Old Crow Models - News Archive 2005-2006

09 November 2006 Website updates
All the pages containing former Ainsty products within the website are being reviewed and updated using knowledge gained since Old Crow took over the range. Hopefully by the end of the process you should notice more consistent listings and less items shown as "tba". Providing a more comprehensive range of pictures is a longer term project but will be tackled once the updates are completed.

15 October 2006 Untimely loss of Mike Brooks, founder of Ainsty Castings
All of us involved with Old Crow were terribly saddened to hear of Mike's passing on 13 October at 12.50am in hospital. He had been ill with bowel cancer with secondaries in his liver. Like many others, we didn't know about Mike's illness until quite recently, and had no idea when we bought Ainsty that it was the reason for selling. For years he has been a pillar of the hobby in the UK, as a player, a show organiser and a trader, and as has been said by many on The Miniatures Pages, liked by everyone who met him. I got to know him when I began trading in '99, and always found Mike friendly and helpful, despite being in direct competition with him – it was always his love of the hobby that motivated him. Now that I carry the Ainsty flag, I hope that I can do it justice, and in a spirit that he would approve of. The thoughts of all of us involved with Old Crow are with Pat and family,and all of those who knew and loved Mike at this saddest of times. We will all miss him.

26 August 2006 Old Crow takes over Ainsty Casting
We are pleased to announce that we have taken over all of the Ainsty business, including the ranges that were available through the Ainsty website and others not in normal production. As you can imagine there is a lot of work involved in sorting out and finding a home for all the masters, moulds and stock that were brought back from York last weekend. As a result any orders placed between now and our next show at Partizan, (Newark, 3 Sept) will not be sent out until Tuesday 5 September at the earliest. There may also be slight delays to orders over the next couple of months, but if dispatch will be delayed beyond our target of 21 days, we will contact you. Hopefully you will be able to find most of the ranges formally available on the old Ainsty site, and a few more, but if you find any broken links etc. please let us know. Incorporating all the Ainsty ranges into the website has been a major task in itself, and the odd error is not unexpected. New photos will appear in the Gallery pages over the next few months, so please bear with us. The Ainsty 'Shareholders' 10% discount scheme has been discontinued, but most internet customers will in fact find they may be better off due to Old Crow's lower standard postage and packing rates. However the former 'Shareholders' list will be carried forward to form the basis of a new Old Crow loyalty scheme, details of which will be released by the end of the year. We will also be contacting all known customers of both companies over the next few weeks to seek your agreement to receive a regular Old Crow newsletter by email. Finally we would like to thank Mike and Pat Brooks (and their helpers and sculptors) for all the hard work they put in to make Ainsty the major success it is today.

26 August 2006 Old Crow 25mm range updates and price review of all ranges
A large number of models in the 25mm range have been upgraded, and now feature cast metal details, mainly gun barrels. See individual item photos and details. The range of 25mm accessory parts has also been enlarged. Due to increased materials costs over the last few years, and the wider use of cast metal parts, all our prices have been reviewed and unfortunately modest increases have been necessary across most of the Old Crow ranges.

26 August 2006 Minor revision to P&P rates
All orders up to £9.99 are now subject to a 50% P&P rate. All orders above this are still only 10%. See How To Order page for full details.

26 August 2006 Website overhaul
As you will have noticed by now, all the pages in the website have been overhauled. Major new features include the Search and Gallery pages. There are now also consistent new links at the top of every page. If you find any broken links or other errors, please let us know.

22 August 2005 New P&P rates introduced
New postage and packing rates have been introduced. Due to restrictions on the methods of applying postage within the PayPal shopping basket system, Old Crow Models has had to change the postage and packing rates. For the sake of simplicity one simple global rate applies, no matter where you live. The new rates come into force with immediate effect. See How To Order page for full details.

22 August 2005 Major website update and online shopping introduced
Online store using PayPal introduced. See Online Store page for full details. All pages reviewed including enhanced ordering terms and conditions.

2007 News Archive
Back to Current News	Back to top of page

NEWS ARCHIVE 2005-2006