chris p bacon

What about non-Christians? I don't think Christianity gets much of a look in now. It's the god's of consumerism and gluttony that rule - OK?

Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Santa.

 I can see the credits rolling now.  Directed by ...Gilbert.... produced by... Gilbert.... in glorious sand colour....... Nigella Lawson's costume fitted by..... , at which point reality reasserted itself.

Do we have to look for a Hitchcock like cameo appearance ?

Archers rivet transfers maybe?

 

http://www.archertransfers.com./SurfaceDetailsMain.html

 

Peter

They are good, but they just drove me mad trying to get them off of the backing on a GN wagon.

I am trying to work out how I am going to reproduce all those rivets on the roof supports. I need a LOT of them.

IMG_2958.JPG

You did say this was in 'N' didn't you...

I I remember my PE teachers face when he was trying to teach me how to throw the discus. He asked were all my family blessed with my inability to co-ordinate my mind and body, and I replied I don't think so as my dad's two brothers are PE teachers.

Off Topic but we had a similar Games teacher at Stratton*. As part of sports we did the 100yds, as we crossed the line (I was 4 of 6) I remember those words given to the person who came second "Well done boy, 2nd, the first of the losers"

From that point on I didn't bother with any more sports even though I was picked for school team.

* his name was Richardson so we called him 'Dick by name, Dick by nature' 

Thanks, I've got the MG6851 which is good but occasionally some of the tones are a bit 'off' but for those papers would probably be suitable.

Those look really good Mike.

Out of interest which printer did you get ? 

I am tempted to ask if the pointing is 'struck' or 'bagged'. 

But I just know you'd do a sample of each.

I'm presuming you're doing it as printed brick paper now ?

We used Cascamite a lot in Joinery (PVA & Resin based ones now) it's very good but it can resist mixing with water,  we used to have to make a thick paste of it before thinning with more water, it could take 4-5 minutes of mixing to deal with lumps.

Make sure you get fine powder.

Was boarding the loft part of the builders contract?  If not I wouldn't go too far with decorating until you've got the boards upstairs as at 8'x2' they're a bit awkward and can easily scrape edges. 

Same goes for plasterboard.

I'm similar to Peter and use Lego/Wilko bricks for the mould, I also stick larger objects down with double sided tape at the edges.

One issue you can have with clone bricks is they can 'leak' silicone, so what I do is place a square of cling film down on the mould base, stick/place the master down then wrap the film over it. I then build the box around it and unwrap the film so it makes a liner within the box.

One tip is not to make the master too thin, I sometimes build up a sacrificial edge that can be cut off afterwards so that it gives the master some rigidity, it's surprising how the silicone can move the master when you pour, as trapped air will fight to rise up.

Gordon

How much is a reel of wire? :)

I'd look through his window but he needs to increase the font size.

Even if a replica were to be built for operation, the issue would still remain of what to do with the original. 

 

John

It could be stored in the carriage shed at Herston. . .. . .oh hang on a minute. . .

Shopping carts systems are two a penny, and can be purchased off the shelf , ready to be populated with stock , prices and often come linked to PayPal or worldpay. This is the " cottage " industry of today . It does not involve lettters , unnecessary communications or bank transfers etc. A computer and one person can do a huge amount

 

 

 

See my first reply , boilerplate solutions exist and and more then adequate for a startup. ( and are cheap )

 

This is a huge error , summed up by the quip " this would be a great business If it wasn't for the customers "

 

Good products don't " sell themselves " , that's a classic fallacy. If a product is difficult to acquire or tedious to acquire , it will dwindle away , and then is ripe for a competitor.

 

if this was to decend into a attend shows business , I personally would be agitating that the Finescale societies , all of whom have reasonable online shops should move to secure alternative supply chains.

 

One presumes that this is not a " hobby " business for Phil , i.e. a business where personal income is a secondary consideration. Phil, presumably expects to extract a reasonable return or reasonably stable income from the business

 

There's a reason internet selling is dominating the sales industry and is likely to increase in the years ahead , its efficient and cost effective , the selling and payment process is automated , overheads are reduced and most importantly time usage is maximised. in reality there is no other sustainable and scalable way .

 

therein lies the solution , SAEs , photo copied price lists ,etc are a dying ( and largely dead) breed , you see it so clearly in this hobby as well. Tying up 4 days of effort to attend a show, is fine if all the back office systems are in place, it's extremely foolish , if behind you , all is in chaos

While site plugins are indeed available if you don't have the skills then you have to purchase the relevant skills to apply them, none of this is cheap and trying to apply to an existing site is not straightforward.  In our own experience of trying to apply a shop and other facilities we've had to scrap the existing site and build a new one as the existing is unsupported after just 4 years.

Whenever businesses are sold on there are problems and issues, with the best will on both sides these can't be avoided. I'm willing to give Phil some time to find a way that works for him, and as a customer that has purchased £4k+ plus (from C&L) in the last few years, and likely to purchase more, I want him to succeed, but in a way that means he can continue trading long term.

Slightly off at tangent,  but for a working website where you can order what you like and pay for it seamlessly how about this one.

http://shop.cooper-craft.co.uk/index.php?cPath=61

Probably better if you didn't though.

Andy Y breaks into your house overnight and rifles through your desk papers on your bureau.

As a track builder I do sincerely hope Phil gets over these initial " road bumps" , ultimately he needs to have an IT System that automates all the stages of the purchase , from catalogue display , shopping cart management , credit card handling , all with automated email confirmation.

 

This is where he initially needs to focus , attending shows is a distraction at this stage. If he doesn't sort the ordering process , the business enters a vicious cycle of delays , followed by order chasing , excessive late follow up communications , phone calls from customers etc. All of this drains an incredible amount of time from a single person proprietor. It's the whole reason amazons third party seller infrastructure exists.

 

It's easy to sit here and offer Phil advice, but at the same time , there is no such thing as a " cottage industry ". We have all largely moved to online shopping for many things, and irrespective of the " cottage " , we expect to be able to place an order online , pay for it online and receive order and then shipping confirmation, in the vast majority of cases all without further communications , written or verbal being needed.

 

Again from the personal experience of having a distribution based side of the business for many years , where staff are limited you must automate as much of the process as possible , otherwise you drown in a sea of unnecessary activity, chasing orders, chasing payments , dealing with increasingly irate customers etc. A receipe for disaster

 

 

Phil needs to develop his IT system so that , at selected intervals he can print off orders, all with fully paid amounts, pick and ship those orders without further ado. payment should always be taken with order to remove chase up issues and online stock levels will deal with items not available.

 

Also he needs to rationalise payment systems , don't accept cheques/postal orders or bank Xfer, certainly not at the start , only accept online precleared money transfer systems .

 

If Phil is short of time , then he would be better taking the business down for a period , so as to get this all sorted out. otherwise you end up in a crocodile and swamp draining mess.

While what you say has substance, the reality is that if he has limited IT skills he'll have to buy them in and they are not cheap.   Counter the added cost with the 2 posts below.

Just looked at the C+L site, 500 3 bolt chairs £27.50, you telling me they cost this much to make?, and i noticed a lot of the other stuff has shot up in price as well.

Was  going to start a new layout this year, but at the price he is asking, that will not happen.

If the price is to steep, people are likely to cut back on purchases by scaling down the size of the next great project or spreading the spend over a longer period of time.

Having recently been involved in website creation that includes a shop as well as payments, he will kiss goodbye to any profits for the first year.  If he can't stand that kind out outlay then he'll have to find another way. 

I would disagree with this paragraph though.

there is no such thing as a " cottage industry ". We have all largely moved to online shopping for many things, and irrespective of the " cottage " , we expect to be able to place an order online , pay for it online and receive order and then shipping confirmation, in the vast majority of cases all without further communications , written or verbal being needed.

 

I'm of the opinion that someone like Phil finds a way to operate that works for him and is consistent, trying to fit with what people want is a losing game.  If the product is good and worth buying it will sell itself, and if the only way he can make it work is to attend shows and operate by post then that's what we accept. 

It's also cheaper to store it at your house too. . . . .

I'd get an etcha-sketch and write 'iMac' at the top of it.

He'll be the envy of so many......

What tends to happen is they fill the truck with the top lifts or the front/sides then take that to another job to erect. Most of the trucks they use are 7.5 ton with long beds on so although they look as though they can get a lot on it they can't take the weight.

When I paint the fascia on the house I have to have it scaffolded, each time it takes 3+ lorry loads of scaffold and board.

Oh I don't doubt it - I don't mean to sound disparaging but it's a strange hobby when even the suppliers work to hobby timescales. And I should probably clarify - I'm not putting Markits or D&S in the same boat as coopercraft!

I don't doubt you, but when I dropped in there were sheets and sheets of etches that had just been delivered and needed dealing with, in the afternoon he said he had 4-5 hours of continuous casting.  

All this and he should probably be retired . . .I'm glad he's not.

In answer to the 2 replies above.

With Dan the customer does come first, there just happens to be a lot of them. Following the death of his wife some years ago he really is a one man band, etching, casting as well as fulfilling orders. 

If you're worried about sending off a cheque then call him first and find out when the etches are due and what the timescales are.

You really couldn't meet a nicer and more helpful chap, he still does the OO kits because of demand even though he has enough to do with 7mm.

We've a picture of a Great Northern signal which was 90' tall, I'll see if I can locate it and post it (no pun intended)

It seems I've mis-remembered, it was actually an 85 feet tall telegraph pole that carried wires above the River Whitham at Lincoln. The clearance was required for ships masts.

With not a harness in sight I'm guessing that they've not done their health and safety training. 

Been waiting over 2 weeks for a current list !! SAE supplied.

If you look at post 105 above it's been posted here 2 months ago.

Could have saved some exclamation marks.....

I called in and picked some kits up about 3 weeks ago, he's fine and as posted above he won't cash a cheque until the order is despatched. I had 6 various kits on order from his recent list and there was a wait on some etches. 

While I was there I ordered some off of the next batch and my name was added to an already extensive list so if there is a wait, it will be for etches or castings.

We've a picture of a Great Northern signal which was 90' tall, I'll see if I can locate it and post it (no pun intended)