BBC 4

[Guest]

James May is doing an interesting thing on modelling....

[boatman]

HI what type of modelling ? an when its on ?
chris

[Guest]

Sorry, it's Airfix & Hornby (trains).
I think it may actually be a repeat as it features the unveiling of the 'new' 1:24 Hellcat.
Interesting none the less. Part 2 is on next Wednesday.

[Guest]

A great programme. A two-parter on Hornby trying to save their company. There was a chap called Darryl in charge of the launch of the new Hellcat at Telford. It took me a while to realise that I'd once known him really well when I worked at the IWM and was in charge of selecting the Airfix range for the museum's various shops {sold thousands a year}. Lovely bloke and it actually brought a tear to my eye.

Also interesting that the action took part in my part of the world, East Kent. The building that Hornby had moved to after closing their manufacturing base in Margate was the old Pfizer HQ in Sandwich - their closure was a huge loss to the region.

[boatman]

HI thanks for tellin me an anyone eles wants to see its on bbc4 cha9 nxt wed at 2100 to 2200 an its programmed into my humax now
chris

[Guest]

Thanks for telling us George, now with Peters input a well worth thing to record.
John.

[Guest]

I'm sure you'll be able to watch last night's episode on catchup if you missed it.

[Guest]

I'm sure you'll be able to watch last night's episode on catchup if you missed it.

Duh:flushed: just seen the date, thanks will do on my tablet.
John .

[Guest]

:smiling6: Enjoy

[Guest]

:smiling6: Enjoy

George, just back, watched it and yes great. Hope that guy who came back does well with the company, as for the people that threw out the tooling ............ words fail, bet they all had degrees in marketing. :sad: and none in life !
John.

[Guest]

as for the people that threw out the tooling ............ words fail, bet they all had degrees in marketing. :sad: and none in life !

I’ve not seen this programme, but I’m betting the reasoning went: moulds take up shelf space, shelf space costs money, so unused moulds cost money, and if it doesn’t look like we’ll use it in the near future, out it goes. Not exactly an attitude I would have myself

[Guest]

Saddest thing I heard was that Francois Verlinden pitched all of his tools and moulds into a skip when he ceased production. He must have been mighty peeved.......

[Gary MacKenzie]

Saddest thing I heard was that Francois Verlinden pitched all of his tools and moulds into a skip when he ceased production. He must have been mighty peeved.......

A Facebook post in 2016 clarified that the existing molds were destroyed, or more specifically, recycled, since they're rubber. But the masters exist.

However they would have been in need of some alterations to compete with most modern companies productions, I have a couple of unbuilt verlinden molded emplacements etc , and the quality is not wonderful.

[Guest]

Verlinden’s problem, I think, was what we in Dutch know as the law of the retarding head start: if you’re among the first with some or another technology, chances are you’ll be passed by by others who start later but can invest in more modern versions of it, that you can’t compete with using your older version.

That, and Verlinden’s apparent insistence on keeping costs low by getting as much use out of moulds as possible. I’ve heard from a Belgian modeller, who was seemingly close enough to Verlinden 30–35 years ago to know this, that François Verlinden would use a Tipp-Ex pen to mark all the areas on masters that needed to be rounded off so the mould wouldn’t wear out too quickly.

[John]

I've just had to ring Hornby, it was an answering machine, the message said, our offices are closed while we move our back to Margate, they will be open Monday