Metal Casting Zone Info Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Hobby’

I’ve been making miniature gun models as a hobby when I was little but never out of metal obviously because I don’t have the skill to and its too dangerous for a kid. Now I’m thinking about learning art metalcraft to make fully functional rescaled replica of modern firearms for a hobby, but how do I get started on it?
- What classes I need to take or what do I need to learn to make them?
- What metal is easiest to cast and mold and to yield realism along with precise details of the model? Also durability?
- What kind of tools and equipment?

Just any pointers or any information regarding this topic that can help would be greatly appreciated.
Example would be something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esfNu4OzI-4&feature=fvw

Thanks

Visit: tinyurl.com for more info.

Diecast toy vehicles were first produced in England and the USA in the early 1900s. This was the beginning of what was to become one of the most popular toys ever. Diecast toys are now collected by tens of thousands of people,both children and adults,all over the world.

The early diecast models were very simple,featuring just a painted metal body with no interior fittings whatsoever.They were unfortunately made from low grade cast metal alloys which in most cases did not stand the test of time.These low quality alloys become brittle as they age and gradually deteriorate and crumble. As a result of this early die cast toys from the first quarter of the twentieth century are quite scarce today.

Before very long however these early diecast toy makers realised that there was a really good market for toy vehicles. Cars,trucks,airplanes miniature farm equipment,and many other models,were widely produced by a number of manufacturers. As demand grew the quality of materials used to make the toys was improved. Increased attention to detail also became the rule as manufacturers vied for more sales.

In the early 1930s Modelled Miniatures were introduced. These 1/43 scale miniature vehicles were designed for use with model train set layouts. Soon they became popular as a collectible,in their own right,and were known as Dinky Toys.

The height of popularity for Dinky Toy diecast model vehicles came in the 1950s and 60s. They were a fairly basic low detail model but were extremely popular.The flashy big American cars seen on TV shows,which began in the 1950s,became very desirable Dinky Toys and outsold the more staid small English cars of the time.

Dinky toys were made into the 1970s when they died out mainly due to the competition from Mattel Hot Wheels. Vintage Dinky Toys today are a much in demand collectible and some of the scarcer models fetch extremely high prices.

The well known Lesney Matchbox cars started production in England in 1947 and thus began a new trend in diecast models. In 1953 Lesney made a miniature diecast model of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation coach complete with horses. This model was a huge success and more than a million were sold.

The Lesney Matchbox cars were produced in huge numbers with 75 different vehicles in each line. This gave collectors an immense variety of models to collect.

The Corgi line of diecast vehicles was introduced by Mettoy in the 1950s. These were also very successful. One of the big reasons for their success was that these cars had exceptional attention to interior fittings. They had detailed interior decor. They were even fitted with clear plastic windows. These very detailed miniatures vehicles were a big hit with collectors.

In 1968 Mattel introduced Hot Wheels cars with an initial line of 16 vehicles. These early Hotwheels vehicles all had a red line around the side of the tires. This led to their becoming known to collectors as Red Line Hot Wheels models. The initial sixteen models with which the line began are now known to collectors as the “Sweet Sixteen” and are much in demand.

Hot wheels vehicles are collected around the world by rabid collectors and were a huge success story for Mattel. They continue in production at the present time.

There are now hundreds of different companies offering diecast toys to collectors. They are manufactured in Taiwan,Korea,China, and other countries around the world. High quality and attention to detail are a must if a diecast toy is to be a success as a collectible. Diecast toys made around the world are now mostly of very good quality.

Its the car from movie, its called christine the plymouth fury 1958. The company that made it is ERTL Joyride, its a 1:18 die cast metal car, I want the location of it in Jeddah K.S.A, Please help me.

When I was younger the issue of boredom always seemed to come up. I long for those days now that my work week is 80+ hours but creativity was so important while growing up poor. One of my favorite things to do was pretend I was pitching in the major leagues and managed to situate a table on its side so that the tennis ball would either pop up or ground out to me. I spent days playing solo Monopoly and weeks creating a fully stocked video store mockup. I think the poorer a person is the more interesting their hobbies are.

Some very common hobbies include collecting things such as dolls, die cast cars, real cars, or weapons. Coin and stamp collecting have long been a hobby for many, especially of commemorative mints (www.coin-usa.com). Coin and paper money from around the world is collected by Trader Joes if you haven’t noticed. A lot of gold and silver coins are worth something because of the amount of the particular metal contained in it.

The collecting of action figures (www.herofigure.com) used to be isolated to the very young and has crept its way into the hands of middle aged men. Comic book popularity has enjoyed the same fate and has created multiple movie trilogy empires in Hollywood. I don’t know if this popularity is due to the growing infancy of adult men or the impressive quality of modern movies. Either way it looks as if the comic book genre will continue to impress.

A lot of collectors base their hobby on an addiction such as alcoholism. Wine collectors invest in storage units, large quantities of aging bottles, and some even build entire rooms customized with climate controlled environments for the storage and display of their wine. In college I remember seeing fraternity bedrooms outlined by old bottles of consumed Vodka as if they were little league trophies. One of the most popular social hobbies men have is a combination of beer and poker (www.queenplay.com). These events are usually shared on a regular basis with more than two people where food is consumed. This hobby can be extended to Las Vegas if the player needs a more stimulating environment.

Hobbies seem to differ between people depending on the geographic location. Shooting ranges are more popular here outside of Seattle and are even more popular if one visits the eastern portion of this state as opposed to the limits of the city. Hobbies differ between genders—shopping for clothes is more popular among women while playing basketball is more popular among men. Another demographic where hobbies tend to differ is in the different age groups. Gardening is very popular among the older folks while radio controlled racing is more popular amongst the young. Children spend more time swimming than they do cooking. Adults spend more time cooking than they do swimming. The same thing applies to paintball, snowboarding, skateboarding, and Saturday morning cartoons. Now that I have money I can actually buy things to entertain myself. Rather than pretending to ride a dirt bike I can actually get one.