After reading through Sheperd Paine's "Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles" I decided to purchase one of these Mattel Vac-U-Forms. He stated that it is a valuable modeling tool so I thought I would get one and give it a try.



It works great for being around 40 years old.

I made a copy of a Revell B-25 turret just for practice. It turned out pretty good.



I don't know how often I will use it. I thought it would be handy to make copies of hatches and things like that.

I just thought I would share.

HARV

Nice! Did you get a good deal on it?

Well....................................that can be debated I am sure.

I paid $56.00 for it plus shipping. It came in the original box and had the instruction book, a bunch of the original molds, and some of the plastic sheets with it.

Like I said, it works great so I guess it was worth the price.

HARV

Just for your information, about the same time the vac-u-form came out, Mattel had a tool called a spin welder. I can remember the tv comercials for both. The spin welder welded pieces of plastic together. I believe it might be good for reproducing weld seams on tanks.
I've never seen a spin welder in person, just in comercials.
Joe

HARV, yes! That was a very good deal on that. Fully operational in original box and inserts, and in good condition from your picture, a score!

KoSprueOne,
Thanks, I am glad to hear that I made a good purchase. I am anxious to try it out on different things to see how well it will make copies. If nothing else I figure that it will make good resin molds.

Joe,
Thanks for the information. I hadn't ever heard of the spin welder. I will have to go see what I can find out about them.

Thanks guys,

HARV

boy does that bring back memories! i wanted one of those SO bad when i was a kid! can you still get suitable plastic sheets for it? ano way could i imagine a company being able to get away with selling something like that to kids today!

do you remember the similar device that made bugs and other crawling things you could eat after it cooked them? i think it was called the Thing Maker or Incredible Edible machine and the first may have made those rubbery bugs, scorpions, etc.

Harv,

Good deal on getting your Vac-U-Form, I bought one many years ago and have used it to produce quite a number of pieces with it.

Here is a link to a web site you might be interested in called VAC-U-FORM.com. You can find all sorts of things for the Vac-U-Form machines as well as replacement parts and upgrades.

http://www.gaugepods.com/vacuform/index.htm

hth

Cheers,
Thom

Fantastic find. I would love one of these.

Jim,



You can, there are some on eBay and you can also get them at the site that Thom has provided the link to.




My brother and I had one of those. I might be wrong but it seems like my Dad might have used it to make some bugs for fishing tackle. I don't know what happened to it but I am sure it went in the garbage.

Thanks Jim.



Thom,



Thanks Thom and thanks for the link.



Pat,



Thanks Pat. There are several of them available on eBay if you are interested in getting one.

Thanks guys for the replies. I really didn't need a Vac-U-Form but for some reason I just couldn't get it out of my head that I needed one. I guess I can blame Sheperd Paine since I got the idea of getting one from his book "Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles". I don't know how much I will really use it but I have it if I decide to copy something.

Thanks again guys for the replies and good luck with any projects that you are working on.

HARV