Spitfolks,
This subject has come up a couple of times over the years that
I've been on this list (& it's parents). FWIW each lamp housing
(rubber) is different, although only slightly. The potential
producer would have to decide how true to form they wanted to
make them, and the economics of producing 1, 2, or 4 distinct
parts. A chap who turns up at some of the local LBC shows here
had embarked on this venture and had some prototype samples.
They were made out of a modern rubber compound and he had a
couple of different colours. They looked quite good. When I
last spoke with him (about 2 years ago), he was looking into
tooling costs and had estimated that it was going to cost around
$20 per unit to produce all four variations. He didn't disclose
what kind of quantities he was planning on, but said he had been
in touch with the "Big 3" and that they were all interested.
That's as far as it went. I haven't seen him since, but I'll
see if I can dig up his email address.
These parts were not shown in the TRF price list for many years
(read "don't even ask"). Some time ago they re-appeared but
with the NLS designation, leading some of us to speculate that
they might again become available. When asked, TRF would not
speculate on this, and remains mum on the subject AFAIK.
--
Happy Holidays,
Bob Sykes
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