well in our hyper modern times where everyone worships the digital wonder machines ,we very often forget that in the good old days they did not have 3d printing or any other RPT machinery ..... they built many things by hand...so they did with casting molds.
and you are right this simple deadheads can be made very easy and even cheaper as RPT.

i was working in a design agency for 10years as modelmaker...in the first years when i was working there we had no 3D print or cnc milling machines...we did it all by hand..clay moddeling, negative molds,fiber glas lay ups,etc,etc...and during the years we bought 3-axis milling machine,3D printer,laser scanner, this and that ...all very nice and cool stuff.....we got used to the comfort of clicking a button...et voila we had the super precise thing in hands....

one day i compared the costs for a complete show model back in 1995 and the costs for a similar one built in 2006...guess what...the production cost went up by 300%...
o.k the precision has increased but not by 300%
the benefit of the capability of producing components faster was eaten up by :...OH we have the high end machines,they do it all so quick..lets try a slightly different design ....


not saying all that modern stuff is bad but i totally agree whith ghandi.