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Cooper craft - Cautionary notes for customers - Its fate and thoughts on an alternative

Edwardian

By Edwardian,
in Smaller Suppliers

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BlackRat

BlackRat

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Mine was owned by an English electrician. We've got it sorted out now.

Wish we had......we still have 25v or thereabourpts running through the wiring, only found out when we put led's in which glowed in the dark!

 

Dockyard sparky before us.......4 sparkies later and we are still none the wiser!

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Horsetan

Horsetan

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Wish we had......we still have 25v or thereabourpts running through the wiring, only found out when we put led's in which glowed in the dark!

 

Dockyard sparky before us.......4 sparkies later and we are still none the wiser!

 

Hopefully your supply hasn't been tapped into by a cannabis farm!

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Dunsignalling

Dunsignalling

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You think you had problems - we bought our first house from a chap who was a Safety Officer in a nuclear research establishment which produces some very 'interesting' stuff - and he had done some of his own wiring alterations, one of which fused the entire house.

 

Since then I've always been ready to quickly accelerate when passing Aldermaston ;)

I don't think the car exists that's quick enough to get out of THAT sort of trouble. :jester:

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BG John

BG John

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This thread seems to have turned into the Daily Mail.

Tell Mr Coopercraft that unless he gets his act together, we'll tell the Daily Mail we think he's running a cannabis farm. I knew we'd come up with a workable solution eventually :).

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rue_d_etropal

rue_d_etropal

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I believe the SM32 and O Gauge stuff is safely at Slaters Plastikard. https://slatersplastikard.com/wagons/16NGWagons.php

 

 

 

Jason

Without saying too much, Slaters took over the O gauge wagons, Coopercraft had the OO ones , but the Coopercraft SM32 ones stayed with Coopercraft. I would like to think that Slaters could take over more, especially as they are big enough and will continue.

 

Age of many who started businesses is an issue, and I know of others in the business who want to be able to retire. Hopefully there are people with enthusiam, time, and money to take over. It is one of the reasons why I have taken the 3D printing path, as it is not dragging along a heavy anchor.

 

The comments about age of young modellers, and them being less interested in pre grouping is irrelevant, as I have noticed some younger modellers actually being more interested in the older items. With better marketing it ties in well with military modelling(in particular WW1). The problem is more to do with difficulty in getting items, and only by getting stock on shelves(real and virtual) will you get people to buy items.

Edited by rue_d_etropal
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Edwardian

Edwardian

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The comments about age of young modellers, and them being less interested in pre grouping is irrelevant, as I have noticed some younger modellers actually being more interested in the older items. With better marketing it ties in well with military modelling(in particular WW1). The problem is more to do with difficulty in getting items, and only by getting stock on shelves(real and virtual) will you get people to buy items.

 

That is also my impression, on anecdotal evidence, and I suspect that interest could be fostered and broadened.

 

I do not here want to rehearse the argument about the popularity of a period being, to a large extent, the result of the availability of quality and accessible product properly promoted, including RTR, rather than purely the other way around; demand first, product availability second, but promoting other and earlier periods and promoting modelling skills seem to go hand in hand and, in my view, can only benefit the hobby if effectively promoted.

 

If all the plastic pre-Group and Grouping rolling stock ranges disappear, an effective obstacle is created.  It is salutary to reflect that only Ratio, apparently, enjoys a secure future.  There is no guarantee that retirement will not, one way or another, spell the end of Parkside and Cambrian.  All the others are already lost up the Coopercraft Fundament.   

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Jol Wilkinson

Jol Wilkinson

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Or stop kidding ourselves we can manufacture these things and pray for a better trade agreement with China ...

I was shown early some samples of a very fine kit for LNER carriages bogies at a meeting last night. They were designed in the UK and produced in China. It'll become apparent when they are on the market as to what the cost is and how viable that approach is.

 

I can't give anymore information because, as it would be improper and other than a few irrelevant details "I know notheeng".

Edited by LNWRmodeller
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J C Fenton

J C Fenton

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If I understand correctly, Ian Kirk range included the short GE section coaches.

 

Seems bizarre to me that we lose these at a time when so many RTR locos for the GE section come out.

 

Or do most people just not care enough about appropriate stock to bother with kits?

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modelpara

modelpara

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If I understand correctly, Ian Kirk range included the short GE section coaches.

 

Seems bizarre to me that we lose these at a time when so many RTR locos for the GE section come out.

 

Or do most people just not care enough about appropriate stock to bother with kits?

If it was available and people knew about them and were able to easily access them then they would be sold, the problem is they can't be got any more but hopefully in time we could look at producing kits that are not available as kits or r-t-r

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Dunsignalling

Dunsignalling

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If I understand correctly, Ian Kirk range included the short GE section coaches.

 

Seems bizarre to me that we lose these at a time when so many RTR locos for the GE section come out.

 

Or do most people just not care enough about appropriate stock to bother with kits?

To be fair, the 4mm scale Kirk coach kits are what our transatlantic brethren would call "craftsman kits" - they provide a basis upon which to build the model but, of themselves, nothing approaching a fully detailed one.

 

I have built a number of them and, if they are to stand any comparison with current mid-range r-t-r (let alone the best), the required input, in terms of both modelling time and the sourcing of additional components, is not inconsiderable. Mine ended up costing three times what I spent on the basic kits. I used the floor, roof, sides, ends and interior components but replaced almost everything else, which is largely generic.

 

Nearly all the bits I used are still obtainable but, given the concerns arising from their current ownership, it seems to me that producing kits that require further components to be obtained from other ranges that might ultimately end up in similar predicaments, may not be advisable in the longer term. 

 

It is to be hoped that the proposed products outlined in Post #543 will come to fruition *** but we shouldn't imagine for one moment that the prices will be other than a multiple of those on the tickets attached to the remaining Kirk/Ashby kits in my stash. If they turn out to be "kits" in the full sense of the word, that will be fully justified.

 

John  

 

*** EDIT: Especially if they do the short full brakes..........

Edited by Dunsignalling
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Steamport Southport

Steamport Southport

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When they first came out they were much better than the equivalent RTR models available which were the generic Hornby Gresley "design" now in the Railroad range.

 

You could build them as layout coaches with ease, then if you wanted to upgrade them you could. You could build one in an afternoon if you wanted. I did with the Southern ones.

 

 

Unfortunately when they were available I had no need for LNER coaches. Now they aren't available I need dozens of the things, mainly because I ended up with a few LNER locomotives which now need trains.

 

 

Jason

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Steamport Southport

Steamport Southport

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Why? I built them. I would rather get enjoyment from them than somebody else who would probably neglect them.

 

I model anything that takes my fancy. I have a large layout that I can run mainline expresses, as long as you don't look at the station then it could be almost anywhere.

 

I'll probably bite the bullet and build coaches from other sources. But I've already got plenty of Comet LMS, GWR and BR Mark Ones to build. But I would rather pay £15 - £20 for coaches rather than nearly £50. There's also the weight problems with metal coaches.

 

 

 

Jason

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