John Stengel JR. Figure Project

20 Responses to John Stengel JR. Figure Project

1. Don Perkins says:

   May 26, 2015 at 12:18 PM

   Too bad. At Indy, John Jr. was projecting “maybe by the time of OTSN”, but if you listened closely to what he was saying, it was apparent that the technical difficulties of the production process problems had not yet been solved, and that any time projections for actual production release dates were based on “hope”.

   John also stated (to a group of 4 or 5 of us, so I don’t think I’m divulging confidential information) that he had to date invested $28,000 in the project. This certainly gave me some insight as to why new production prices these days have to be as high as they are.

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2. ed borris says:

   May 26, 2015 at 3:00 PM

   I thought he might make it as when I talked to him he thought he had the process down about 95% or so he said, he had a few more ideas to try so he hoped it would work fairly soon. He did sound optimistic. I figured if he was that close to success it was just a matter of time.

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   • Don Perkins says:

     May 26, 2015 at 3:21 PM

     Sometimes that last 5% can be a killer.

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3. erwin says:

   May 26, 2015 at 3:36 PM

   Base in my experience and that from others; (28 000-if is the correct amount) in the “mentioned figures=sets” is a lot spend(more or less way too much) already for not been done .Hope he can recover it quick !!

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   • Don Perkins says:

     May 26, 2015 at 5:20 PM

     Yes, that’s the problem —- there’s still nothing at this point to show for it, not even a perfected process for going forward.

     I don’t know how John Jr. was calculating his costs — there’s always different ways of figuring costs. If a business is calculating “costs” for purposes of paying taxes, it’s customary to load every conceivable expenditure into your cost load —- even “time”, which realistically has to be computed as well, since “time is money”. Businesses calculate the hours that every employee put into a project, and then pro-rate those hours as part of the annual salaries, and then pro-rate general overhead into the equation as well.

     But I didn’t inquire of John Jr. as to his basis of calculation. Nevertheless, $28,000 was the figure he cited. The sad part is —- still no product, and still no workable process ready to be used. It’s why we have to respect those persons like Nick, Ron Barzso, Classic Toy Soldiers, and you, too, Erin — all those who risk money in this hobby, rather than niggling them to death with a bunch of carping criticisms.

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4. Gary Kuepfert says:

   May 26, 2015 at 7:41 PM

   I talked to John several times at last years OTSN. Cost was never discussed but my general impression was he was doing everything, sculpting, the molds, mixing the plastic. He also said at that time that the problem was getting the plastic mixture correct. When I say mixture that’s my term, I’m not sure of the correct phrase to use but the plastic wasn’t right. At OTSN he was so confidant he thought he would actually have some figures done before the show was over. Wish him luck, but the realist in me says this project is dead in the water.

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5. Mark says:

   May 26, 2015 at 7:55 PM

   I hope John hangs in their and maybe others can give him some constructive ideas or maybe John can get some ideas from the internet,Edison didn’t create the light bulb his first try he also said Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration, sounds like this is a passion of John’s which can help John.

   Good Luck John !

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6. ed borris says:

   May 26, 2015 at 8:08 PM

   I spoke to him for about 45 minutes at Indy. It seemed his main problem was the mix so he could get a good pour that distributes evenly through the mold. He was doing a lot of research and he was trying different methods and he thought he’d get it right fairly soon. He must have run into some setback, I don’t think he’ll give up just regroup.

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7. erwin says:

   May 26, 2015 at 8:38 PM

   He has to be careful in the chemicals that adhere to ,not the plastic component in word=essence. Depending if he is using a synthetic or semi natural=semi organic. That is the trick .
   He better be extremely careful in his personal health care handling all above. Using correct gear, mask and cover. Most modern sold component for mixing today are highly toxic made in industrial lab-the mixing is done by machine=robot-not humans, not very fun to hand/play with unless 100% secured and protected. Effect shows in long way and most time is very lethal and tooo late. I hope and wish he knows it and if not some need to mention it – please.
   PLASTIC is my strong.

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8. Mark says:

   May 27, 2015 at 7:04 AM

   Sounds good Ed !

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9. Brian Johnson says:

   May 27, 2015 at 5:14 PM

   So why doesn’t he just use the same “Plastic” as CTS or Bassevitch or Beau etc used?.Are the formulas for this stuff “Top Secret” or what?!?

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10. erwin says:

    May 27, 2015 at 5:38 PM

    No top secret ,but industrial type definitely=hard to produce using home made mixtures or simple lab work.
    May be he is trying to do his own components as want to do (made in US ) mold/figures. Most above mentioned are Chinese factory made using standard plastic and or PE synthetic type with steel mold .
    EB is using limited run mold with Hard PE and semi organic fiber type XLPE.He may try last if like but I don’t know if it work for type of pressure air mold press machine using. No idea what machinery he is using to do the press. I’m only guessing.

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11. ed borris says:

    May 27, 2015 at 8:14 PM

    He’s trying to pour his own liquid plastic resin. I think everything is hand poured, no machine.

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    • erwin says:

      May 27, 2015 at 9:43 PM

      Thank you ED for the update, I will assume is a non synthetic resin!?.But may be not. Now hand poured works very easy on lead and soft metal ,but resin and plastic is a pain because of temp difference make the bubble effect take a big gap and if not enough air scape in mold versus pressure equal amount per scape line it may not work properly. I hope he could come with solution one day

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12. Brian Johnson says:

    May 27, 2015 at 10:23 PM

    Well I hope it’s not the same Resin as Barszo uses.

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13. ed borris says:

    May 28, 2015 at 8:05 AM

    Yep, that’s the problem he is having, bubbles or not filling the mold properly. That’s why he was trying all kinds of different mixes and gimmicks to get the pour to flow properly through out the mold.

    From what I’ve seen the resin is much harder than the Barzso resin, at least it’s not as fragile.

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    • erwin says:

      May 28, 2015 at 8:34 PM

      Ed have you seen a sample in your hands!?,not to doubt your words at all, is out of curiosity! Please.
      If so could you describe if possible density(weight) and smell. I know sound rare -odd question;but will tell me type of resin right away.

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14. Mark says:

    May 28, 2015 at 6:41 PM

    Ive heard of people doing casting in a vacum or doing the opposite and casting in a pressure chamber,maybe turning the mold while casting could help also possibly brushing the molds with liquid resin then closing the mold and then pouring might help also maybe carving or molding vents to help the air escape the model might also help ?

    Mark

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15. erwin says:

    May 28, 2015 at 8:29 PM

    All that help definitely if hand pressed, but extend the production time and required a lot skill too plus practice( waste some good quantities of samples) before learning.
    Turning mold help more in soft liquid metal with low temperature and slow cooling such as “pure” lead and gold base in my experience. Once again use good industrial mask when handling metal to avoid cancer and for plastic to avoid lung fast disease-no cancer type, please. I had seen horrible end on people working with this.

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16. ed borris says:

    May 29, 2015 at 7:20 AM

    Yeah I’ve held some of his earlier figures prototypes and they were a rather stiff plastic. They have a dense feeling to them, it takes quite a bit of pressure to break them, the main parts of the figures anyway, not so much the weapons. In other words it take a lot to break them off their stand. They were similar to the figures made by Plastic Underground in feel or Greg’s re-cast of the Timmee Russians. I didn’t smell them, which wouldn’t matter much anyway since my sense of smell is diminished, bad allergies and boxing.

    Reply

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