Just one litte question.
It has propably been asked before but I cant find it. What is a "slide mould"? I know it makes better details but what is the difference between this and ordinary moulds?

//Torbjörn

A slide mold has multiple parts that slide at different angles to the two primary mold halves. They allow detail to be imparted on the parts at different angles than the two surfaces of a standard mold does.

I dunno how it works but it works well :-)


Ian

Gino is spot on. Normal molds have two halves. Where they meet is the "parting line." It is the red line in the picture.
So, you want to mold the end of a rifle or gun tube hollow? Well, you can't with a two piece mold because the part would not "draw," that is, come out of the mold.
You have to put a loose piece in the mold, the slide. When you close the mold, the slide is in the "in" position to mold the hollow end of the tube. After the plastic is injected, you pull out the slide and open the mold (in the direction of the blue arrows.) Then you pull out your gun tube with the hollow end.

The gun tube is gray, the "Slide" is the black and white deal on the left.

Bit of an over simplification...

Anywhere on a new DML sprue where you see it jump up, over and back down again around the perimeter is where the slide is in the mold. I will post a picture of what I am talking about when I get home.

Shaun

We have been using multi-piece core boxes in the foundry industry for decades.

Or just look at an MPC, Monogram, or any other car body. The technology has existed for plastic models since at least the sixties, but DML have been the first to capitalize on this "innovation."
That said, It IS cool that they're doing it with armor now.

Bravo,

I completely forgot about the car bodies. There was a picture in FSM some time back that had a picture of some car body tooling. I think it had at least four "slides."
It was really impressive.

Shaun

I dont know what all the fuss is about. Even the simplest moulding for a (full size) car interior can be made on these type of moulds. Some parts can be far more complex than any kit could ever be. These 'cores' are standard on many a tool and are far from a recent invention. Bog standard for many a year.

That explains everything. Now I know what a slide mould is.

Thanks.

//Torbjörn

A pic to demonstrate from Dragons DAK Tiger:




I will point out that not all slides are between the molds. The tow cables ends have the slide go through the center, but the air filter inlet and the muffler guard interior have slides that are comletely in one side of the mold.