Update on the old time gas lights
by brae
After a couple of setbacks, I was finally able to get all of the lights I wanted, minus one on backorder and one I have yet to order since I'm not sure I will need it. I ended up getting these from Nana's Miniatures, though there was a long lead time for my order to ship. I am guessing they needed to get all or part of the stock from their own supplier before shipping to me. Overall, I am happy with the service though communication could have been better.
Furthermore and most importantly, I am very pleased with the kits. They seem very straightforward and have good quality parts.
They are completely open to customization, which is the main reason I predominantly use kits for furniture. I like to pick my own colors and finishes.
The only snag in the Chrysolite kits is the supplied bulb; it's not a replaceable type of unit. If I am going through the trouble of wiring my house, I want to be able to replace burned out bulbs. Since I use hardwiring and not the plug in type of lights, replaceable bulbs are a must for me. Since these are kits, I can purchase replaceable bulbs and use them instead. Unfortunately, you usually cannot rewire a readymade lamp. I will likely have to make some changes to the brackets since the replaceable bulb wires are going to be thicker than the wires of the supplied bulbs...but I'll manage. :D
Note: The NovaLyte LEDs I've used for other applications are not replaceable, but they have an insane life expectancy of 50,000 hours of continuous operation and should never need replacing anyway.
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On a further side note, Nana's was not the first merchant I tried. With the first supplier, I had to cancel my order and obtain a refund through PayPal since there were no replies to my email or voicemail messages. I have since found out the vendor was out of town even though neither their website nor their corresponding eBay shop indicated as much. I am reluctant to post negative reviews, because sometimes things just happen when the vendor is usually a top-notch supplier. What happened with my order could have just been a fluke, and I'd hate to bash their reputation over one incident when they seem to be mostly reliable based on their eBay feedback. To that end, I won't publicly list the vendor's name.
While trying to locate these items, however, I also sent an email message to Bargain Minis since they had a couple of the items listed on their website. I had ordered from this particular vendor a few times before without a problem and figured they were my next best bet. I was right. Someone from Bargain Minis wrote back the next day to say they had some of the ones I wanted and were checking on the rest. So, Bargain Minis might also be a good source if you want the same lighting. Since Nana's wrote the same day to say they were shipping all but one item, I didn't end up buying from Bargain Minis but I wouldn't hesitate to do so in the future.












08/28/11 08:55:00 am,