JoTiKa (Caldercraft) has sold some 200,000 scale replica kits of model ships world-wide. These include more than 1,500 highly accurate and detailed versions of one of the most famous ships of all time — HMS Victory, as she appeared at Trafalgar.

When built, this static model is over 1.4m long, 525mm across the beam and almost 1m high — and weighs some 15kg. Each kit comprises over 9,000 items ready for assembly, including 100 brass cannons that are finish turned on a Citizen CNC sliding-head machine from Bushey-based Citizen Machinery UK Ltd (www.citizenmachinery.co.uk).

JoTiKa is run by father-and-son team John and Richard Wright from a 5,500ft2 facility alongside the family home in Hadzor, near Droitwich. John started to be interested in model engineering at the age of 10. He served his apprenticeship as a radio/TV engineer and was a service engineer for petrol pumps before setting up his model business, which has progressively expanded by complementing his modelling skills with automated production.

The most recent development was the installation of a Citizen Cincom L20E CNC sliding-head turn-mill centre in February last year. This has not only allowed the previously sub-contracted production of brass components to be bought in-house (such as six months’ supply of 20,000 cannons in five different sizes and 100,000 miniature brass stanchions for HMS Victory), but also added the benefit of on-demand in-house production.

The new Citizen is covering the production of items as small as 0.6mm in diameter x 5mm long as well as propeller hubs, water and fuel fittings, collets and couplings up to the machine’s 20mm bar capacity. In addition, parts with multi-operational sequences — including extensive profiling, miniature knurling, threading and cross-hole drilling (down to 0.7mm in diameter) — are now very quickly and precisely machined.

Replacing casting

John Wright says: “The Citizen machine has not only allowed us to increase productivity, accuracy and the level detail, but is also allowing us to design and precisely machine parts out of brass bar that we previously had to centrifugally cast, such as the ship’s minute and very intricate stanchions. Machining from bar has provided substantial savings compared with the cost of white metal and the additional outlay to power a 6kW pot to melt the material. Brass is currently a quarter of the price of white metal — and we can sell back the swarf and bar ends.”

The installation of the Citizen was the final link in JoTiKa’s plans for in-house production — plans that have absorbed over £500,000 in the last two years. The company was set up by John Wright in 1988 to manufacture (under licence) and distribute products throughout Europe from a US company. In 1992, he obtained manufacturing and distribution rights for Caldercraft, the branded name for the model products. There are now over 100 scale static replica ship kits in the range, from Men-of-War to steam yachts and World War II submarines.

JoTiKa initially set up production by installing its own centrifugal casting facility for producing lead and tin fittings. The company next installed a flat-bed CNC router (upgraded to maintain accuracies of 0.01mm) for machining timber components, followed by a laser profiler for the cutting and etching of deck and bulkhead details. Stage three of developing a manufacturing capability saw the installation of injection moulding machines — and the subsequent making of more than 100 different mould tools. To address the lack of plywood suppliers in the UK, the Wrights even installed their own press, allowing them to introduce walnut, mahogany and pear-wood facings.

Change of plans

The Wrights had planned to move into CNC turn-milling in 2017, but the offer of a grant from Worcester County Council allowed them to bring their plans forward with the early installation of the Citizen machine.

Qualifying for the grant meant taking on a full-time operator to run the machine, plus a part-time worker to help with packing and despatch (taking the company’s head count to nine). John Wright said: “The machine has allowed us to achieve our ‘made-to-order’ objective and support our world-wide distributors, in particular those in the USA, Canada, Japan and Australia, as well as throughout the rest of Europe.”

The final decision to buy the Citizen L20E was prompted by the time Citizen engineers spent with Richard Wright explaining the programming and capabilities of the machine, along with its ability to combine operations, despite the fact that he lacked a CNC turning or milling background.

That said, after just nine months, Richard Wright had written no fewer than 86 programs; moreover, the machine is being fully utilised, running 24hr a day, seven days a week. “Cycle times are generally in the range of 40-80sec; and while we never need the high accuracy the machine is capable of — we tend to work to tolerances on brass of 0.01mm — surface finish is our absolute priority. The machine and its tooling achieve a highly stable operation.

“The flexibility we now have is transforming the business, even allowing us to produce special or dedicated parts. Over the next two years, we will add another 100 new parts on the Citizen, parts that we currently import. We will then have a fully stocked warehouse and the Citizen will have paid for itself. We will also have added a further 1,500ft2 to our premises.”