Discussion: Metal Kits in N scale

[Mark5]

A resin casting discussion in the Trading Forum (hehe) got me thinking ...

Anyone here remember the Ulrich hopper kits? Some sort of metal castings IIRC.

http://www.ulrichmodels.com/PrevUlrichModels.asp

Anyone here have any experience with that sort of thing (casting metal)?

I'm thinking about getting my hands on one of the old Ulrich kits just to see how it was done.

Mark

[3rdrail]

The Ulrich kits were die cast, which requires a machine similar to those used to die cast plastics. As a matter of fact, there were some plastic kits that were made from metal casting dies.

Now, Red Ball was being run by a retired high school teacher in Roanoke, IN, when I worked for the Erie Western-Chicago & Indiana and I visited the old store where the business was several times. He did his castings on an old linotype machine from the newspaper that once occupied the store. This severely limited the dimensions, requiring "flat kits". This is a much lower cost alternative to die casting.

This is a Red Ball metal kit:

[img width= height=]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_0zcri5mcztg/RmdPkUzEdrI/AAAAAAAABSc/gF3xCqE4XKE/s576/PRR280990-one.jpg[/img]

Note that the line between the wood planks is out and not in.

[TrainCat2]

Anyone here have any experience with that sort of thing (casting metal)?

I'm thinking about getting my hands on one of the old Ulrich kits just to see how it was done.

Mark, do you mean how to make or experience in building ??

If how to make,  I can tell you what I have learned about spin-casting with the first item being that you will need some $$$ for the equipment. The three main pieces are the mold vulcanizer, the your metal pot and the spin-caster itself. If this is what you want to know, I will be happy to get all the info together and put in the Tutorial section.

[Mark5]

Bob,

I doubt if spin casting was used in the Ulrich kits (they are "flat" kits), but I really don't know a dang thing about this.

Gregg,

Interesting use of a linotype machine!

Mark

[sparky]

If how to make,  I can tell you what I have learned about spin-casting with the first item being that you will need some $$$ for the equipment. The three main pieces are the mold vulcanizer, the your metal pot and the spin-caster itself. If this is what you want to know, I will be happy to get all the info together and put in the Tutorial section.

Bob, that's something I would be interested in reading.

[womblenz]

Me Too  Very interested in reading

Cheers Warren

[Walkercolt]

Big problem today is the limited numbers of metals you can use for casting. Everything must be lead-free which creates it's own set of problems. Zinc based metals can be hard to cast without developing cracks with age(look at old Con-Cor frames). Lead-free Britainia Pewter plays games with diamentions as it cools. Most other metals aren't cost-effective or melt at too high a tempature to be do-able. Old Lino-type metal made excellent bullet metal and cast into other things very well too. You can't do that with "toys" now, though I bet most of use grew-up with die-cast "Tootsie Toys" and chewed on them with their lead paint and lead in the metal.