Greenmodelmonkey

I got the distinct impression the previous owner was on a different page and came across as rather arrogant with broken commitments and promises to me.... so attitude put me right off when business came up for sale (opening a can of worms comes to mind, so backed off). Think things will change for the better now Phil is at the helm!

I think your positive communication and interaction with the customer has to be applauded. Chris it's such a breath of fresh air! Many thanks, GMM

Barnaby, totally understand where you are coming from and I am also very eager myself. For info I was also working to another suppliers timetable in the past and they kept missing the deadline by years! ;-)

Letting the cat out of the bag even at this late stage may not make make business sense otherwise it would be in the public domain if this was not the case. Unfortunately 'fishing' for infomation is also a tactic used by competition to gain a competitive edge, so unfortunately we have to wait a little longer. It's nice that this small company is committed to producing products in a very reasonable time unlike another company I won't mention.

Having built a Slater's brake van had similar issues with ends not sitting correctly etc. The kit finally made up into a nice model but not straight forward and took more time and effort to complete than expected. Consdering all this and the high cost of the kit my next brake vans will be coming from Dapol fully finished. Regards GMM

Just wanted to add something I discovered when building a finescale 7mm layout.... I found the C&L rail section did not fit the C&L and Exactoscale chairs when purchased under previous ownership and found that Peco rail section fitted chairs perfectly as the web section was foot of the rail was thinner. Of course the chairs do fit the C&L rail section but it forces the chair jaw apart due oversize rail/undersize chair jaw section. I found the C&L rail was oversized in a number of areas and peco rail was closer to scale apart from the thinner foot thickness which was not noticeable once the track was fully assembled and weathered. Using peco rail section enabled me build track without forcing the jaws of the chairs apart and ensured the jaws of the Exactoscale slide chairs mated with the web face instead a large gap using C&L rail section. Assembly using Peco rail was enabled all chairs to fit smoothly without any chair distortion, etc. I did meet and raise this with previous owner before he sold the business and he agreed there was an issue and would undertake some checks rail and mould tooling but never heard anything back. I posted my findings including photos to show issues on this web site and will add a link shortly for info... Just hope all issues found will be sorted now the business is under new ownership. Link... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111464-gwr-scale-track-components/

I looked and Hobbyhorse Developments closed last year (?).

Peco do narrow gauge sleeper strips 10.5 mm X 5mm.... PL-801 same as their standard RTR narrow gauge track so is probably too narrow. Cliff Barker makes some nice ready to run 16mm scale narrow gauge track and the sleepers are 12mm wide.

Agreed so we are lucky that Phil has taken on this business as I doubt if anyone will be willing to invest in competing with existing range.

Thanks for suggestion but not same as solvent for speed and invisible bonding so ABS chairs are still my preferred material.

For info Modelu have supplied me with some GWR slide chairs in 7mm and these are certainly very accurate even more so than Exactoscale versions. However they are very expensive compared to Exactoscale due to slow manufacturing process but the biggest problem is that they can't be fixed with a solvent so makes track building very difficult if not impossible as even super glue is just to hit and miss when trying to position chairs etc.

Junctionmad made the following comment in an earlier post"....but its not the right way to do things" Errr.... Only in your opinion. There are of course lots of ways to do things and desired outcomes depend on many factors... and these may, or may not be to your liking. One of the desired outcomes may indeed be personal comfort in running a small business so what's wrong with that? It maybe not the same business model as it used to be and again I don't see anything wrong with that. It would be nice to have a job you get pleasure from don't you think?

Well said Martin! .... Said with a common sense and more realistic view of business and personal situation Phil has taken on. Mick

Actually its down to Phil how he wants to run his business and if he is more comfortable with selling at shows (for what ever reason) then good luck to him.

Agreed helpers/employees looked fit and healthy, had transport and set up a large stand to display goods, so bringing a few smaller products was a missed opportunity or perhaps stock levels were too low ..who knows? Interesting comment about O gauge perhaps this is lower priority for Phil at this time ..again who knows?

Yes agreed I had similar experiences at Thornbury at Bristol O gauge shows with previous owner not really interested in customer for some reason and it was a pointless display if you could not purchase products. Strange as the business was only about 5 miles away (!?).

I don't expect the business to run in same way as before as it was run and supported by several other paid employes. So with no salaries to pay and rent of substantial business unit then there is probably enough margin to keep business going as I'm sure there is a significant customer following for what may become a specialised and product. Perhaps attendance at exhibitions is the way the new business owner prefers to run his business and considering there is no other brand to compete with in terms of individual prototypical components then I suggest he will always have a strong customer base. This customer base may not need to be as big as before and those that are unable to acquire items for whatever reason will unfortunately have to revert back to ready to run or scratch building. However I do hope the business will go from strength to strength and again a 'pat on the back' for the new owner for taking this on.

As this product base is a now produced in a cottage industry type way we should respect this and just be thankful that it's still being produced, even if the speed and availability is not what it used to be....

Perhaps it's working for them 'as is' so no need to rush into things as they have already have a very sound business model which works well for them and perhaps the extra investment is not warranted at this time. I agree Peco are a little old fashioned in their approach compared to others but I can live with that and it's quiet refreshing to see a little quirkiness and stability in this fast changing world. Kind regards.

I did look at what the business had to offer but for me I decided the business and manufacturing risk was too high. I was also led to believe the design rights etc were still retained by the original product owners, which was rather limiting to future expansion. I do have a good idea of what price was being asked for the whole business, so think we need to wait patiently and trust that everything will come good in the future as it's not a trivial matter to take on a new businees with so many hazards which may end up tripping you up. Full marks to the man for taking this business on as no one else was prepared to at the time!!

Errr... None....so perhaps modellers will have to modify their requirements and expectations and may have to revert back to Peco who have introduced some nice new track recently. Depends on what you want really? I model 7mm and still think Peco ready to run track once modified and weathered correctly looks very realistic. I have used C&L/Exactoscale on my layout but the supplied bullhead rail did not fit the chairs properly and resorted to using Peco rails instead. It also ended up being very expensive as the C&L prices sharply increased before the sale of the business and I only had 4 points to build. Good luck with you quest and hope you eventually get what you need!

The last 16mm kits I bought via his website some years ago were covered in flash and during a phone call to find out why quality had dropped .... he asked my opinion (???) if he should skim moulds to reduce it. I was a little surprised to say the least. Never bought anymore kits after this as I realised the high quality kits of old were thing of the past.

Yes agreed out about stock levels and I was thinking more about getting stock into a ready to sell state which must be part of the process etc but i don't really know. My comment was aimed more at those that thought it was a simple process to set up a business and it not just about sales side. Think your comment about '...few exceptions...' hit the 'nail on the head' rather well!!

Good suggestion, however there is an assumption there is stock to sell so running this size of business may not be just down to method of sale process and might be down to many other factors perhaps not related to sales process alone. Im sure and hope it will come good eventually, as you say it's still early days. I don't envy the chap as I have a bit of an idea as to how much money he probably had to sink into this venture.

So where do the parts come from in your simple supply chain as I think you might have missed this important part.