Having had an oppurtunity to meet the owners of K Mills recently, I was informed that they still retain the rights for the engines and so on all the toolings. Ditto for the Taplin engines as well.
The Pline ones are also made by Aurora (or K for many of us here) of Calcutta.
Another piece of news is that the last batch of the mills would be made this month and no more. The owners are actively looking for buyers who would be interested in picking up the rights and tooling for Mills and Taplin.
Guess after the production stops even the curry Mills would be difficult to get once the current stock is bought up by collectors/flyers

In true sense the Curry Mills can not be called replica as the current owners bought the rights and equipments off Mills in UK and continued production in India (though quality has been varying, my two examples never had any issues)

Interesting news. Yeah they might have trouble selling off the assets. One would need to ascertain if the tooling, dies and molds are still good and not worn out. Plus they have to compete with the Chinese CS model engines as well.

I would love to get a Taplin Twin myself. I regretted selling the one I had years ago. That one ran great at the time. It was an Aurora made version but they got it put together correctly.

Couple of days back saw a Taplin (original British made and NIB) listed on the bay for some 400 odd pound sterling. I think it did not sell. Anway it was way beyond my reach. I am working on a lead locally instead

Genuine Mills .75's regularly turn up on #bay, some still unrun, and if you dont have to have "that one" and are patient not expensive,I won my NIB .75 for A$76.
And as allready stated the MPJet .040ci (.6cc)is a good alternative and equal if not more powerfull than an original Mills, they are good quality and spares are available.

Originally Posted by mchandrayan

Couple of days back saw a Taplin (original British made and NIB) listed on the bay for some 400 odd pound sterling. I think it did not sell. Anway it was way beyond my reach. I am working on a lead locally instead

yeah I saw that one too. It went for a lot more than I wanted to spend on one too.

Originally Posted by mchandrayan

Having Another piece of news is that the last batch of the mills would be made this month and no more. The owners are actively looking for buyers who would be interested in picking up the rights and tooling for Mills and Taplin.
Guess after the production stops even the curry Mills would be difficult to get once the current stock is bought up by collectors/flyers

I was told that Mr Kumar died two or three months ago and it was decided that production would stop. The Mills rights and tooling are indeed up for sale (there was an advert for the business in the most recent BMFA news). I had some email conversations with Mr Kumar last year about producing a 0.5cc Mills and said he was going to prototype one. Not sure if he ever managed to though.

CS now make a .375cc Mills replica - where will it end !!!

I have owned a couple of Aurora Mills, and neither one ran worth spit: they were thirsty, poor runners, nowhere near the originals I owned.

Then I got a Doonside. It was a better engine than the original, LOTS of power, and miserly on fuel. Nearly lost it on a Whitehead-design Bristol Scout when I filled the tank! Find one if you can, you won't be disappointed.

I have a Mills 1.3 made in Calcutta,,,,willing to part with..Send me a PM
Mark

Any developments after Mr. Kumar's death about restarting Mills diesels production?

DeeBee,
You are right about Mr Kumar's (passing away). And no there has been no production of Mills after June 2011. He was trully the man who brought aeromodelling to India.
The reason is, the guy who used to work for Kumar's has finally retired.

As I mentioned, the whole Mills business, including the rights, was up for sale earlier this year. I haven't heard of anyone buying it yet. I would think that production would need to be modernised to be successful (CNC cutting etc. like CS engines do). Either that or a 'garden shed' manufacturer might buy the tooling and Mills rights. Ideally someone like Ripmax (Irvine) will buy the rights and make Mills engines again.

Looks like CS engines are no longer in buisness. I have been unable to access their Website and they were recently offering the 1.3 on sale.
Will they be the last of the Mills replicas?
John

You're right John, their website isn't working. I hope they haven't closed as they made nice engines (not just the Mills replicas).

Let's hope that things are still all and well.

Pictures of the little diesel
Post #324
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...054975&page=22


An email from Gao in 2009. Very nice person to deal with.
email csmodels@citiz.net

mailing address given:

Gao Guo Jun
Room 503,N0.13
368 Lane
Guang Zhong Rd
Shanghai 200083
China