Mikes Models

They were being distributed by Holt Models of Swansea

"BH Williams" wrote

The last address I had for Mike's Models was also in Swansea, but that was over ten years ago. Shame the 4mm stuff is not being listed.

JOhn.

Holt Model Railway have had the "business" for the last few years. Trouble is, they could not get the stuff made anymore. They have been considering taking the range to china, but dont think there is a big enough demand for the quantities!

Holts still have some of the 4mm range in stock, yu need to ring and speak to Phil.

Simon

"Piemanlager" wrote

You amaze me that they can't get the stuff made in the UK, there seems to be no end of white metal casting places around. Maybe it's the cost of production that's the problem.

Thanks, Si, I'll maybe do that.

John.

The situation as I understand it is that the owners, Holts?, are in dispute with the company that did the casting for them. As is always the case the saleability of all items in a single mould isn't the same as some items sell better than others. The owners wanted to pay for only the items that they wanted whereas the casters wanted them to pay for everything that came from a spin of the mould.

"John Shelley" wrote

Sounds reasonable, but if I were producing castings for anyone I'd be making a flat charge for each spin of the mould plus an additional charge for the net amound of white matal used. In other words I'd accept back (as scrap) any castings they didn't utilise, because as I understand it, white metal can be recycled without too much difficulty.

John.

In message , John Turner writes

Impractical in the real world.

That is not the normal way of operating a white metal casting machine. If the mould is complex and a given number of items only are required from a specific mould, it is extremely easy to throw the unwanted spares immediately back into the pot. This is pretty standard procedure anyway where for example a kit maker runs low on specific items common to several kits but has no wish to fill up his storage bins with the additional items produced in each mould turnout. One of the most time consuming parts of the white metal casting operation and certainly the most expensive is the construction and replacements of the moulds. Done in house this is not to bad but the vacuum machine required and the medium used is still quite expensive, hence the propensity for using the whole of the mould to best effect to maximise investment and live with the liability overhead associated with discarding over production of the surplus items moulded.

This is of course completely at odds with the system normally used for 'cold' resin casting where to a degree exactly the opposite applies.

Cheers.

Yes whitemetal can be fairly easily reused. When I'm spinning my own moulds I just keep what I want and the residue goes straight back into the melting pot. Even if I wanted everything from the spin a lot would go back in as there is the reservoir and all the feed channels.

Your other suggestion sounds so logical, but as not all items cast perfectly each time it is possible that the number of spins would be greater than expected for the result.

It may well be, and this is pure speculation, that the dispute is revolving around delivered items that haven't been paid for and aren't wanted back for credit.

"John Shelley" wrote

But in that case the guy with the casting machine will know roughly the likely success rate of each spin, and will build that factor into his costings.

John.