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Old 01-14-2006, 07:29 AM   #21
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Sad news indeed, Lyndon! Thanks for sharing with us. I searched all of the Minnesota TV stations for news to link to, and couldn't find anything as of 7:30 AM CST Saturday. If anyone finds any articles about this, please post links.

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Old 01-14-2006, 07:42 AM   #22
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This news makes me sad. I really hope they bounce back quickly.
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Old 01-14-2006, 07:46 AM   #23
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I've never been to the factory, just spoken with Kent by phone. I THINK there is several buildings...when I spoke to Kent, he said he had to go to the "other building" to get the information. Now that could mean the administrative offices were in one building and everything else was in another...or "Fit and Finish" was in one building, molds in another, etc.

I've been to a fiberglass hot rod body building business and their molds were in a totally separate building because of the need to run big exhaust fans, etc.

All this is just speculation, I'm just glad to hear no one was hurt.

Can you believe this happened on Friday the 13th
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Old 01-14-2006, 07:51 AM   #24
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The following link was posted on the Yahoo Scampers group. It leads to photos of the fire as well as video. It was a night fire so things are pretty dark, but you can make out the roof line of the building fairly well. This was one INTENSE fire!!!

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/

mkw
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Old 01-14-2006, 07:57 AM   #25
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Here's one of the shots...
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Old 01-14-2006, 08:03 AM   #26
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A daytime shot of what it used to be (blatently borrowed from a scamp owner's www site):
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Old 01-14-2006, 08:31 AM   #27
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I've never been to the factory, just spoken with Kent by phone. I THINK there is several buildings...when I spoke to Kent, he said he had to go to the "other building" to get the information. Now that could mean the administrative offices were in one building and everything else was in another...or "Fit and Finish" was in one building, molds in another, etc.
Exactly right, Donna - office building and main plant. I sent an e-mail of condolence and support to the webmaster at the Backus MN website: http://www.backusmn.com
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Old 01-14-2006, 08:50 AM   #28
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This is just so dang sad. Not only for the owners, employees, folks who had trailers on order, etc. but those of us that currently own Scamps. All that history may very well be lost. Scamp had information on every single trailer they had ever built. I called with my VIN number and Kent was able to give me information I needed to replace the axle.

It's not the end of the world obviously, just could very well be one bump in the road for rebuilding/modifying.

Thank goodness for communities such as FiberglassRV, the wealth of information maintained by members here is terrific.

If anyone cares to send a note by snail-mail:

Scamp Trailers
P.O. Box 2
Backus, Minnesota 56435
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Old 01-14-2006, 08:56 AM   #29
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The Scamp factory building impressed me as being so low-tech. It appeared to be a series of buildings that had been added on to each other over time. The business office was part of it, with the sales office about 50' away.

My photos of the factory are here: http://autos.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Sca...s/view/dcff?b=1

If the molds were okay, I would think rebuilding and restarting would be fairly easy and straight-forward.

With all the fiberglass dust, resin and other volatile materials around the factory it not surprising that it could have been susceptible to a fire.

I found it interesting that the factory operates around the clock during the 'busy' season.
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Old 01-14-2006, 09:07 AM   #30
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my prayers and heart goes out to these people in this devistating loss . I hope they can rebuild quick as possbile and get back up and running!!
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Old 01-14-2006, 09:12 AM   #31
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There's a video clip on the site that Mike gave. I've never been around a fire and didn't realize they were so loud.


http://www.brainerddispatch.com/
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Old 01-14-2006, 09:24 AM   #32
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The following link was posted on the Yahoo Scampers group. It leads to photos of the fire as well as video. It was a night fire so things are pretty dark, but you can make out the roof line of the building fairly well. This was one INTENSE fire!!!

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/

mkw
The photos appear to have been taken from the video, which was probably shot with a digital camera.

The video requires Real Player which is widely regarded as bloatware. For an alternative player, use this which is an earlier version of Real Player before the bloat!
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/...lternative.htm
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Old 01-14-2006, 09:28 AM   #33
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What are the molds made of? Could they have survived for the most part?
I believe the shells were made some where else so more than likely the molds are ok. Fiberglass is a messy fab. so would be kept separate.
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Old 01-14-2006, 09:33 AM   #34
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The shells were made right in the factory, as you can see from these photos. An yes, it was messy!
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Scamp_Factory_Tour_June_26_2004_10.jpg   Scamp_Factory_Tour_June_26_2004_11.jpg  

Scamp_Factory_Tour_June_26_2004_12.jpg  
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Old 01-14-2006, 09:38 AM   #35
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Final assembly area, and our fond memory of visiting the Scamp factory and picking up our baby.

Let's hope they rebuild bigger and better than ever!
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Scamp_Factory_Tour_June_26_2004_01.jpg   Scamp_at_Factory.jpg  

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Old 01-14-2006, 09:58 AM   #36
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The morning after...

Scamp was an icon in the FGRV world. Almost all of us who own 'other' brands have been asked, "Is that a Scamp?" Losing Scamp, for us, would be like losing Chrysler for the automobile world - they must have turned out at least 30 per cent of the new eggs every year. The loss will touch all of us in many ways, and we can only hope that the good folks in Backus MN can get Scamp up and running again.
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Old 01-14-2006, 11:09 AM   #37
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Oh, my heart is aching for people that worked there and all the families that will be affected by this loss.

I would imagine that at least a copy of their molds (one of the most valuable pieces of their business) would be stored at another location. The proprietor of a small local fiberglass shop keeps his frequently used molds in his shop...but he has a copy of the molds that are most valuable and instrumental to his business in an off-site warehouse. He did this because of the hazardous nature of the business...if you work with these flammable materials, the possibility of a fire accident is always in the back of your mind.

I sure hope that they are able to get on their feet in no time.
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Old 01-14-2006, 11:12 AM   #38
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As I was searching for pictures this morning, I found something that was stating that they had a fire in 1998. It said no trailers were made that year. Does anyone know if that was true? When I clicked on the site, I couldn't find the article. I wish them luck and hope they get things up as quickly as possible.
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Old 01-14-2006, 01:05 PM   #39
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The "brainerd dispatch" link now has two pages, the fire itself and some daylight shots from this morning. I assume that's where Jack got that shot above (haven't really compared), but I'd recommend linking directly - they've got about 15 shots of the aftermath. Kinda hurts just looking at them though.

The only thing left is the 13 footer on the big pole...

I think all we can reasonably do at this point is wait till we get some sort of official word on what they plan to do.

A lot is gonna end up riding on the status of their molds.

mkw
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Old 01-14-2006, 01:08 PM   #40
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After photo (same angle as the 'before' photo posted above).

The 'after' photo posted above comes out real fuzzy on my browser for some reason - hope this one works better.
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