You Learn Something New Every Day!

Containers to put on your Alan Curtis Chassis 

By Gil Brauch

One of the great things about this hobby is the opportunity you get to learn something new just when you least expect it. After the article about putting containers on Alan Curtis’ chassis (Containerizing Those Classy Chassis) was posted on the NVNTRAK website, I had an email exchange with both Alan and George Johnsen of deluxe Innovations about one point in the article.

The discussion dealt with the length mismatch between the containers and the chassis described as "the porch" in the article. Both the Walthers and the deLuxe Innovations containers are "spot on" in length – the deLuxe Innovations one being within .5 scale inches of accurate, without paint. However, both George and Alan confirm that the "spin casting" technique used with white metal and pewter product manufacturing produces a phenomenon known as "mold growth". This affects the size of the castings made with this process. George reported that he and GHQ encountered this in some of their joint ventures, with GHQ doing the metal and deLuxe doing the plastics.

Alan explains it as follows: "Variation in length can be seen between castings made if the mold is cool, and when the mold gets hotter. We try to get the length correct on the normal running temperature of the mold. It is the rubber mold that expands or contracts with heat variation and the difficult bit is trying to allow just the right amount for contraction when making patterns… In short, castings can be slightly different in length, even from the same mold. The ones you used were probably from a hot mold, and therefore a little long. On most models, slight variations do not show up, except when mated with something which is exact size."

So there you have it. We all learned something, didn’t we? Thanks to both Alan and George for increasing our understanding of the things manufacturers must deal with in bringing us the innovative and high-quality products that enrich our hobby.