You are not going to find anything that matches the originals, anywhere, because no one rivets anymore, and hasn't for about the last five decades. That's why the solid heavy duty clamps have evolved into a weld on design, which was suggested in the second post to this discussion. I'm sure they would be perfectly adequate for the task, the problem is, they won't be CORRECT. It's kind of the same issue as using vinyl stickers in place of gold leaf lettering.
SLS, Selective Laser Sintering, can make solid metal parts, but not cheaply. The main thrust of the development of that process is mold cavities, which, pound for pound, are some of the most expensive metal parts on earth. As to the other rapid prototyping processes, they are certainly adequate for making foundry patterns, and some materials are usable for "burn out" as investment masters. The main considerations here are cost of the RP masters vs. the savings of not pulling reusable patterns from the sand molds; complex patterns or parts that require multiple cores may well be better done by investment casting.
Rapid Prototyping of a relatively coarse surface finish that is still perfectly adequate as patterns for full size cast iron parts has become a commodity item in recent years, with solid models submitted via the web and automatically quoted at the time of submission. See: http://www.shapeways.com
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