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GWRtrainman

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Everything posted by GWRtrainman

  1. It was Hornby's decision, I remember Simon saying the age group for the TV program had dropped and the Hornby range no longer had mass market appeal.
  2. Perhaps the armchair experts on Copyright should take 1 minute to check before they state what is already registered. I did:
  3. Quite true - also many commentators on this discussion assume the point of this year was to make a big profit - maybe it's been about proving the company is profitable and doing all they can to invest and build the company up. They've done enough - the company has run profitably, none of us seem to be crying out for price rises or less new items which would have made them more profitable.
  4. You could also look at Investment in new tooling. Hornby have lifted this from under £1m in 2016 to close on £5m this year. That will have eaten into profit but has not yet delivered it's income and hence profits. Hence they are investing their Gross profit in future profits - that's not the same has making no net profit full stop.
  5. I like Tillig and got mine from Golden Valley Hobbies - plus I tried the rather nice Styrofoam pre shaped underlay - made the whole layout a very quick, yet realistic build. I started off with their track planning folder to work out what I needed. I through the slight flexibility of the track was amazing - imaging creating a curved point from a straight one - albeit only a tiny curve without breaking it, but still rather handy! https://www.goldenvalleyhobbies.com/track/track-1/9620-tillig-planning-folder-h0
  6. Step forward a man called Dave....
  7. 'In other words' - well provided they mean something completely different to the Press Release. :-) Perhaps you should just write your own - oh wait you have done...
  8. There is a couple of countries which expect UK companies to add VAT (or local equivalents ) to all orders being shipped to that country. Australia is one - 10%. So the ex-vat price is £166.66, add shipping then add 10% and the price works out correct. It's not shown very clearly perhaps... but I would assume most Australians who buy on a regular basis know Tax is paid at point of order not at point of import. NZ does not - so you see £166.66 plus the shipping price only. It's going to become more widespread - all the EU will be like this from July this year. So any UK company shipping into Europe have to change their systems again to charge the Local VAT element and show it on the checkout page.
  9. I think they reacted - it got leaked this weekend - apparently someone spotted them in the Musuem doing some measuring up and posted about it!
  10. Hi The sound one is here if that's any help: https://support.Hornby.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360016117980-Schools-Class-Steam-Loco-Version-3-LokSound-Manual
  11. Share price seems to be going in the right direction too.
  12. A bit biased on that point - and not strictly true - I think it's been widely reported that Hornby were working on an upgrade of their model. You could equally spin this as Rails stole an existing model from the Hornby range and then cried fowl when the company defended itself.
  13. Depends on your definition of Spare Parts. Hornby have never to my knowledge offered every part of a loco as a spare part. It's always been focused on 'engineering' components that suffer wear and tear during operation. Motors, brushes etc. With over 250 parts being shown clustered around the disassembled loco in last years (?) catalogue, many of which are painted it suspect it's impossible to get close to offering a complete suite of bits.
  14. I think the said they were operating a waiting list once they had hit 3500 orders? Perhaps some people ordered after this point and are still on the waiting list ?
  15. Probably the mold was not at the right temperature - normally when it's just starting to be run. The body does not drop out of the tool cleanly and the slight friction pulls on the outer ends of a long shape... hence the banana shape. Plastic has a memory - once it cools it will try try to retain it's shape when warm, Bit unlucky as once the mold is running at temperature it would be fine.
  16. and Yet you and others who complain about prices getting too high for new entrants and kids seem to always point out the price of something you want. Never a genuine entry level product. There's never any mention of the Hornby Railroad, Bachmann junior or second hand options. I bought my grandson a Hornby train set for £50 this Christmas at ASDA - and picked up a second bigger one second hand at my local model shop. For £100 they've got two locos, 7 wagons and two complete ovals of track. Beats an iPhone which my Daughter has currently wasted £1000 on!
  17. and yet the Half Year report states the European business has had the highest growth of any part of the Group in 2019 (no doubt from a small base - it's a big market). And the numbers show it is the closest to being profitable. Maybe they've got it right this time around?
  18. Certainly not scientific if you read the Hattons forum where a fair number of faulty Class 66 are being mentioned with bits fallen off, dropping off after arrival or simply missing. It it happens to all manufacturers - the models are delicate and over detailed not to have some damage in shipping from time to time.
  19. A non refundable deposit has to meet two criteria to be enforceable 1. Any time scale given must be complied with 2. The value of a deposit should not be excessive - which I think means covering loss in the event of a cancellation. Then if a refund is refused the retailer would be expected to mitigate the loss. I believe if they find another buyer for your item at the same price them the majority of the deposit should be refunded. In short point one has been breached therefore people can claim a refund.
  20. and a few less hypothetical figures on the cost side you've ignored: VAT 20% - £2,000 Staff costs (around 7.5% in my supermarket) - £750 Rent, Rates, Lights, Heating - ? Credit Card margin - 2% - £200 Website - a share of the development, hosting and fees - ? Shrinkage - shoplifting, parcels not received - 1% - £100 Without getting detailed someone just risked £7500 and ended up owning £1300 + Sorry, but Gross Profit does not equate to a viable business model - certainly not in Retailing.
  21. VAT is a rather more complicated beast if you are investing (in tooling) overseas and importing product. I seem to remember he blamed a delay on releasing his first product on HMRC. I guess he was unaware that VAT is due on the entire container upon docking unless he was creditworthy and had a deferment account. Hence he probably had to find a pile of cash before making any sales to pay the VAT due. Then the VAT man would ask how were these trains made? Mention of tooling would then generate a second surprise VAT bill on the tooling value. Or maybe he did not know and his accountant failed to declare the tooling. In which case the VAT man is another creditor not shown on the Insolvency paperwork. Excuse me I need to catch that Omnibus to Clapham!
  22. As the Directors Loan was not on the last annual accounts, it is definitely not start up finding or evidence of remortgaging a house at the early part of the business. However, many years ago when starting a business - our accountant said if you can't afford to pay yourself a salary, make a paper payment and add the debt to the Directors Loan, then you can withdraw it later on without paying further tax (or tax at a higher rate). So in theory I think Andy is right - this sudden increase in Directors Loan is quite possibly someone loading all the costs into the pot so the creditors debts are expanded. Presumably any distribution means he would get a larger share, plus if he hadn't gone into Liquidation, then this is a nice tax free lump sum for when the company makes a profit.
  23. That's an interesting thought - Profit. Even if an individual acting as Managing Director of a company decided to design, tool and manufacture an APT and make no profit. They still need to earn a living - this is Dave's pronounced full time job. How much would an MD of a firm earn - maybe £40k a year? Dave's be at this for 6 years. That's a figure getting on for the £250k he mentions as having lost in tooling. Maybe we need to consider that the crowdfunding money will have been increasingly eroded. The delay's don't avoid the running costs of a business occurring (salaries in this case). The longer the models are delayed the less cash is left to actually make them. As Dave quoted in a reply to someone - all the money is spent.
  24. Afraid many would disagree with you. Dave is not the only person or the one having the worst day today. The REAL people who are suffering are those who paid big deposits for products that have not arrived (and may or may not arrive in future). Plus those people who commissioned products from DJModels and have spent a sleepless night until he reversed his position wondering if the investment had been wasted through Dave registering CAD of a product they had subsequently developed (with or without) him. He's not the victim here,
  25. I think it's damage limitation, but still means all models he has produced CAD for: His clarification was: "My IP’s cover the external look of all my designs"
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