Hi Scott,
Yes, those are very nice blocks, with the originals carved by Matt Mueller...a local fella. They were manufactured right here in Mt. Clemens/Clinton township. The fellas also owned the North Channel Brewing Company as well. Great bunch of guys. They were originally making them for themselves just to gun over and use up some of their regrind plastic from their automotive manufacturing operation. The regrind thing was their downfall though. The plastic wouldn't hold paint. They were actually using FME but the surface wasn't prepped right and the paint just fell off at times.
I had some in here and dropped them in lacquer thinner and the paint just slid off....except for the head. No matter what I did, it stuck there. That was more than likely due to their mix of plastic and that part of the mold was shot with some virgin plastic mixed in with the regrind.
They never solved the paint sticking thing and shut down the operation several years ago.
Some of the birds can be made to hold paint by sand blasting them or sanding with rough paper. Other birds needed to be flame etched to get paint to stick.
The big trouble with regrind is that when that plastic is ground up, it's also got all that mold release ground in with it as well.
It's a shame......great blocks.
Matt has been in here several times and has also been over to our Flats Show before. Very talented fella.
Later partner,
Lou
