F-18 knobs, levers, etc

So Greekbull and I went in together and bought out the owner of hornetstore.com. We are now the owners of molds made from real f-18 parts. Everything from the hook and gear handles to radio knobs.

They just arrived today. Super excited!

No F-18C UFC, only an E but the rest are the same for both models.

Starting this thread just to show pics as we figure out how to use these things.

We do plan to sell the parts made from them, but we have no idea yet on prices, quantities, etc. Once we get that figured out I will post down in the for sale thread.

Pics below of the molds.

Sage

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Awesome guys. Great news and congratulations. When you have it all figured make sure to post a link to that thread and or a website here as well.

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Thanks Elmo. We're pretty excited. I will post sale info for sure. First we have to learn how to make'em. :) We are both doing pits, mine is not switch for switch as I went VR but it will be nice to have some cool looking panels. Greek is leaning towards a full build as he is a pixel whore and can't give up his 4k for VR. :)

He just got the molds, but I think he is going to try out a few test runs this weekend. I'm sure he'll post pics.

Sage

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Congratulations on the purchase SageOT and Greekbull :thumbup:

Looking forward seeing the stuff you guys will produce. All the best of luck to your business. I am certain you get a lot of work once the Hornet to show up in DCS a little later. Perfect timing Gents.

Cheers

Hans

Interesting! Best of luck on your pits and business. Looking forward to seeing both.

Hoosier Hello,

Are they wood or Aluminium? Looks like you will some exterior clamps to hold the together and did the guy you bought them off say what kind of material they are designed for?

I want an F-18 pit so will be watching!

Good luck guys.

Are they wood or Aluminium? Looks like you will some exterior clamps to hold the together and did the guy you bought them off say what kind of material they are designed for?

 

I want an F-18 pit so will be watching!

 

Good luck guys.

Short answer.... I can't remember what they are made out of, but they're heavy. Yes to the rest, but I don't know the details.

I'll have to let Greek give you the long answer. We're in different states and they got shipped to him first.

Sorry, for the lack of details. Probably got a little ahead of myself posting, but I was excited. :) I'm sure Greek will post in here soon.

They are like a silicone mold material.

So finally got around to making a couple of test knobs. They look like S I know. :) Didn't even hardly try to reduce the bubbles or mess with dye yet. Just wanted to do a couple to see what they looked like.

Turns out there are flight stick parts in there too. Didn't even know that. Pretty sure that's a castle and A2A weapons select at the end.

Looks good man.

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What are you pricing everything out at

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No clue. :) Long story short-ish. I'm moving next month. Won't be settled into a new place until April. I'm going to do my best to make a full run before the move. Then we will at least know how much a run costs, resin-wise. If I can't get to it before I head out then it will be a couple months before we can lock down prices. We have a -guess- right now... only a guess.... $130-160 for a full set. $20-40 for a standalone of the gear, hook, wing fold, or rudder trim. I also still need to look at the screen shots of ED's 18 and make sure I have all the knobs covered in what we got. Would hate to offer a "full pit" then be short something.

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Hey SageOT, Have you got your production underway? I see hornetstore.com is parked.

I think they might have gone out of business.

I think they might have gone out of business.

The original business did. Sage bought it out, but hasn't had the opportunity to get production started due to day job.

The original business did. Sage bought it out, but hasn't had the opportunity to get production started due to day job.

They should keep in mind that rubber molds have a shelf life, as well as a 'library' life. Shelf life is how long the rubber lasts sitting on the shelf (ozone and UV are the enemy). Library life is how many pours you get before the molds stsrt getting ragged due to chemical interaction.

I can already see discoloring from having several pours done, which means they won't be good much longer and a new set will need to be made and if it's not done before parts start looking jacked all is lost. I use platinum silicone with urethane resin and am lucky if I get more than 20 pours before molds are a lost cause.

Personally in this situation (I cast resin flight grips) once I dial in a mold I 'download a hard copy'... meaning I make a perfect negative of the mold using tough pattern making material with super low shrink like Smooth-Cast 385. That way once the silicone ages or a critical nub breaks off, I can easily pour a new mold halves without having to fully set up the mold (risers, sprues, vents, locks, plugs, parting lines, etc), which takes a whole lot longer and can be quite frustrating.

IMO those backup negatives are the real molds, the rubber tooling for making end use parts are fragile, temporary, and disposable and need to be treated as such or else the project will be short lived.

It would be nice if we could purchase these.

What ever happened to these mounts and/or plans to sell the knobs etc?

Thanks