Eileen's Emporium is out of business!

[mmagliaro]

I have used this shop in the UK for years as my go-to source for super fine metal stock.  They had phosphor bronze, brass, nickel, nickel silver, copper  strips, shapes, and sheets, in all the thin delicate sizes we need for N Scale.  It happened in December, 2022, but I just stumbled upon it online.  For scratchbuilders everywhere, this is an utter disaster.

[Simon D.]

Yes, there was a lot of discussion and expressions of dismay about this on RMWeb and the N Gauge Forum in the UK.  You might try Hobby Holidays https://www.hobbyholidays.co.uk/.  But don't take to long, as you will see from the front page
the owner wants to sell.   They have a very good range of materials, and seem to ship internationally. 


It has always surprised me that there is no equivalent to Eileen's in the US - perhaps it is too niche to really make any money, though apparently it wasn't the mail order service that sunk Eileen's, but other parts of the business.

[garethashenden]

Cambrian have purchased all of Eileen’s wire from the liquidator.
https://www.cambrianmodelrail.co.uk/store/Metal-Wire-c148548506

[mmagliaro]

I did find hobbyholidays, and yes, I realize he is trying to sell his business and retire.  He has a great selection of brass and nickel silver metals, but alas, no phosphor bronze.  I always wondered where Eileen's was getting all those small strip sizes, or if they were cutting it themselves from larger sheets.

[Sokramiketes]

While probably not the selection you're looking for, Slater's Plastikard 1220 is the phosphor bronze strip I keep on hand for pickups. 

[Simon D.]

Again via RMWeb, this company has been suggested: http://www.metalsmith.co.uk/metals-materials.htm. Not sure if they have what you want however.

[nkalanaga]

They do have a lot of stuff similar to what Special Shapes used to have, although most is in metric sizes.  I didn't look at the other pages, but this one looks interesting.

[mmagliaro]

Again via RMWeb, this company has been suggested: http://www.metalsmith.co.uk/metals-materials.htm. Not sure if they have what you want however.

Thank you.  I had already found them.  But they don't stock anything in metal strips that are thin enough.  The thinniest
are .3mm, which is about .012".  That's better than the K&S .016" min thickness, but modeling in N requires stuff down to
.005" (about .13mm).  They also don't have any strip materials in phosphor bronze.    Thin strips and phosphor bronze
are the big things I will eventually need to replace from Eileen's.

They DO however, have a lot of good materials, some nice thin-wall tubing, and a lot of nickel-silver stock.  So they will be
handy in the future. 

[rodsup9000]

 Max
  Clover House has .005" phosphor bronze sheets and some sheet brass

https://cloverhouse.com/Cart/index.php?cPath=46_48

[mmagliaro]

Max
  Clover House has .005" phosphor bronze sheets and some sheet brass

https://cloverhouse.com/Cart/index.php?cPath=46_48

Yup, I'm aware.  I even still have some from way back in the old days of Clover House.  But they only have sheets.
It's not easy to make precision cut strips of thin stuff like that.   I've done it in desperation using an Xacto and steel straight
edge.  But it's not fun.

[Simon D.]

I asked the 2mm Finescale people on RMWeb about this and this was suggested: https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/locomotive/1220/ as already mentioned by @Sokramiketes.  Otherwise, sorry, no joy.

[mmagliaro]

Yeah, I even have a pack of those strips from Slater's.  The *are* handy for making contact wipers.  But Eileen's had so
much variety on thickness, width, and materials.  It's going to be hard to replace them.

[Simon D.]

Sigh. My only other suggestion is to email Phil at Hobby Holidays - he has a reputation for being helpful.   (You may well have already done this...).



phil@hobbyholidays.co.uk

[ns737]

you can also try Walts hobby