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Are Blacksmith still trading (Siphon G)?


MJI
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Coopercraft own these now.

Beware though that lots of people have had issues with mail order. Probably best to give him a call.

 

I know he has the etches normally in stock (always on his stand at exhibitions) but I don;t think the associated castings are available anymore.

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Coopercraft own these now.

Beware though that lots of people have had issues with mail order. Probably best to give him a call.

 

I know he has the etches normally in stock (always on his stand at exhibitions) but I don;t think the associated castings are available anymore.

 

 

Were no castings in my original set

 

I need another )62

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David Geen produces a siphon detailing kit with variations depending on which lot number you want to make, variations include gas lighting, electric lighting. If you email him it is sometimes a while before he replies as he travels a bit either to visit relatives or holidays, I don't have his email address to hand, but it is in one or two threads on here.

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Both Coopercraft and David Geen were at yesterday's RailWells.

 

There is a thread elsewhere that deals in more detail with the problems that people have been having with Coopercraft's misleading website. He had plenty of the various parts available yesterday but almost no complete kits.

 

David Geen is looking to sell up and retire apparently. Worrying that such a comprehensive range of kits might disappear.

Edited by Joseph_Pestell
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Sadly par for the course for the once thriving UK kit market; everybody's retiring and selling up and who can blame them, and ranges are rapidly becoming unobtainable and/or hard information difficult to come by.  If it is difficult to find out if something is available, and what it actually is, most people won't bother beyond picking stuff up from trade stands at shows.

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David Geen is looking to sell up and retire apparently. Worrying that such a comprehensive range of kits might disappear.

Buy while you can. He has my future proof shopping list ( though I will have forgotten some thing.)

 

Mike Wiltshire

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Buy while you can. He has my future proof shopping list ( though I will have forgotten some thing.)

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Not to be too forward - and appreciate it if you can't disclose anything - but any idea of timescales Mike? If sooner rather than later, then I may need to make my first, last, and biggest order from David Geen - I could quite easily see myself ordering £1,000 to £2,000 of kit if all my future needs were bought in one go!

 

CoY

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I emailed David recently (buying a 517 kit) and he seemed to suggest he's aiming for retirement about the end of the year.

The loco kits he said will go back to Pete Waterman, the rest of the business will be for sale (successfully one hopes).

Edited by johnarcher
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I would if the "Manor" kit was available.

 Manor films still not surfaced. When the films were transferred to a different etcher the Manor body and intermediate tender films were mislaid and a recent look has been unsuccessful. Annoying as what has not been a big seller, has suddenly had renewed interest with a healthy number or recent enquiries.

 

 

David Geen intends to retire Dec 2018, however after his 'for sale' notice at Well's, this may be be earlier as there has been interest in taking over the business.

 

Mike Wiltshire

Edited by Coach bogie
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Manor films still not surfaced. When the films were transferred to a different etcher the Manor body and intermediate tender films were mislaid and a recent look has been unsuccessful. Annoying as what has not been a big seller, has suddenly had renewed interest with a healthy number or recent enquiries.....

If it's lost, I suppose that's the end of the affair, then. Maybe one day somebody might design a new etched kit. Who knows?

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Manor films still not surfaced. When the films were transferred to a different etcher the Manor body and intermediate tender films were mislaid and a recent look has been unsuccessful. Annoying as what has not been a big seller, has suddenly had renewed interest with a healthy number or recent enquiries.

 

 

David Geen intends to retire Dec 2018, however after his 'for sale' notice at Well's, this may be be earlier as there has been interest in taking over the business.

 

Mike Wiltshire

I've only spoken to David on the phone and over email but always found him very helpful.

 

Hopefully the interest includes established trading businesses who will nurture the work David has done. No doubt, I'll still take an insurance policy of ordering a couple more things though!

 

David

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If it's lost, I suppose that's the end of the affair, then. Maybe one day somebody might design a new etched kit. Who knows?

 

Probably not while there's a chance Baccy will re-introduce theirs, which they will eventually.

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Probably not while there's a chance Baccy will re-introduce theirs, which they will eventually.

Cynically, one might suggest that even if Bachmann announced tomorrow a refersh of the manor, any kit manufacturer still has 4-5 years to get their product to market...

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Yeah, but who's going to buy a kit when there's a tidy rtr in the pipeline.

As discussed elsewhere, it seems the Venn diagram of those who would buy RTR (and/or prefer to wait to see something RTR) and those who prefer to build a kit is fairly limited. Per the High Level 94xx thread, the imminence of an RTR item can stoke some interest in an equivalent kit. Personally, I have two slightly knackered old mainline manors. I own one Comet chassis to put under one at some point. If a quality manor kit was available, I may well 'invest.'

 

In any event, unless you know something the rest of us don't, it doesn't appear imminent in Bachmann's pipeline. The same argument can be made around the Churchward/Collet mogul. Given that has more variants than the Manor, I'd have thought the Mogul would be more attractive to Bachmann to bring back.

 

David

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