I’m sure that many of you remember the vulcanized asbestos gasket material that was so widely used for model engine head gaskets during the “classic” era. However, that material has long been unavailable now, due mainly I think to quite legitimate health concerns relating to asbestos. Some of us laid in a stock while it was still available, but that’s mostly gone now. I’m almost out myself.

The question is – has anyone out there found a suitable alternative material?  The old vulcanized asbestos sheet material was particularly good at sealing large surfaces having slight irregularities – typical of the cylinder/head interface on many engines.  Is there an alternative material that works as well??  Please post here if you have any suggestions!

I’m writing an article which mentions the Mills replicas and other engines manufactured in Calcutta, India by the Aurora Model Manufacturing company  (Suresh Kumar). Does anyone out there know for certain when these engines first appeared? I know that it was in the 1970’s, but the exact year of their introduction would be helpful.

Thanks for looking!