Friday, July 5, 2019
Vac U Form Catalog ('62) Mattel
The only thing I have left remaining from my 1962 Mattel Vac U Form is the fun little catalog booklet showcasing the many fun things you can make with the various other mold kits. And to be honest, I don't remember actually ever even making any of this stuff (now Shrinky Dinks and Vincent Price Shrunken Heads is another subject!), but if I did, I suspect I would've been most interested in the cars, medals, animals, and especially the disguises.
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6 comments:
The page mentioning cars and trucks made me wonder if Vac-U-Form was the prototype for modern 3 D printing.
I never had this one at all. I don't even know how it works (although I'm sure YouTube is going to tell me here in a minute). I certainly would have been combining as many elements as possible to make crazy Frankenstein cars to use as player pieces in some Mad Max-like apocalypse war game. Though I can see really getting into making all the letters I'd need for Dada projects in art class, too.
Good point, JMR!
Some of those jewelry pieces seem pretty neat... I think Mr C should definitely get started on some Frankenstein Monster Car Jewelry
Oh yeah! Somebody's gotta be the Sherff of Bartertown.
Mr. Cavin, the machine works by warming a sheet of plastic over a master object. The vacuum pulls the pliable sheet over the master, and then the formed sheet is taken off and the now-molded object is cut out.
These things were very popular in the scale model community for making modified parts or multiple replicas for home projects. Since most aftermarket detail stuff now is either cast resin or photoetched metal, vac-formed items aren't as popular.
Vac-formed kits are still around, too, but with the same drop off in popularity. They were more intricate and fiddly compared to standard injection-molded kits, but then most subjects covered by vac-form makers wouldn't have been economically feasible for the likes of Monogram, Revell, Airfix, et.al. Research planes like the X-4 Bantam, or Fairey Delta 2; or esoteric warplanes like the CAC Boomerang, F7U Cutlass, or FR-1 Fireball.
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