Wanted: brass caster. (for working GG1 pans)

[Hiroe]

The Kato GG1's are awesome. Great runners, crisp detail, perfectly incorrect fonts. Only one problem: the base and shoe of the pans are plastic parts. I want to run mine off the wire; but no one makes a regularly-available proper length working PRR/Westinghouse pantograph.

I immediately thought of an old project by a friend who I haven't seen in a few years, where one of his friends had used plastic models for the "lost" part of brass casting. It was so good, you could actually read the lettering on the side of the brass casting, that had been painted on the plastic model. Could this same technique (or one similar) be applied to the plastic parts of the Kato pans? I can work up a functional spring arrangement no problem, once the plastic parts are replaced.

So: Who all is capable of doing such work (the brass recasting part), and what's it going to cost?

--Drew

[PGE_Modeller]

No idea what the cost would be, but one option would be to check the Yellow Pages for custom jewellers in your area.  Many of them will use investment (lost wax) casting in the production of their items.  I would also check for night school or community college courses in jewellery making and see if the instructors for the courses could provide you with any local leads.  Investment casting is not beyond the scope of jewellery hobbyists.

Cheers,
Greg Kennelly
Burnaby, BC

[jmlaboda - RIP]

http://teamsavage.com/ncat/keithspanspoles.html

[Hiroe]

but no one makes a regularly-available proper length working PRR/Westinghouse pantograph.

I do appreciate the pointer; but I've been aware of those for some time. Similarly, I can get working box pans from Sommerfeldt; but they're still all too short.

[Nato]

   Just a quick question. I don't have one here to look at so does anyone know,were the Pans on the old Arnold Rapido GG1's plastic or metal? How accurate were they? Nate Goodman (Nato).Salt Lake, Utah.

[Hiroe]

The Arnold/Rapido GG1 pans were metal, and they worked. Also too small; but I do have a stock of about a dozen of these. If altering the kato pan does not work out, then these are my backup plan.