Friulmodel closing

[Allen Dewire]

Morn all from Valkenwaardseweg 44 in NL,

A quick note to let you know that Friul has a new owner and will continue to produce metal tracks. I had a good talk with Giuseppe at the show and will fill you in when I get home later today...

Prost
Allen

[Tim Marlow]

White metal is lead free these days and has been for a good couple of decades. The model soldier market (probably the largest user of white metal castings these days) has been geared that way for a long time now, and this is no different. One of the reasons is that in countries like the US it’s illegal to sell castings with lead content, so if you want a wider market you have to comply with the laws in your target countries.
White metal moulds are made of hard rubber and are used in centrifugal casting machines. These track links will be made in exactly the same way. The moulds wear quite quickly and are regularly replaced by recasting using a set of masters. It is old technology, but it is still viable and does not need replacing with 3D printing unless the commercial costs drive the change. New products may well be 3D printed though as the design and manufact processes are much closer integrated these days.

This shows the process…

https://fosscalemodels.com/blogs/news/casting-metal-parts

It’s a very low waste process. All the sprue gate material can be put back in the melting pot and used for the next pour, so only the metal used for the actual part is sold on.

Here’s one in action…..

[Guest]

A quick note to let you know that Friul has a new owner and will continue to produce metal tracks. I had a good talk with Giuseppe at the show

I saw the stand, but didn’t really spend much time there as, like I said before, metal tracks are not my thing. Related, though, Graham at Resicast told me that there is “nothing official yet” (his words) about whether or not that company will keep going … at least that’s not “no” so I guess there’s hope.

[Dave Ward]

It is old technology,

I remember attending a talk at an IPMS meeting by John Adams of Aeroclub. He showed various moulds from the centrifugal castings - Aeroclub produced loads of 1/72 & 1/48 aircraft accessories in white metal, wheels, engines, propellors, guns, seats etc etc - This must have been in the mid-80's, so, over 35 years ago.................
Dave

[JR]

Lead has been rarely used in casting model parts in the last couple of decades, so I’m assuming the Friul tracks are cast in pewter or similar instead.

White metal is lead free these days and has been for a good couple of decades. The model soldier market (probably the largest user of white metal castings these days) has been geared that way for a long time now, and this is no different. One of the reasons is that in countries like the US it’s illegal to sell castings with lead content, so if you want a wider market you have to comply with the laws in your target countries.
White metal moulds are made of hard rubber and are used in centrifugal casting machines. These track links will be made in exactly the same way. The moulds wear quite quickly and are regularly replaced by recasting using a set of masters. It is old technology, but it is still viable and does not need replacing with 3D printing unless the commercial costs drive the change. New products may well be 3D printed though as the design and manufact processes are much closer integrated these days.

This shows the process…

https://fosscalemodels.com/blogs/news/casting-metal-parts

It’s a very low waste process. All the sprue gate material can be put back in the melting pot and used for the next pour, so only the metal used for the actual part is sold on.

Here’s one in action…..

This is on the back of Fruil boxes


may be in their case its still used. Wouldn't put it on if it wasn't included ?

[Tim Marlow]

I remember attending a talk at an IPMS meeting by John Adams of Aeroclub. He showed various moulds from the centrifugal castings - Aeroclub produced loads of 1/72 & 1/48 aircraft accessories in white metal, wheels, engines, propellors, guns, seats etc etc - This must have been in the mid-80's, so, over 35 years ago.................
Dave

Minifigs, Hinchcliffe, Wills, Bec, Finecast and others were all active in this field at least twenty years before that Dave. Scratchbuilding the basic shape in plasticard and using white metal castings to decorate them was standard practice for railway modelling from the sixties until very recently. It was taken from jewellery manufacturers techniques, as was brass lost wax casting which seems to have disappeared around the 1980s.

[Tim Marlow]

This is on the back of Fruil boxes

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1210890[/ATTACH]
may be in their case its still used. Wouldn't put it on if it wasn't included ?

Quite strange John. Perhaps they only sell in Europe? Figure manufacturers went lead free years ago, about the same time it was taken out of petrol and paint.

[Gary MacKenzie]

This is on the back of Fruil boxes

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1210890[/ATTACH]
may be in their case its still used. Wouldn't put it on if it wasn't included ?

Thanks John.

[rtfoe]

Or they forgot to reprint the back label. :smiling6:

Cheers,
Wabble

[Tim Marlow]

Or they forgot to reprint the back label. :smiling6:

Cheers,
Wabble

Might actually be really old stock…….some set’s probably don’t sell much….

[rtfoe]

Might actually be really old stock…….some set’s probably don’t sell much….

John old boy, you've been buying aged stock or perhaps another reason could be being a small cottage industry, every penny spent is used. There must be access minimum bulk prints of the label that needed finishing before the next order. In our parts nobody reads the label fine print unless something bad happens and then we go back to the usual until the next mishap.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Allen Dewire]

Evening guys,

Great discussion going on and I can only say that the firm is in new hands and will continue. I was going to go into detail a bit, but have decided not too, mainly as I don't want to step on the new owners toes. He has plans and they seem sound and should be good for the EU, maybe the Insel and maybe the world too. I will say that Giuseppe is retiring at the tender age of Seven-Oh and wants to relax his aging bones, sit on his terrace in his lounger and sip a nice glass of red wine. He did have a few medical problems and is doing much better now. He just wants enjoy his retirement without any stress or worries...

I will let the new owner post up any news on the website or social media, himself...As to them being out-dated, as Dave said...This may be very true, but the weight of the metal tracks on a finished model, along with the look of real metal sag, can't be beat! (in my opinion), and they are still price worthy against 3D printed types...

As to the dangers of any lead? content in the manufacturing...I can't say, but I have never heard of anyone getting ill or dying from using them...Hell, I'm still alive (just getting old) and never had any ill effects from them...

In closing, I can only say Giuseppe will be missed at model shows and I will miss our wild and crazy conversations too!!!.........

Prost auf G.P. in his retirement
Allen

[Tim Marlow]

As to the dangers of any lead? content in the manufacturing...I can't say, but I have never heard of anyone getting ill or dying from using them...Hell, I'm still alive (just getting old) and never had any ill effects from them...

Agree totally about the lead issue. As long as you carry out the usual hygiene procedures such as washing your hands after handling white metal there will be no issues.

I remember one of the model rail parts companies used to have a warning on the box that went something like this…..

“This product contains traces of lead. If the product is melted down, cast into bullets, and then fired from a gun at somebody then serious injury may result.”

Sums up the issue from a hobbyist perspective really. Unless you file and drill this stuff for many hours at a time every day the chances of you getting lead poisoning are about the same as getting shot by your model.

[Guest]

getting shot by your model.

So … don’t let American airport security people on to the fact you have white-metal tracks on the model you’re bringing onto the plane? (In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, there were reports of modellers travelling to competitions being denied entry onto aircraft because they were carrying figures that had swords etc., “which could be used as weapons.” 54 mm figures, so “swords” of at most a few centimetres long and made of material that will bend or break if you breathe on it wrong. Even sillier, some were apparently stopped because the figures had guns …)

[Neil Merryweather]

Minifigs, Hinchcliffe, Wills, Bec, Finecast and others were all active in this field at least twenty years before that Dave. Scratchbuilding the basic shape in plasticard and using white metal castings to decorate them was standard practice for railway modelling from the sixties until very recently. It was taken from jewellery manufacturers techniques, as was brass lost wax casting which seems to have disappeared around the 1980s.

The lost wax process is still very much in use in the jewelry trade, it's just that the masters are now 3D printed in wax, and we have this, amongst other areas, to thank for the cheap fine detail 3D printers available to us amateurs