gauge 1 castings

[abby]

Hi to all G1 members , thought you might be interested in my most recent castings for my G1 5MT , these are to scale lost wax castings and require very little finishing , compare to the typical sand casting in foreground.

the castings can be made in brass or gun-metal.

[ace]

Hi abby

Great castings, have you cleaned these up or is that what they look like fresh from the mold.

Its pretty quiet on the G1 section at present, I was begining to think it was just me building gauge 1.

Still plodding away on my V2.


ace

[abby]

Ace the castings have had the sprues taken off and a rub with emery cloth , that's about all , I am pretty well advanced with the 5MT and the DOT castings are now complete so I have started an IC project to produce castings for an 8 cylinder vee aircraft engine. I was hoping to start on my railway this summer , I have cleared some of the ground but need some more income to do much more.

[ace]

How difficult is it to cast such parts. I would love to have a go at casting some parts but feared it would cost a packet to do it from scratch. My track has for now been put on hold as I been told that the V2 won't run on the same tight track as my Project loco will so I am looking at redoing the curves at bit bigger, room permitting.

[abby]

Ace it is not difficult although you need quite a lot of equipment , take a look at my website
www.unionsteam.co.uk
the gallery shows the whole process.
The biggest expense is in patterns and moulds or dies for making the wax patterns , one for every casting. I am gradually changing over to rapid prototyped master patterns , as this is becoming much cheaper and the quality is improving. Instead of hours of working in the shed making a pattern I can sit in comfort at my computer and make a 3D cad model , email it and get the patterns back by post , certainly beats winter days in the workshop!