Simon Cast

Hello All Here are the latest photo's of the Modelworks Locomobile prototype. As you can see we are employing a 4 wheel disc braking system. The brake band arouind the rear diff will be useed purely as a parking brake. To view the latst picture's please click onto:- www.modelworks-int.com/asp/latest_news.asp I know I am being boiaised and totally subjective about this but so far I think it is looking pretty damn good. Cheers Simon Cast Modelworks

Hello All The Modelworks Locomobile replica is taking shape really well and we now have only 19 left from our originl run. To say we are pleased would be the understatement of the century. To view the latest pictures of our control model/prototype please log onto:- www.modelworks-int.com/asp/latest_news.asp In the pictures you can clearly see the 4 wheel disc braking system we will be employing. We have tried to keep the brakes as discreet as possible so they do not detract from the character of the Locomobile. The brake band around the rear diff will be used purely as a parking brake. I know I am being totally biaised and taking a completely subjective view of it, but so far I think it is looking pretty damn good. Cheers Simon Cast modelworks

I have not posted on here for a while because we have been very busy for the last 8-10 weeks or so. We now have 24 left of the Modelworks Locomobile replica kits. As I was expecting over half have been sold in America, surprisingly most have been on the East coast. I would have thought for open air driving the West coast would have been the obvious choice. Most kits have now been sold in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington, and 4 I think in Canada. We have sold a few in California but not as many as I would have anticipated. We have now also sold a number in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa which has REALLY surprised me. The remaining third of the initial run have now been sold in Europe and the U.K. Once the remaining 24 have been sold we will then have a major decision to make. Do we start designing the 1912 20 h.p. Coffin-nosed replica for an initial run in 2007 or do we progress a little more slowly and perhaps do a Locosurrey replica? My heart says the 1912 but I am open to suggestions guys. I have made little effort to research the 1912 but my initial feeling is that it would need to be available in replica kit form for around the $50,000 mark and offered over 24 not 18 months like the Locomobile. I am also of the opinion that the 1912 replica would have the same Derr/Winslow boiler (but obviously uprated) as our Locomobile replica will carry. It is a far better boiler than the original's fire-tube one and it is far easier for us to build and get certificated.

I am sorry if I have offended you restorer32 but all we are trying to do is to re-kindle the unusual and quirky nature of the steam car hobby and following. The main reason I contacted the Stanley museum before we even considered attempting a Locomobile replica project was to identify just this concern I had regarding the possibility that we would cause offence or upset all the antique car enthusiasts out there. Given the response we have had and continue to have on a daily basis I do think that perhaps there are a number of people out there, around the world particularly and not just limited to America, who really do seem to be a little more sympathetic towards our cause than perhaps yourself. We have always said this would be an 85-90% accurate replica and my own personal feeling was that I was a little concerned we would offend the guys who would only consider building and driving a vehicle if only it was 100% authentic and accurate down to the last nut and bolt. Happily a large number of our clients have realised just exactly what we are doing and perfectly understand and accept the limitations we unfortunately have had to work within given the complex nature of modern safety standards and what we have achieved to date. If unfortunately you don't like what we are doing and it has offended you then I am genuinely sorry. Kind Regards Simon Cast Modelworks

I thought I should keep you all up to date with the Locomobile project. Our website is now updated and has a page dedicated to the Locomobile. We took 10 orders for the kits last week and so far we seem to be accepting at least 1 sometimes 2 orders a day. To say this has been an unprecedented success would be putting it mildly. All this and we don't start sending out our brochure until next week! We will be running an ad in Hemmimngs from the 1st October and by the time production begins in November with kit 1 being despatched early December (the tubular chassis by the way) I would not be surprised to see most if not all the Locomobile kits sold out. If you are, or have been considering building a replica Locomobile, please contact us as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Seriously at the rate they are selling the 100 we will be producing will not last for much longer. Dare I say it, and at the risk of incurring the wrath of dear old Henry Ford, shades of the original Pony Car from the early sixties. Kind regards Simon Cast Modelworks

Just a quick post to let you all know that in view of the unprecedented levels of interest that Modelworks have received regarding the Locomobile replica kit that we are now accepting securing deposits and we have been since Tuesday the 17th of August. We will be producing no more than 100 Locomobile kits worldwide and we have already received 10 securing deposits. One gentleman in the UK has bought 5 Locomobiles by the way! The deposit is £1289 ($2350) and the monthly figure is £595 ($1100) We are also programming the Locomobile over 18 not 12 months. Steve Baldock our senior designer has realised that the Locomobile is in fact a lot more fiddly than we had anticipated so if we had scheduled the Locomobile over 12 months each monthly kit would have required 25-30 hours each month to assemble. We aim for each kit to require no more than 10-15 hours to assemble so that is why it will now be 18 and not 12 kits. To reserve your Locomobile replica kit please contact Modelworks at:- brad.patton@btconnect.com or you can contact us directly at:- +44 1327 301030 Please bear in mind that we are 5 hours ahead of EST in England Brad is our sales support/office manager and he will be happy to reserve your Locomobile kit. We will also be sending out brochures from September to interested parties so to request information please also contact brad at the e-mail address above. Kind Regards Simon Cast Modelworks

This is just a quick post to let you all know that in view of the unprecedented levels of interest that we have experienced and continue to experience regerding the Locomobile replica kit that we are now accepting securing deposits and have been since Tuesday the 17th. We will be producing no more than 100 Locomobile kits and we have now received 10 securing deposits. One gentleman in the UK has reserved 5 Locomobile kits by the way! We will be running an ad in Hemmings in October, January, and possibly March but at this rate they will all be sold out anyway. The securing deposit is £1289 ($2350) and Steve Baldock our senior designer has reviewed the Locomobile project and come to the conclusion that we should now offer the Locomobile over 18 and not 12 monthly kits. Each monthly kit of components will now be £595 ($1100) His reasoning is that we try to aim for all our models to require 10-15 hours each month to assemble the monthly kit. As the Locomobile is more difficult than we had anticipated and a full size model as well, we now feel 18 months would make more sense, plus it reduces the monthly figure which is a nice little bonus. Perhaps difficult is the wrong word, more fiddly than we first thought is probably a better expression. So to reserve your Locomobile replica kit please contact Modelworks via e-mail at:- brad.patton@btconnect.com or you can contact us directly on:- +44 1327 301030 Please bear in mind that we are 5 hours ahead of EST in England. Brad is our sales support/office manager and he will be happy to secure your Locomobile deposits and kits for you all. We will be sending out brochures to interested parties from September as well so if you are interested please get in touch soon, the remaining 90 will not last long at this rate. Kind Regards Simon Cast Modelworks

Well I hope this is the post you have all been waiting for, if it isn't then Modelworks have a bit of a challenge ahead of us! The Modelworks Locomobile replica brochures will be available from next month, and we will start to take securing deposits from then as well. The initial retail price will be £10,995 ($20,495) the deposit will be £1575 ($2855) and the subsequent payments for the 12 monthly kits of components will be £785 ($1470) The first kit will be the 4 wheels and tyres and that will be sent out from December, November if it is at all possible to do so. We have established a databank with the Vintage Car Club of GB and the Stanley Museum in Maine. Every Modelworks Locomobile replica will carry its own unique chassis number. This along with the owner/builders contact details will be sent to these respective bodies. This way whenever one of "our" Locomobiles comes onto the open market for sale it can be distinguished from an original Locomobile as a modern day replica. This should help to maintain the true market value of the originals and prevent unscrupulous individuals from building one of our kits and then trying to sell it on as an original. Once built our replicas will undoubtedly have some intrinsic market value (I estimate that figure to be the cost of the initial kit) and no doubt some people will inevitably negotiate a higher figure from time to time for a private sale but I personally believe that if anything our replicas will in actual fact increase the subsequent value of the original vehicles, particularly the really nice and mint condition originals that do still exist out there. To order brochures and secure deposits from September onwards please contact Modelworks via either:- e-mail at admin.modelworks@btconnect.com or landline at +44 1327 301030 or snailmail at:- Modelworks International (sales) LTD 3 Riley Close Royal Oak Daventry Northants NN11 5QT U.K. You can also visit our website at www.modelworks-int.com Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm, interest, and support we have received from the very beginning of this project right through to it now becoming a reality.

Good question Restorer32. We have established a databank with the Vintage Car Club of GB and the Stanley Museum in Maine. Every Locomobile replica will have a unique Modelworks chassis number allocated to it. This will be on a plaque easily viewable and also in a location unknown to the builder of the Locomobile, but known only to Modelworks, the VCC, and the Stanley Museum. This way our replica's can be identified relatively easily and quickly if you know where to look on each vehicle. The chassis number along with the owners name, address, and contact number will be sent to the VCC and to the Stanley Museum so that once the replica is built it's subsequent history can be "tracked" This way if one of ours comes onto the market for sale and the owner tries to sell it as an original it can be traced by it's chasis number as being a replica, not an original car. Undoubtedly our replica will have an intrinsic value once built, but clearly nowhere near an original, authentic, and mint condition original Locomobile. We anticipate the resale value of one of our replicas to be similar if not the same as it's purchase price. In much the same way that a replica 427 Cobra will be worth roughly the same value as it's replica kit price is, once built up. In the UK for example there are many Cobra kits available all costing anywhere from £15,000 to £30,000. All these cars once built, when they come onto the market are invariably worth what the builder paid for the kit. Perhaps I am overestimating the popularity of the Locomobile, it will clearly not be anywhere near as popular as a 427 replica Cobra kit for example. I just happen to think that the Locomobile has a lot of in-built personality, a high fun factor, and a genuine feeling of building something "completely different" thats all.

Well I hope this is the post that you have all been waiting for. We will be sending out the Modelworks Locomobile replica brochures next month, and we will be accepting securing deposits for the kits from that point on as well. The initial figure for the Locomobile full size kit will be £10,995 ($20,495) The deposit will be £1570 ($2855) with the 12 subsequent kits being £785 ($1470) All these sterling/dollar conversions are based on £1 equalling $1.84 at the moment. Kit 1 will be the four wheels and tyres and that will be despatched in December, possibly November, if we can produce them quickly enough. You can contact Modelworks via either, e-mail:- admin.modelworks@btconnect.com or landline:- +44 1327 301030 or snailmail:- Modelworks International (Sales) LTD 3 Riley Close Royal Oak Daventry Northants NN11 5QT U.K. Thank you all for your enthusiasm, interest, and support you have all shown for the Modelworks Locomobile replica project so far. This time next year 100 lucky Locomobile builders around the world will have HUGE smiles on their faces as kit 12 is finished and that initail first run is completed! For any other Modelworks information or to browse our other models we offer at present please log onto:- www.modelworks-int.com

Thank you all for your enquiries at the factory about the H5/H4, however it is still very much a BIG "if" we do it. So thank you all for your enthusiasm for a kit that does not exist, that may not ever exist, but if it ever did would POSSIBLY (and it is a big possibly nothing more) might be available in about 2007/8! I will be far more careful in the future about mentioning what would clearly be an enormously exciting project for a lot of people, but sadly guys not at the moment. We have now less than 20 Locomobile reservation places available on our waiting list. I reserved one yesterday for an English gentleman who is in Spain and will be building it where he lives on the outskirts of Marbella/Peurto Banus. He also asked me about the H4/H5 replica kit, and wanted to reserve one of those as well as the Locomobile replica kit! Word of mouth enthusiasm does indeed travel fast in the Steam car world doesn't it. Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm once again. Kind Regards Simon Cast Modelworks

Alan Thank you so much for your help in establishing the link that I wanted to achieve. Man, am I a technological klutz, or what! The idea for the H5 is an excellent one, particularly if parts, patterns, or ideally drawings and blueprints are available. If, admittedly, with a little effort and research. The Stanley Museum in Maine, and Jeff Theobald (the president and authentication officer of the GB steam car club) have been extraordinarily helpful with our Locomobile project, so hopefully after that project has been completed they will be as kind and as constructive once more, I do hope so. Thank you all for your thought's and input thus far, I really do appreciate it, you are all so kind in taking the trouble to write on this forum. On reflection perhaps the Locomobile is the only steam buggy/vehicle that would lend itself to our "build as you buy" concept. I really would like Modelworks to attempt the 1912/H5, and I am rapidly leaning towards the H5 because it does seem far more suited to our programme/concept of monthly self assembly. Particularly if components are similar, if perhaps a little beefed up, compared to the Locomobile. In terms of retail costings I must do some homework on that. Does anyone out there reading this have any idea of the cost of an H5 in good/excellent condition if one were to become available to the market? Any input would be greatly appreciated, once again Alan thank you so much for you help.

I wanted to ask all of you who have been kind enough to read this what your thought's would be if Modelworks decided to offer a kit of the 1912 "coffin-nosed" Stanley steamer car. We have been so staggered by the response to the 1901 Locomobile kit that I thought I would like to gauge everybody's thought's and opinion's on us developing a kit for the far more complex (but incredibly desireable) 1912 "coffin-nosed" Stanley Steamer. www.stanleysteamer.com/woolf/woolfpix7-26/charlottesville_Steam_Car_Tour_2002-54.JPG I am of the opinion that we would be able to produce an accurate and highly authentic kit in about 18-24 months from now, with kit 24 being despatched by 2007-8. Once the Locomobile has finished, I feel our clients will look at us and say:- "Okay the locomobile was pretty great, what's your encore going to be. Because the locomobile will be a tough act to follow and to exceed" I believe the 1912 would do just that, it would have that all important "WOW" factor. However, it would need to be supplied in very limited numbers. I am thinking of probably no more than 50-75 worldwide, and with a retail figure of probably approaching $80-85,000. An original sold in the UK last year for $125,000 by the way. We would probably supply it over a 24 month build programme, and we would require a substantial initial deposit of around 20-25%, I would have thought. This would then leave $2500-3000 per month over the remaining 24 month's. Please, please understand these are highly speculative figures because I am just trying to gauge interest levels at this stage. Marketing graduates will probably euphamistically call this "kite-flying". Please feel free to be as brutal or on a more positive note, as constructive as you feel able to do so. I await all point's of view both positive and negative with great anticipation.

I thought I would let you all know that we now have only 25 of the Locomobile replica kit's left unaccounted for on our waiting list. We have had over 500 general enquiries now, and we at present have 75 letter's and e-mail confirmations of people from around the world, who have said they would definitely like to build the 1901 Locomobile replica we will be producing later this year. To say we are pleased with this result would be the biggest understatement possible! Thank you all for your interest and enthusiasm levels for this project I cannot begin to express how grateful we all are at Modelworks in England. I was quietly confident and optimistic that we would have reservations on maybe half of our 100 kit's by the time we began production. At the rate we are going I now expect to have all 100 locomobile kit's reserved by the end of the year and no need to even advertise the Locomobile kit's, which would indeed be a stunning result. We may then consider producing another batch of 25 in 2006, or possibly look to us developing a far more ambitious replica steam car kit. I personally would love to do a full size replica kit of the 1912 "coffin-nosed" Stanley. We would only do a maximum of 50-60 worldwide, and it would probably need to retail for about $80-90,000. No doubt a number of steam car enthusiast's would be very interested in building just such a kit over perhaps 24 month's, but at the moment the Locomobile is very much our main focus. That is quite complex and involving enough to be going on with at present!

Thanks 1937 for the wonderful photo's you have posted it has boosted interest in the Locomobile kit's and the enquiries we have had at Modelworks tremendously. This is the main reason why I have posted this time to tell you all that we now have less than 30 Locomobile kit's left that have been "advance-reserved" if there is such an expression. If there is anyone out there who has read this or these post's in general and are seriously contemplating building one of our Locomobile kit's I strongly advise you to get in touch with either myself or the Modelworks office via either e-mail, snail mail or a phone call to register your interest. These replica's will be allocated on a first come, first served basis only, so to avoid disappointment please register your interest with us as soon as is possible. We are now hoping to accept securing deposit's of 25-30% by July/August 2004. We have already had 1 gentleman pay a deposit. We did not want to take the full amount, but we did agree to accept a £250 fully refundable deposit very, very reluctantly. As we explained to him the Locomobile still might not happen, we might still encounter unforeseen engineering/mass-production issues that we just cannot overcome. So we wrote a letter with his receipt explaining IF the Locomobile does not happen for whatever reason his £250 will be fully refunded. I did not want to accept his card details but he was insistent, he obviously does not trust our waiting list system! Kit 1 of 12 will be sent out in November/December 2004 and I anticipate it will be the wheels and tyres possibly 2 but it may well be all 4. That depends entirely on how complex the other 10-11 kit's are looking likely to be. I must thank you all so far for your wonderful enthusiasm and interest people have shown in the Modelworks Locomobile replica. I thought last year it might be a good idea for us to do, I honestly, genuinely, and sincerely had no idea just how high people's affection for the Locomobile was. This has only made our resolve to produce an authentic, sympathetic, and high quality replica even greater, and I thank you all for your support so far, it has really meant a great deal to us all at the Modelworks factory and offices in England.