On a different forum I came across this link to a design study about the Track Shoes on the Shuttle Transporter:
http://www.sfsa.org/tutorials/nasact.../TrackShoe.pdf
This was interesting enough but the most intriguing part, to me anyway, is described on pages 14, 15 and 16.
The molds for casting the new shoes were made using a technique I had never heard about before, here is an excerpt describing it:
V-Process Molding
The V-Process uses a strong vacuum applied to freeflowing, dry, unbonded sand around patterns in airtight flasks.
The process uses a specially designed, strong, highly flexible polymer film to seal the open ends of the sand mold and form the mold cavity.
The vacuum inside the mold results in a net pressure pushing in, holding the sand rigidly in the shape of the pattern, even after the pattern is removed.
I Googled and found this link:
http://www.robertssinto.com/vprocess.htm
I think this process could have tremendous potential for hobby casting and small scale production. Although you might run into patent problems using it for production if it has been patented.