This photo illustrates a casting still hot and smouldering in its box. The top half of the box has been removed allowing it to cool. The trophy illustrate was first made in expanded polystyrene, packed in the steel foundry box, and then the molten bronze was poured in through a special runner system. As the metal melts the polystyrene, the metal and hot gasses hold the loose sand in the position of the original polystyrene mould.

After the casting has cooled, the bronze runner system is cut off, the casting is sand blasted, machined, de burred, and hand polished. The polish residue is then removed by a special process and the casting can then be chrome or gold plated if required. One of the big advantages of gold plating, is that castings need the minimum of cleaning to keep their luster.