About Cooper Craft

Originally established in Somerset by Colin Heard in 1977, the name 'Cooper' derived from the maiden name of Colin's mother. Before starting the business, Colin had worked as tool maker (making the moulds or "tools" that fit on injection moulding machines) for Peco at Beer in Devon, and for the Kemtron Corporation (an American model railway manufacturer) in Los Angeles.

In 1989, Colin moved to the Isle of Man to look after the family business interests and took Cooper Craft with him to an industrial unit near the centre of the island. In 1991 ownership was transferred to Tony Brown in East London, but now Cooper Craft, under the ownership of Paul Dunn, has moved back to its original county of Somerset.

Photos -
(left) The pantograph milling machine in action cutting a new moulding tool.
(above) One of our injection moulding machines.

 

Other Ranges

Mailcoach was established by Ian Kirk and Morag MacDougall in the 1980's and was located in Fife, Scotland. Originally intended as a Mail Order outlet for Ian Kirk's own range of coach kits plus the products of other small local manufacturers it eventually grew to be able to fund the production of its own exclusive range of kits.

When Morag took on other commitments in 1990, she no longer had time to run the business. Tony Brown took over the Mailcoach range in 1991, and it is now mostly manufactured by Cooper Craft, although some parts are common to the Kirk Coaches ranges. Mailcoach still retains its former identity for continuity.

Ian Kirk also established the Kirk Coaches range. This was later taken over by Colin Ashby in Leeds. In 2003, the LNER portion of the Kirk range was acquired by Tony Brown and has now been put back into production at the Cooper Craft premises. Colin Ashby still owns the Southern range of Kirk Coaches, however these are currently out of production.

In addition to Mailcoach, LNER Kirk Coaches and our own range of Cooper Craft kits, we are also stockists for Parkside Dundas, Peco and Precision Paints.

The Future

The recent updating of the web site to incorporate a secure shopping facility heralds a change in corporate identity with a new logo and image. With the closure of many specialist model shops in recent years our intention is to improve and streamline our mail order and internet services to provide an even better service to the enthusiast.

Plans are well advanced to extend the 16mm range by the inclusion of some lineside items and retooling of the wagon running gear to reflect the growing popularity of this scale. A review of our ranges in all scales is planned to enable us to respond to customer demand. If you have a favourite not already catered for, why not spare a few minutes to take part in our survey and tell us about it?