[Milsurplus] Amoral Conversions v. reproductions

[J. Forster]

With modern CMMs (Coordinate Measuring Machines)  getting the drawings into CAD
would be quite easy. (They were designed for easy production with non-NC
machines remember.) From there, making a reproduction by machining would be
fairly straight forward. If the thing were to be die cast, the molds would be
quite expensive though. I'd guess in the $20K plus range. It takes a lot of
units to amortize that.

IMO, the best option for small production runs would be to make molds out of
silicone rubber and then use an epoxy or similar compound filled with a mineral
powder to provide some 'heft'.  Even these cases could well cost $50 to $100
ea.  in quantities of 50 to 100.

Would re-enactors pay $250 for a non original radio? I don't know, but I suspect
that it'd be cheaper to buy and gut surplus units. Which is where we started.

There is a lot of money out there for para stuff BTW.  The Eureka beacons,
perhaps the 'holy grail' of para radio stuff, typically go for $8500 for a PPN-1
and $2800 for a PPN-2 on eBay.

-John



Bob Camp wrote:

> Hi
>
> I suspect that if you had enough time all the drawings on the case
> parts are out there *somewhere*. Of course it might take a lifetime to
> find them....
>
> With the drawings and a buddy in the Third World you probably could
> make parts for both the replacement and copy market.
>
> Food for thought ....
>
>         Bob Camp
>         KB8TQ
>