Following the death of Herr Dagen the (majority of the) HM moulds were purchased by the Hodders. They were brought across to the 2003 Welton Show by Norbert & Matti Brocher and (after spending the night locked in a VW Kombi on my drive) changed hands.
As I recall, the plan was for Les to re-master and remould the models and then to re-issue them. This mainly involved tidying the models up, especially things like boats, and with 'sharper' masts. Only a few were done - I have HM 344 W - 'Andes' as a trooper in front of me. Note the use of the 'W' as a suffix to indicate a Wirral re-issue. (And marked as (C) ). Unfortunately only a few were re-made before Les suffered a stroke in 2009. Subsequently a number of HM moulds were re-used by the Hodders if they were in 'good order - an example is HM 155 'Mars', reissued under that name and as 155a 'Empire Forth'.
When the Hodders decided to close down the LJ moulds were, of course, sold to Dave Hampson who is working to get them back into production. (I'm not breaking any confidences to say that a large parcel of 'pre-production' castings arrived a few days ago).
I last saw Les & Alan Hodder at the Liverpool Ship Show last year: I hope they'll be able to make it this year. I expect to be there and I may well have some for sale. (By-and-by, I'll also be selling John Laing's 3D printed kits [John's Miniature Ships], plus items from the collection of the late Alec Martin).
The study of moulds & masters is a fascinating one - following their history, and the history of the manufacturers, and there are the number of 'copies' that are about.
TH
Message Thread | This response ↓ WMS/Len Jordan - John Button August 4, 2023, 21:45:50
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