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Repro 72 510 SSS Grille & Supersonic badges


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I have an opportunity to reproduce the 1972 510/GL grill. I have recently come across a well loved but still useable one that I have been rehabbing. The plan is to recast it and make a set of molds to pop out new plastic parts. The center metal section is a little harder, if I can fined enough people that are interested I may have a local fab shop that can restamp a limited run for me. The price will be based on how many I have them make, of cores the more there are the less it will cost for each. My other option is to mold them out of plastic as well, which may not be such a bad idea considering they wont get dinged up from rocks and such. This is going to involve a sizable investment on my part,  so before I dump many hundreds of dollars into materials I'd like to know if there is even a market for them. Any one that may be interested please let me know. Keep in mined the headlight bezels should be a direct replacement if you only need that part. I have some pics of a practices mold I did in plaster that turned out to be an epic Fail because the part stuck and I had to chip it apart to get it out. the production molds will be much more manageable.

 

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I would think there would be a great market for these. I personally would have no problem rocking a knock off on my car as long as the price was considerably lower than the real ones. There will be haters too, but look at the "fake" wheels market. Some people don't mind fair priced knock offs, some people will spend more to get the real thing. Any idea what pricing will be?

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I would think there would be a great market for these. I personally would have no problem rocking a knock off on my car as long as the price was considerably lower than the real ones. There will be haters too, but look at the "fake" wheels market. Some people don't mind fair priced knock offs, some people will spend more to get the real thing. Any idea what pricing will be?

 

 

Cant avoid the haters nowadays, everyone gets to have a voice. ;)

 

The price will be contingent on what it takes in time and materials, but I'm really hoping to keep them to well under $500. 

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I think even on this site, $500 is going to be tough. That price is well over the price for any other grille other than a real plastic one and the '69 SSS Coupe grille. I know its about a 3rd of the price of the real thing, but its still high. 

 

I wish you luck though... looks like youre going about making them the correct way.

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The next time you run a plaster check trial spray the mold with PAM, costs less than formal release agent and you can cook with the left overs.

Thanks for the tip, I used some old mold release I had from years ago and apparently it had lost its effect.

 

 Will you be painting/detailing them or sold in the raw?

It all comes down to how much they end up costing to make. I will probably coat them with a plastic compatible primer and let the buyer finish them how they like.

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I like those grilles, but they are too expensive for the different look they provide.

I personally would not care if it was a repro or not. The car did not originally come with it anyway, so it would not be original even if it was a Nissan part.

 

I think they would sell ok since we are all wanting repro parts

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I have an update on the progress, I abandoned the plaster idea and have gone with a silicone rubber compound that seems to be doing the trick. this stuff is really cool, not cheap but it works amazing at reproducing fine details. I have the bezel molds made and have done an initial test cast. The casting resin I picked up at Tap is a little brittle for a finished part so I have ordered some heat resistant resin thats better suited for thin cast parts. The pic below is the first test piece I poured tonight, I'm letting it cool and harden in the mold overnight so the part wont deform. I'll post some pics tomorrow when I pop it out.

 

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I have an update on the progress, I abandoned the plaster idea and have gone with a silicone rubber compound that seems to be doing the trick. this stuff is really cool, not cheap but it works amazing at reproducing fine details. I have the bezel molds made and have done an initial test cast. The casting resin I picked up at Tap is a little brittle for a finished part so I have ordered some heat resistant resin thats better suited for thin cast parts. The pic below is the first test piece I poured tonight, I'm letting it cool and harden in the mold overnight so the part wont deform. I'll post some pics tomorrow when I pop it out.

 

IMG_0718.jpg

 

Nice work. I'm using the same resin from Tap. I've had good luck lately by embedding fine steel wire from steel wool into the thin cast parts, you can also use chopped fill material to improve strength.  Although, there are other better resins available. This resin also dyes quite well, and I've noticed the black parts seem to look better then the off white default color.

 

Also for thin parts, removing them while still slightly set (15-20) minutes sometimes works better, as they are more flexible and more likely to bend rather than break as removed from the mold. You do have to be careful not to distort them.

 

For instance the Coupe badges have a nasty tendency to break at the base of the C, the wire seems to prevent this. This is a black dyed wire reinforced thin casting with the same resin.

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I would think there would be a great market for these. I personally would have no problem rocking a knock off on my car as long as the price was considerably lower than the real ones. There will be haters too, but look at the "fake" wheels market. Some people don't mind fair priced knock offs, some people will spend more to get the real thing. Any idea what pricing will be?

 

 

I wouldnt call this a knock off, Id call it an aftermarket replacement part lol :P

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