No more castings! Sorry folks but the cost of brass and bronze castings is just getting beyond a joke, the price of copper has just gone over US$10,200 a ton and will increase by a further 288% in the next few years! This is driven by the electrification of the automobile industry and the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in computing which is placing a huge demand on electricity generation and associated conductive materials like copper!

Cast iron is also becoming far too expensive with the price of coking coal and iron ore at historically high prices AND the reluctance of foundries to do small orders, along with the fact that many foundries have closed in recent times. So what does this mean for model engineers? We cannot afford to keep castings in stock, in future we will assist builders with plans and patterns and advise on possible sources of castings.  Model engineers should be looking to alternative materials and means of manufacture such as CNC machining, water jet cutting and fabrication of parts instead of casting, again we can assist with these services. We still have some castings on the shelf for some models but when they are gone they won't be replaced.

Hobby Mechanics will still be a source of plans, stock materials, fasteners and small tools into the future.