1/8" Patrol/Companion Cap Strip Group Buy in MD/VA/SE PA/DE?

[SpruceForest]

This might be something better placed in classifieds, but my fellow local Patrol builder Carlo is seeing at least a two month delay from Spruce in 1/8" x 1" cap strip material for his Patrol. The option to mill the strips from 4' x 12' sheet stock is worth exploring, but only when the excess cap strip material can go towards another builder's needs.

My ask: Do we have anyone here that needs 1/8" cap strip material within driving distance of Frederick MD (KFDK) that wants to discuss a group buy? With two in the group, capstrip price drops to a bit under the cost of the 1 x 1/8" material delivered (about $400 each, or a $100 saving), and with three, pricing ends up at about $267 delivered to KFDK. The material would be milled up in Germantown at my shop using my cabinet saw, so no additional processing costs incurred.

Please PM if this buy is something in which you might be interested.

[Rob]

Wicks shows 1/8” x 1” in stock.

[Ed Welfred]

If you are really stuck I have a half 4X12 sheet left but it's at the Waterloo Ontario Canada airport (cykf). Thats an 8 hour drive from you.

[SpruceForest]

Grew up in Buffalo... made that drive over the peace bridge many a time (or walked!)... thanks for the offer and will pass it on to Carlo. If he ends up getting a flight up that way, it may work.

[SpruceForest]

Not sure he checked Wicks, but from what I can see, cap strip material from Wicks is triple what I paid from Spruce just 18 months ago... wow! Looks like with shipping, he's likely better off just sourcing the sheet aluminum and holding the excess. For reference, I paid $2.23 per foot in June of 2022; now $5.75 from Spruce and $6.80 from Wicks! Fortunately, everyone's 401K and paycheck has tripled as well.

And that is what I suspect is the actual issue... you can get 3 airplanes worth of cap strips out of one sheet of 1/8", so looking to get cost down to closer to what I paid just a year and a half back seems like a good reason to ask. Have to hope Mark bought up as much in the way of materials as feasible... locking in pricing 12-18 months before delivery of a kit would be a pain pill for the vendor if not.

[SpruceForest]

Carlo pulled the trigger on the 1/8" and 1/16" 4x12 sheets and we will be milling up the material to 1.010" and .760" nominal widths to allow some cleanup after cutting on the cabinet saw. Will post in classified ads when we have the sets milled and broken out, but it looks like 2 additional sets of 1/8" caps and 5 to 6 additional sets of the 1/16" caps (one of which is already spoken for... the uncertainty in number of sets is a blade choice issue).

We hope this can take the edge off the cost and availability crunch for those scratchbuilders that want to avoid an indefinite wait for stock AND get a lower price on the delivered material than the available options. I also suspect that the 1/8" caps saw-cut from sheet stock will be a heck of a lot less beat up than the 1" stock I got from one of the common vendors. Yes - we will be working with a local freight company for shipping via 12' tube... with transport costs through the roof, that will be on a case-by-case basis as to whether it makes sense.

[geraldmorrissey]

Scratches were the biggest issue for me when I ordered my capstrips. I went back and forth with a vendor for months trying to get a shipset of scratch free material. Be extra careful with your material handling, your customers will thank you and you won't get returns.
Gerry
Patrol #30