Paul, on the casting thickness you need to consult some of the Boeing casting 
engineers. They won a prize sponsored by the American Foundry Society. 
They designed a new support for the fan housing of the 737. It replaces 
a bunch of parts of course but the part I found interesting is that they 
have used wall thicknesses as low as .08 inches. Thats right EIGHT HUNDREDTHS 
of an INCH! I thought they had a misprint so I checked. Probably some million 
dollar mold. Not pratcial for us, but interesting anyway. Makes sweating to 
get 4mm (.160in for the metrically challenged) seem trivial by comparison.
They are using D357 as a material. Amazing really.
Bill Jepson
P.S. George, don't feel feel bad since they probably took 2 years 
to design the mold. And charged a zillion dollars for it!

 
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