apparatus and a process for manufacturing thin walled hollow plastic shells for parts such as automobile door panels , controls and instrument panels from dry thermoplastic powders includes a plurality of powder boxes and an open - ended heated mold . each charge box is carried by an indexable carousel which has a drive motor controlled by a programmable controller to position the carousel to off - load a given color to a powder casting mold carrier which is associated with means for sequentially and continuously preheating a mold ; dumping powder from an off - loaded color box into a heated mold ; curing the cast powder in the mold ; cooling the mold ; and stripping the part from the mold .