuff (sorry it isn't very technical ) - I have a vague recollection of aluminium powder being mixed in with it - but don't quote me!.

Once the 'gunk' had set, the wooden masters were removed (IIRC they were pre-coated with a release agent).

Tiny holes were then drilled through the mould at various points in the recessed fuselage - this results in the numerous 'pips' seen on such vacforms.

This was to allow the vacuum suction to pull the plastic into the mould.

Panel detail was sometimes scribed into the mould material as appropriate.

A sheet of plastic card was then placed over the mould and clamped down ready for the vacforming process.

Gordon had a setup with a heating element like a large 4-bar electric fire (again IIRC, it was hinged so that it could be swung over the plastic and then moved out of the way).

Once the plastic started to soften (and this was where experience came into play getting it soft enough without melting completely), an old vacuum cleaner was switched on and the soft plastic was drawn down into the mould, forming the fuselage shape.

Once cooled the formed plastic sheet was removed from the mould - and bingo! a vacformed fuselage.

I remember Gordon showing me a two-part mould he had made - it was used to make the belly radome on a Bear bomber - the radome had deep undercuts where it attached to the fuselage - (imagine a horseshoe-shape in cross section)

The mould was in two vertically split halves with bolts through it.

It was placed over the master and tightened up, the mould material was poured in and when it had set, the bolts were released, the mould was slid apart and the master removed.

Bolted back together it was then used to vacform the radome - an early application of slide-mould technology. - he was very proud of it.

He also went into plastic injection moulding - the contra-props on the Bear were made this way.

I seem to remember a large press device - plastic granules were poured into a hopper and a lever was pulled forcing the cold(?) plastic into the mould.

He also made white metal parts - he was a veritable one-man-band, from making the master, vacforming, packing the boxes, attaching the paper 'Box Art', printing the instruction sheets etc etc.

I think only the decal sheets were outsourced !

More later.... (he gave me the wooden master of a 1:72 scale C-5 Galaxy that he was planning.........)

Ken

[madmanrick]

I haven't seen any mention of I.D. Models here yet, they produced a number of vacs and their 32nd scale kits have been picked up by an outfit called Tigger Models, who are producing them again. There was also Eagles Talon. Sanger is still producing vacs, although I believe they are simply continuing with molds produced by others (including Contrail among others). Lone Star has produced at least some vac parts. Formaplane was another producer and I believe the outfit Kevan was referring to in his post was actually known as Gerald J. Elliott. There were also a huge number of cottage vac kits, as well as a number of one-offs produced by companies and individuals. HTH,

Rick

[Flankerman]

I think limited-run injection molded multimedia kits have definitely stolen the thunder from vacuforms, to the point where I wonder when the last time a new vacuformed airplane was released.

I recently acquired an excellent vacform model of a Yak-100 from a Russian firm called 'Prop & Jet'.

So they are still out there......

Ken

[tornado64]

thanks to this machine ( the date on this is 1963 )

vacform machine

i'd say vacforms were being produced far earlier than the very late 60's very early 70's by cottage industries somewhere

it defies logic that they weren't

however by the very nature of cottage industries it will prove extreemely difficult to chase down all of them

i have a wide and varied collection of vacforms in my stash of some weird and wonderful subjects

the oddest has to be the saro jet fighter flying boat

there are also many names that turn up

aeroclub were indeed still making them recently ( if not still doing so ) i have their 1/48 english electric lightning in my stash

Edited March 21, 2011 by tornado64

[peebeep]

I looked it up in Burns' PAK-20, and Rareplanes started in 1969, Contrail in 1970. I always thought that vacforms started way earlier, say 1960 or so. Interesting!

They may well have started earlier, but in the UK Gordon Stevens was the first to market his Rareplanes range, to the best of my recollection. I still have copies of Airfix Magazine and Scale Models with the Rareplanes adverts dating back to 1969. Contrail followed soon after, and fits the dates above. I don't know about Contrail, but Rareplanes were usually produced in batches of up to 5000 and were strictly limited edition. Rareplanes were produced using female moulds, the components always featured tiny pips on the outside that require removal. These resulted from suction holes that were drilled into the mould. In order to get any sort of reasonably defined surface detailing I would think you would need to use female moulds.

peebeep

[Aaronw]

thanks to this machine ( the date on this is 1963 )

vacform machine

i'd say vacforms were being produced far earlier than the very late 60's very early 70's by cottage industries somewhere

it defies logic that they weren't

Keep in mind plastic kits only date from the late 50s and the first were kind of seen as toys. Wood kits were still very popular into the 1950s. My dad has some wood ship models he built in highschool (1950s) and some 1/72 solid plastic aircraft models used for aircraft recognition during WW2. The technology was probably around for individuals and small groups, but there was probably a very limited market for any commercial application before the 1960s.

Edited March 21, 2011 by Aaronw

[Andre]

He also made an XB-70 - but got the scale wrong, making it as 1:96 instead of 1:72.

Perhaps this was meant to tie in with Lindberg's 1/96 scale Victor and Vulcan kits..?

Cheers,

Andre

[MattC]

As far as the future is concerned, although producing a vac kit can be a lot cheaper, us modellers, being a picky lot, are no longer happy with having accurate basic shapes, and get a bit waspy if we don't have a fully detailed interior, a variety of decals, ordnance, wheel bays and what not.

Adding those things into a vac kit bumps up the price I suppose, and I guess that for a few quid more in materials and a big uplift in price, a manufacturer may as well go all resin, especially given that producing decent quality resin kits is now within the reach of many more people than before, and the quality and innovation marches ahead.

As I understand it, a large amount of the work is in tooling up and maintaining the masters and moulds, and thats the same whatever medium you work in, give or take.

I can see a time when styrene has had its day, or at least, partially, I think the format of styrene main components and everything else in resin will be the norm in a few years.

Bigger subjects I suspect will be done as vacuum bagged composites.

If one has the equipment (ie CAD/CAM) making a master for a resin mould ought to be comparitively simple, and embryonic advances in 3D printing and prototyping will probably come in at some point, did anyone see the bicycle that Airbus "grew"?

So future kit production could just be a matter of loading in a CAD design, pouring some media granules into a machine and pressing "Print"

[braincells37]

Serious, or if you prefer, enthusiast vacform kits started in 69 & 70 as mentioned with Rareplanes and Contrails. On the left side of the pond, Airframe from Vancouver, BC started up about the same time, along with Execuform and from Germany, Airmodel. Rareplanes and Contrail were formed into female molds and others for the most part were formed over male molds. In the day, Rareplanes was probably considered the best of the lot. There were other manufacturers as well, J&L, Nova, and a few others that turned out some interesting subjects (One of these days I'll finish my Republic Rainbow!). In the early '70's Bill Koster started releasing vacform conversion kits and graduated into complete kits. He's still pushing them out. But, there WERE other vacform kits that were released in the mid 50's. One that comes to mind is an approximately 48th scale F3H-2 Demon that had a vacform fuselage and wings and injection molded details (what few there were). I seem to recall it was released by Hobbytime or Comet, mainstream kit manufacturers. There are 1 or 2 others I seem to remember but I can't remember right now which kits they were.

I still have a bunch of them in the garage o' kits and have no plans to let them go. I've kept some of my vacform kits even now that some of the subjects have now been released in injection molded versions. I find them to be less problematical than resin kits and in some cases are much superior.

Terry

[Rob de Bie]

Rareplanes and Contrail were formed into female molds and others for the most part were formed over male molds.

Interesting!

But, there WERE other vacform kits that were released in the mid 50's. One that comes to mind is an approximately 48th scale F3H-2 Demon that had a vacform fuselage and wings and injection molded details (what few there were). I seem to recall it was released by Hobbytime or Comet, mainstream kit manufacturers.

PAK-20 says it was Hobbytime, who did a 1/45 F4D-1, a 1/51 F-100A and a 1/45 F3H-1. Production stopped around 1968-1969, so they must have preceeded Rareplanes and Contrail.

Rob

Edited March 22, 2011 by Rob de Bie

[Patrick_Nevin]

As far as the future is concerned, although producing a vac kit can be a lot cheaper, us modellers, being a picky lot, are no longer happy with having accurate basic shapes, and get a bit waspy if we don't have a fully detailed interior, a variety of decals, ordnance, wheel bays and what not.

Not all of us. If for example one could produce a huge great evil beast Me262 (Mr Tigger) just with accurate shapes for the complex bits (fuselage, engines, wings, tail, canopy) I think it might sell, admittedly to a niche inside a niche hobby. Scratching the innards in 1/6th would be just part of the joy. Same for stuff that is unlikely to be injection or resin moulded in one's scale of choice - I just shared H-post with a bunch of tiny airliners in vac for a friend, and they seemed to be going quite nicely...

[modelhound]

History,

The first vacuform kits I remember were some rubber powered

flying models, by I think Lindberg (probably wrong name), in

about 1/20 scale. I built and attempted to fly some of these

when I was in the 5th or 6th grade, circa 1956 1957. Right

around this time Prince Valliant movies, and the like, were a

rage. There was a lot of vacuformed toy body armour, helmets , breast

plates and shin guards available to us middle class kids who were

adept in wheedleing toys from our relatives.

Ah memory, such a fallable medium.

Mike

[K5054NZ]

Zombie thread!

 

Does anyone know of a full listing of Execuform's kits? Also I read on the page Focus On Vacforms that Mike Herrill started the line in 1979 - does anyone know when he stopped?

[Rob de Bie]

I recently read something new about vacform kits in the recent book 'Frog Penguin plastic scale model kits 1936-1950' by Peter van Lune. On page 192 it shows the 'Wimco Hollows', vacformed kits from 1956. The founders of Frog Penguin, austed by Lines Brothers, started Jetex and Wimco, all in the UK. The kits were 1/144 scale, and Canberra B8, Javelin and Valiant are confirmed. This really puts the claims of Gordon Stevens of being the first to bed!

 

Rob

[Kurt H.]

3 hours ago, K5054NZ said:

Zombie thread!

 

Does anyone know of a full listing of Execuform's kits? Also I read on the page Focus On Vacforms that Mike Herrill started the line in 1979 - does anyone know when he stopped?

 

I am not sure if any one has complied an authorotative list. The closest might get is a search on scalemates.com

 

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=All&q=execuform*

 

I have a few of his kits, interesting subjects for sure. 

[K5054NZ]

22 minutes ago, Kurt H. said:

 

I am not sure if any one has complied an authorotative list. The closest might get is a search on scalemates.com

 

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=All&q=execuform*

 

I have a few of his kits, interesting subjects for sure. 

Unfortunately the reason I'm asking is because many (most?) of the Execuform kits listed on Scalemates don't have kit numbers. Just a small thing, but I'd like to rectify that.

 

As an aside, I have his Lockheed 10 underway as a desk display model. What have you got hidden away? I'd love the Convair 340/etc and the Hughes XF-11.

Edited February 2, 2020 by K5054NZ