Homemade equipment, tools and devices

 

The section below is meant only for the brave of heart and apt at handwork!
 You will find descriptions of various devices and contraptions intended for model-making enthusiasts, and especially for those creating moulds and performing metal or plastic casting. These technologies are vast domains on their own, and completely impossible to cover entirely. Then again, one should not try to compete on that with Google. So here were are going to limit our focus to the DIY equipment, tools and appliances.
 Of course, you can buy (almost) everything ready-made in stores now. For me, however, it is deeply sad to see the prevailing trend for cost-cutting in the designs of the widespread products. High quality equipment, on the other hand, is disproportionally expensive. By designing and building yourself you get precisely what you want.
 In the Soviet times, procuring the right tools was extremely hard, next to impossible. Everyone improvised a lot. This is how these somewhat monstrous devices came to existence. To their defence, however, one must mention that they actually work!
 I will not exhaust you with this long introduction, but I need to warn that the descriptions will not explain or teach what can be done with the equipment. Fundamentals of the technology are available in books and on the web elsewhere. The descriptions here are for those who already know the purpose of the tools. But a curious newbie will figure it out too.
 P.S. Of course, I realize that implementing the exact same designs would often be impractical (because of different available materials etc). But one can always create a modified version, as long as the idea is understood.