new Product?

[belg]

I found this while surfing and thought maybe someone might find it useful. It seems "close to HO scale" I've posted a question on the site to see if it is available in other sizes and will let you know.

http://linkaworld.com/index.htm

Also some photos of some interesting structures on the site!

 

[60103]

belg:
Linka is OO scale (4mm to 1 foot or 1:76) which makes it 4/3.5 times larger than HO, sort of halfway between HO and S.
I know someone who uses Linka and you can get some realistic looking structures with it.
I thought there was an availability problem a few years ago, but that seems resolved.

 

[shaygetz]

They're great when used for retaining walls like our club layout, where the scale difference doesn't matter. I'd be careful with the buildings though. I have an Airfix British Railways brake van that looks great standing alone but a bit out of place when set next to HO equipment.

 

[belg]

Well it does not look like it was new for some of you and definately wouldn't work for me in N.Still some very nice structure ideas from the photos????????

 

[mhdishere]

Belg,
It might still work for you if you choose your molds carefully. For instance, OO scale bricks could be used for N scale cinderblock.

 

[belg]

I just got the answer to my question of size from the Co.

Thank you for your question. Our moulds are in British HO scale (approximately 1/76). They are suitable for many other scales including 1/87 and 1/72 as well.

 

[Fred_M]

I just ordered all 6 of the brick molds. I love building with plaster and am amased that it's so hard to find nice molds like this. To me this is like getting all the DPM modules I want for $65. $65 won't hardly buy the casting silicon to make your own molds. The doors may be a bit big but I can fix that easily. Thanks for finding this site and sharing.

 

[George D]

Let us know how the molds work out.

 

[scottg28]

I actually picked up 6 of them a month or so ago, and my first attempt produced this log cabin. Like most stuff I think some practice with the mixing plaster and especially breaking them out of the mold at the right time is required. You can tell where the joints are in the picture, getting the linking ends to fit well is not easy at first, they like to break for me. So I am still working out the best way to cover up any little mistakes. I used some golden oak wood stain for a base, then washed it with a dark walnut, which I thought it took real well, just gotta keep the glue off the staining area. Working on a small clapboard building now and thinking about rebuilding the cabin, since I got rid of this one, a chance to see just how much I improved with the stuff. If you have the patience and like the idea of flexible design, this can be a good thing. Oh, and it for sure fits in with HO

 

[Fred_M]

Your cabin looks great. A trick I use to cover up minor flaws is to hide it with vegetation. Another trick is to use spackel as glue. Microwaving plaster after it's demolded makes it dry faster and harder I think (5 min). You can also mix acrylic paint in with your plaster for precolor. I use that Applebarrel brand which costs 40 cents a bottle. For really hard plaster try Durham's Rockhard Water Putty which is yellow but with wood that would be OK.

 

[Fred_M]

I wouldn't redo it.

 

[Fred_M]

REVEIW of BRICK MOLDS

I received the set of 6 brick molds Friday. My first impression upon opening the package was the pieces are small and the bricks are big. All dimensions are approximates using a ruler, so here goes. The castings are 1/8 inch thick and 1 ¼ square. The people doors are 7 foot by 3 foot, pretty good. The individual “bricks” are 5X9. I realize they are sold as OO, but the bricks are closer to O in height and HO in length. The thin size of the castings means they are brittle and easily broken upon demolding. This means slow casting cycles waiting for the plaster to get hard hard. The window and door sections are really fragile and hard to demold; they want to stick on the fine detail. I have broken about 1/3 of the door/windows and about ½ of the really small trim pieces so far. The interlocks seem to fit each other good, but regrettably all the pieces don’t seem to be the same size (see picture). The plus is there are lots of different pieces and I should be able to build some interesting structures if I can ever get enough good pieces cast. The pieces have nice sharp lines, good details, and are fairly flat. The mortar lines are extra deep which will help hide the seams. Multiple stories will require extra work to hide the joints. It takes 1 cup of plaster mix to fill all 6 molds. On the whole I’m not happy with them. I’m sure I can build with them, but it’s not as easy I imagined. It’s one of them wanting is better than having things. Maybe European bricks are different than North American one? I give them a C-. I have buyer remorse.:cry:

 

[Russ Bellinis]

Dash10, for thin pieces I would not use plaster. Use two part resin, it is much stronger. You can get it from Micro Mark, or Bragdon Enterprises.

 

[George D]

Thanks for the review. You probably saved a lot of us the expense of trying the molds ourselves. I guess our options are 1. Carve the bricks ourselves, which is beyond my skill level.
2. Use brick sheets like Plastruct.

Anyone have an option 3?

George

 

[Fred_M]

rebuttal

With all respect to Russ, resin would prob work good, BUT the first sentences in their Product Overveiw reads "Linka is a system of reusable rubber moulds that are used to cast interlocking plaster pieces". That's what I wanted, not resin molds. Option 3 is to talk user philip into making and selling us some molds. I'm going to use these molds because I spent $65 on them. DASH

 

[LinkaWorld]

Our moulds

I'm very sorry you had such a difficult time with our moulds-especially the first time you used them. There are some tips which should produce much greater results.

First, regular plaster of paris (POP) is very brittle, shrinks substantially on drying, and is generally not recommended (although some high-grade types are OK). Instead, try a harder plaster such as Herculite #2 or Hydrocal. You can also use any number of harder, denser, dental plasters too. Dental plasters shrink less and are very hard.

Second, allow a few hours for your castings to dry-the longer the better. I allow mine to dry for 12-18 hours or more. Once completely dry, the pieces can be removed much, much more easily. A common mistake is removing them too soon. Although you can remove them in about an hour, the castings are soft and delicate. Allowing them to "dry up" lets them be at their strongest.

Third, if you are still having trouble removing the pieces, put a small amount of dishwashing liquid in each cavity before you add your plaster. This will help with de-moulding.

Fourth, you mentioned that your pieces are different sizes. Could you elaborate on that? If you are using POP or some other plaster that shrinks, it may appear as though the pieces are different sizes. They are actually all carved to the same dimensions so there will not be a discrepency in their size. Please check the manufacturer's shrinkage claims for your plaster.

Finally, if you are still unsatisfied, please contact me. Linka World has a very generous returns policy. The last thing I want is for anyone to be unhappy because of my products. I think we do a fair job at describing our moulds and the steps involved in casting with Plaster on our Website. Nevertheless, working with plaster (or resin) does involve some extra work that a lot of folks are not prepared for. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
- Richard Purdy
Linka World

 

[Fred_M]

First, I’m sorry you didn’t like my review, but I was being nice. The mold that is causing the most problems isn’t square. This is difficult to see in pictures but it causes the parts cast in it to droop at one end. This can be seen in the original posting I made and can be seen in the mold picture below. Also, the parts vary slightly in overall height as can be seen in the original picture. All were cast in the same lot.

 

[Fred_M]

Also some parts are very thin.

 

[Fred_M]

Also, pieces are not flat as can be seen in this image of a piece I block sanded.

 

[Fred_M]

As to contacting, I emailed you all Monday and haven't recieved a reply? Oh well, your right, it's me, the plaster I'm using, and I'm in too big of hurry. Regards, DASH:thumb: