DJM Dave

I am pleased to announce that the N gauge King locomotive cad/cam has now been fully approved for tooling, and i have today paid the cad/cam design balance on this project and in full on the forthcoming OO gauge APT project. If you have yet to re-order the APT (and there are many) or would like to order an N gauge King, please don't delay as the soon as these projects have the funding they will go to tooling. I have a slot in the factory ready for the King, but still need some of the 'expressions of interests' to come forward to pay their deposits. Meanwhile i hope to have 3D prints of the King in the next few weeks and the APT around the end of October which will be photographed and taken for display at upcoming exhibitions. thanks Dave

I am pleased to announce that the N gauge King locomotive cad/cam has now been fully approved for tooling, and i have today paid the cad/cam design balance on this project and in full on the forthcoming OO gauge APT project. If you have yet to re-order the APT (and there are many) or would like to order an N gauge King, please don't delay as the soon as these projects have the funding they will go to tooling. I have a slot in the factory ready for the King, but still need some of the 'expressions of interests' to come forward to pay their deposits. Meanwhile i hope to have 3D prints of the King in the next few weeks and the APT around the end of October which will be photographed and taken for display at upcoming exhibitions. thanks Dave

Hi everyone, I posted this in the OO section and forgot, as its also relevant for the N gauge one, to post it here, apologies. Here it is....... --------------------------------------------- Hi everyone I am Just waiting on the new Cad/Cam from the second factory. You would think cloning the cad/cams i have would be simple, but unless the cad/cams contain all the necessary sizes etc, as you would find in an STP file, you are really starting from scratch and using not only the works drawings, but also the original 'approved' EASM file for reference. The engineer is on them now, and will incorporate all the internal changes i have asked for regarding electronics, speaker space, underside switches, ease of access into the cab, plus the etched work on the roof and sides. Once this is done, and it shouldn't be too long now, i'll be mailing everyone doe 2nd deposits to allow this project to get cracking. Ideally it will enter tooling within weeks, not months, but that will depend on getting enough 2nd deposit payments to pay the 1st EP tooling in an expedient time frame. Cheers Dave

Hi mate,working on it at the moment. i think the site needs that without delay to be honest. will advise once its in, tested , approved and uo and running. The last 3 in that list includes Lloyds getting thise done to prove the site is safe and fully compatible. Cheers Dave

Hi Andy, its going ok, but all news about the APT is going out in various guises, including e-mails to all. However i don't want to badger people, as i wouldn't want to be badgered myself, and i guess its still the end of the holidays, people have come back spent out, or hadn't bargained on being asked for the deposits so soon, or plain changed their mind but havn't told me. We aren't there yet, but everyday brings more deposits pushing the project closer to tooling, and the previous level of commitment, but i don't see this level being reached yet, which is interesting as we only need 300 people wanting a 14 car set for the whole project to be totally viable again. Blinking PayPal. grrrrrrrr

Hi Dave, Just waiting on the new Cad/Cam from the second factory. You would think cloning the cad/cams i have would be simple, but unless the cad/cams contain all the necessary sizes etc, as you would find in an STP file, you are really starting from scratch and using not only the works drawings, but also the original 'approved' EASM file for reference. The engineer is on them now, and will incorporate all the internal changes i have asked for regarding electronics, speaker space, underside switches, ease of access into the cab, plus the etched work on the roof and sides. Once this is done, and it shouldn't be too long now, i'll be mailing everyone for their 2nd deposits to allow this project to get cracking. Ideally it will enter tooling within weeks, not months, but that will depend on getting enough 2nd deposit payments to pay the 1st EP tooling in an expedient time frame. Cheers Dave

Hi Graham, pre-orders continue to trickle in, but i dont think this is a go'er unless i can get stockists to come on board, to suplement, at a trade price, the shortfall. however, looking at how the numbers match up, they will have to view the viability of HUO's in N gauge the same as i currently do. I'm going to be sitting on Sharks, was sitting on Mermaids so maybe the HUO, which i thought was a 'no brainer' isnt such a sure thing after all. Time will tell i suppose. Dave

N gauge King project reaches another milestone. With the design of the N gauge King almost complete internally, i have spent the last 10 days working on the balance above the drivers and distribution areas of weight in the boiler etc to keep the balance but increase the weight. Simply put weight is one thing, but evenly distributed weight is another and should be looked at at being optimal above the main driving wheels. too much weight either side of the driving wheels further out from the 3 axles can cause running problems due to possible induced rocking for and aft motions. I have asked that, if possible, a cast metal backhead be produced along with a boiler weight of similar mass to help increase the Kings haulage capacity and this is currently being done in China. This should, allied to the traction tyres got those that want to use them fitted should help a lot with maximum haulage ability. (remember the traction tyres are not mandatory and normal driving wheels are in the loco box for those that do not want them. Room is now available for the small speaker in the tender along with the PCB, and there is some weight in the tender to allow it to track correctly and also not get pulled off the rails by any lateral forces and / or coach resistance on curves. If you have yet to order, please dont delay, we are close to tooling, but enough of those that 'expressed an interest' have still not paid, that the project is slowing slightly, and will be longer to get to the tooling stage if this happens for a while. New customers to this model can order right up until tooling time, via the 'pre-orders' tab at the top of the DJModels Web site, and pay securely via E-commerce. Once we have crossed the line for tooling, all ordering will then be locked down and you will miss out on this model in these liveries and at the offer price. This will be the worlds first 100% successful crowdfunded RTR mass produced N gauge locomotive, please help make history happen now, rather than later.

Hi Richard, nothing is off the table, but i do need to stress...... we need to get there first. cheers Dave

hi, they are vector lines, not model lines cheers Dave

Hi, As the weight will now not be so much, we think (the Chinese designer and i) that a single very heavy power unit will suffice, but we will look closely at it, as it still has to run, climb gradients and do reverse curves, so it it struggles at all we will look at a second power unit. however, there's a long way to go just yet... lots of pre-orders needed to make this a reality. cheers Dave

Hi Gerry, your quite right and i shall remove the nose up from this thread. cheers Dave

noooooooo, i tried so hard to get that right. next youll be telling me the door colours are completely the wrong colour!

Hi everyone, 'Expressions of Interest' continue to come i, but to whet your whistle a bit, here are the 2nd APT renderings from the Laser scanning. This will, i hope, give you something to look forward to in N gauge. (and yes the second car has a side missing, and we don't know why, but it is on the STP file so we arent too worried. cheers Dave

Hi everyone, Some of the latest renderings from the laser scanning party. As usual, any comments welcome, and yes the car 2 side is missing on this EASM file, but present on the STP file. cheers Dave

lots still missing off the site i'm afraid, but i'm working on it, with some more additions this weekend. cheers Dave

Hi Colin, It depends on how quickly the 'expressions' made turn to hard cash orders.. Any project like this will have a few drop outs, but conversely as the cad/cam designs etc get more publicity, the project gets more orders, effectively balancing out the 'defecit'. So i'm afraid, although i am ready to go right this second,with tooling, it cannot go ahead until enough to pay for the tooling is incoming, and timewise, that's a case of 'how long is a piece of string'. cheers Dave

Letters went to everyone this morning who have not had a refund. Some bounced back, so if you are reading this, please PM me, so i can update my database accordingly. cheers Dave

The first model railway exhibition i attended as a layout owner / operator was as a 7 year old at the Instron model club show around 1972 in Sands village hall High Wycombe. Allan was there, in fact at that time of my life he seemed to be everywhere, Lane End show put on by Stan Mills, Instron's big show by Booker Airport, Wycombe show, the Maidenhead show, ( i think) but pretty much, to my mind, everywhere. His house at the time was on the edge of Lane End Village, and only about 5 miles from my parents so sometimes my late father , who died earlier this year, would take me up to Allan's, for a visit to see his latest models. And as a boy of that age, it was like walking onto a tiny accurate village, simply magical. Allan would spend time showing me modelling techniques, how he painted, weathered, dry brushed etc. Telling me about this 'Downes Glaze' range and basically showing me how to adapt my N gauge printed paper on plastic blocks Graham Farish buildings to look better. It's fair to say Allan was my inspiration in the modelling world, his house would have quaysides, villages, bridges, cathedrals, castles, ruins, in fact you name it he had made it. Where my dad was the inspiration for trains, Allan was my insoiration for scenery and buildings. No one was or will be, better. The man was a genius, pure and simple. He'd turn up at the Stoke Mandeville model show, and lay out his wares on a table, and start playing his guitar. Always had a nice word of encouragement, and a great guy all round. Cheers mate, rest easy. Dave

its ok, i can cross reference it. cheers Dave

Black and the Red shown. HTH Dave

Just a quick note which i have mentioned on the mail that went out to pre-order customers, is that the 'pay now' button is a bit bland and on some monitors etc looks like the background. I am working on getting the button coloured to make it more obvious to us all. Otherwise, the site seems to be settling down quite nicely, and this coming week i shall add more pages and more detail to various sections. Cheers Dave

Apologies, just working through mails to those that wont be getting the refund, merely the transfer of the 2nd-4th deposits to the new system , the original orders for those customers are still valid. its going to be a long, long weekend. cheers Dave

Hi Dave, Thank for noticing that as i sure as heck didnt. Unfortunately a typo when copying across data form the Mk1 to the M3 via the Mk2 website. This will be amended for the second deposit for everyone who are affected. cheers Dave

Hi Dave, Due to the nature of the project, some large payments were needed up to and including the scanning day. This came out for the deposits paid for by APT customers. A few customers, chosen totally at random, will not have had a refund due to this, and have had their orders transferred to the new master list created with the new MK3 web site launch. Customers who have not received a refund will only be mailed for payments 2-4 as and when they fall due. Hope that helps? cheers Dave