Big changes at Syren Ship Model Company...

[Chuck]

 

As I get close to retirement I am shifting my business plan a bit.   I am not retiring yet,  but I am starting to create the end game plan.  

 

My business is currently really two sep. divisions or production flows.   

 

Production of kits and then

Production of after market parts, blocks and rope and fittings etc.

 

Both take a huge amount of time and effort.  I have mentioned before that I am currently working 7 days a week and 12 hours a day easily.  Now that I have moved and enjoy the leisure living in the back country of NJ, my wife has started to use the word "leisure" as a verb.   Chuck we need to "leisure" more.  You work to much.  I want to travel more.  You are going to have a heart attack...yada yada yada. 

 

Sooo,  the Speedwell will be my last physically produced kit.  In addition,  I have stopped production of all of my kits...Kind-of.

 

I AM NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS.  Let me make that perfectly clear.  In fact my business and sales is now greater than at the height of the pandemic.  Lots of rope and blocks being sold.  LOL  I have many many years left in me. 

 

BUT moving forward, I will now be focusing on just fittings and related ship model items...No kit model production.   

 

I am retiring all of my kits.  This includes Speedwell.   I sold the last of 50 Speedwell chapter 1 and 2 sets recently.   I will only be selling the remaining chapters to those who bought those 50 chapter one and two sets.   So that will be easy enough for me to handle and administer.  

 

Its just getting tougher and tougher to source enough wood to make this stuff in the USA and remain profitable.   I also dont want keep buying and storing a mountain of wood in my garage.  Literally a mountain of it as you can imagine.  In addition I just dont have the time or desire to do this in 60's.   The good news is that I will be introducing a ton of new fittings.  Stuff for French ships too!!  I am slowly revamping my website...and you might experience disruptions as I make it easier to find all of the fittings I offer.  I have hundreds and hundres already  and many more on the drawing board.    This is mindless repetitive work and will help pay the bills into retirement and beyond.  So no plans to stop making that stuff anytime soon.   In fact my wife wont let me fully retire until Im 67 so there is that.  God bless her.

 

Now the fun part...just because I am not producing these current kits any longer doesnt mean that someone else wont be MFGing them.   All of my kits already available will not just go away...you do know him and love him.   I have reached an agreement with Chris at Vanguard who will be taking over the reigns and manufacturing my kits.   This will take some time as Chris is finishing up his Surprise model kit.   

 

The Winnie group is fine...just not selling any more starter bulkhead sets or chapter one sets.   I will continue making later chapter sets available for the group in perpetuity.  Its not a big deal until Chris can take over.   

 

The longboat group build will also remain because that will probably be the first kit being produced by Chris followed by the barge.   So stay tuned and please dont bother Chris about getting any of this stuff.  It will be made available as soon as he can get to it.  He is busy like me...so keep that in mind.

 

All Winnie parts, and Speedwell Chapter sets and Cheerful parts will continue being sold on MY site for folks currently building them until the hand-off is eventually made.   So fear not!!!

 

NOW...this frees me up to build and design Newer projects.  These however will be made with the idea that the models will be built using plansets and thus not dependent on kit production.  Those will be released here as open source plans or at Seawatch as a new book.  Or if Chris wants,  he can take them and run with them too.  That is my retirement plan.   Keep making parts for sale for all of your projects while still building models that interest me and passing those designs on.

 

Now back to making rope!!!  Blocks!!! and other stuff....

 

Lantern mini kits both English and French are next on deck.  Then ship's wheels and a whole host of other good stuff for you folks!!!

 

 

 

Chuck

[RossR]

Love to hear you have a plan.   Looking forward to using more of your rope and fittings in the future.  
 

what about the rope rocket and servomatic.  

[Chuck]

15 minutes ago, RossR said:

what about the rope rocket and servomatic.

I will continue making those as well.  Those are no big deal to make.

 

Once Speedwell moves along a bit more I am sure they will be in stock more often.  I literally just made 6 more ropewalks two days ago and they sold out in an hour.  And only one serving machine left in stock.   So it looks like next week I will make a bunch more of those.

 

Chuck

[RossR]

2 minutes ago, Chuck said:

I literally just made 6 more ropewalks two days ago and they sold out in an hour.

Before my last post I checked your stock on the rope rocket just in case I needed to order one of the last ones.   Glad to hear those will still be available.  My plan is to try making my own rope after I retired and have more time.   

[Pirate adam]

This seems like a very sensible plan for the long term. Getting away from the need to source large quantities of wood should simplify things immensely. I was able to see the 3D printed Syren blocks for the first time at the Northeast clubs show and was pretty blown away. Looking forward to seeing some of the other parts you come up with now that you have mastered the printing technology.  Cool thing about moving away from the kits is we will likely see a much bigger variety of models being created by people using Syren parts. 
 

Adam 

[JacquesCousteau]

Very big news, I'm glad to hear that you've found a way to keep the existing kits going while reducing your own workload and need for storage space! I'm looking forward to seeing what plansets or Seawatch books you come out with--I'd especially be interested in the Block Island Cowhorn, if there are any plans to get back to that model once things have gotten calmer.

[knightyo]

I'll be excited to see what projects you develop now that you won't be stuck allocating so much time to cutting/sourcing, etc.  It sounds like you will have a lot more fun in your work.  Retiring at 67 in order to get SS max?  

 

Alan

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Seawatch books you come out with--I'd especially be interested in the Block Island Cowhorn

That is first in line after Speedwell is completed.  At 67 would be great...but far better at 65 for me and then really wind things down.  But who knows.  Depends on the Admiral more than me.   

 

Chuck

[glbarlow]

Glad to hear I’ll still have a future option on Speedwell, the only of your models I haven’t built. 
 

The high demand for fittings will no doubt keep you busy for years to come.
 

I’m a big fan of both models and fittings but I appreciate we all want a little more time as we settled into retirement. 

[Rustyj]

Congratulations on your "end game" plan.

 

Speedwell will keep me busy for a few more years though I'll miss building your new designs.