Black Beetle Motor Bogies - Presumed Extinct - Current Equivalent?

[John M Upton]

From what I have gathered, the old Black Beetle motor bogies are now long since out of production. 

 

Does a modern equivalent exist, the same sort of self contained motor bogie format please?

[Bucoops]

Still available - http://www.steameramodels.com/bbeetle.htm

 

 

[roythebus1]

Black Beetle far from extinct, I've had quite a few from Australia in the last year or so. The firm thet made the motors closed down so the guy in Aus bought the remaining stock. Once they're used, then they will be extinct. But he assures me stock are far from selling out quickly.

 

Be warned, items over £120 will attract UK import duty and VAT. I made the mistake of placing a "big" order thinking I'd save on carriage, but that was the problem as I had to pay the duty and vat!!

[SRman]

Echoing what has been said above, I have been buying Black Beetles even in the last year or so, and David who owns the firm has plenty of stocks of the motors (Mashima, from memory) to make the Black Beetles, but has stopped supplying retailers, so they are only available from him at Steam Era Models (URL given above by Bucoops).

Of course, being local, I don't have to worry about UK duties or Customs, but for all those outside of Australia, such things might affect your costs a little.

[John M Upton]

Thanks all, in which case I will start measuring up and get ready to place an order.

[cctransuk]

16 hours ago, SRman said:

Echoing what has been said above, I have been buying Black Beetles even in the last year or so, and David who owns the firm has plenty of stocks of the motors (Mashima, from memory) to make the Black Beetles, but has stopped supplying retailers, so they are only available from him at Steam Era Models (URL given above by Bucoops).

Of course, being local, I don't have to worry about UK duties or Customs, but for all those outside of Australia, such things might affect your costs a little.

 

AndyY,

 

Can we have a permanent header reading "Black Beetles Live!" plus a link to the manufacturer?

 

(Only joking - I think)!

 

John Isherwood.

[roythebus1]

4 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Thanks all, in which case I will start measuring up and get ready to place an order.

Take note of my comment about import duties on orders over £110! The additional postage is cheaper than the duty and UK VAT you will have to pay.

[RichardT]

There is no “customs duty” payable on model railway equipment imported from Australia (or most other countries): model railway equipment as a category of goods is exempt from import/customs duty.

 

If you want chapter and verse from HMRC on this it’s here. Basically, quote commodity code 9503003000 “Electric trains, including tracks, signals and other accessories therefor; reduced-size (scale) model assembly kits”.

 

What you are paying is not customs duty but UK VAT at 20%, just as if you’d bought the goods in the UK - plus (the real annoyance) a handling fee for the “courtesy” of the parcel carrier doing this for you.

 

Contrary to popular myth there is NO tax-free amount: VAT is due on all VAT-able items bought from abroad. But there is a difference in how the VAT is collected: goods below £135 value (not £110) are supposed to have the VAT paid by the overseas supplier direct to HMRC (and, therefore, charged to you in the price you paid).  Goods over £135 are charged to you VAT-free, and you pay the VAT due (plus handling fees) when the stuff arrives in the UK.

 

Does that always happen as planned?  I suspect not.  Sometimes you may get lucky and a parcel gets missed by the excise man; other times you may get unlucky and pay VAT twice.  And I don’t know what HMRC do about overseas suppliers who deliberately, or through ignorance, don’t pay the VAT upfront on goods worth less than £135.  
 

But anyway it’s all about VAT.

 

RichardT

Edited September 3, 2023 by RichardT

[GWR-fan]

For the latest information go to 17.05 on this video.

 

 

 

[Gordon A]

To answer the original question look at High Level kits website: 

https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/bogies

[Steamport Southport]

28 minutes ago, Gordon A said:

To answer the original question look at High Level kits website: 

https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/bogies

 

Unfortunately he doesn't do the size I want. Although very useful for other uses. Wasn't the Planet motor bogie the one that Captain Kernow used in the Roxey kit?

 

 

 

And for clarity, I use to pay about £25 for Black Beetles from Charlie at DC Kits. I'm not messing about with the costs and inconvenience of ordering from abroad and then extortionate P&P. Just not worth the hassle. Been burned so many times over the years I'm afraid.

 

May as well just get some Bachmann and Hornby EMUs (or DMUs if that's your thing) and nick the motor bogies!

 

 

Jason

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

.... I use to pay about £25 for Black Beetles from Charlie at DC Kits. I'm not messing about with the costs and inconvenience of ordering from abroad and then extortionate P&P. Just not worth the hassle. Been burned so many times over the years I'm afraid.

 

We all used to pay a lot less than at present for everything - the world, and inflation, moves on!

 

Last time that I ordered a couple of Black Beetles from Oz, it was the simplest of procedures - less fuss than many UK suppliers - and I didn't have to pay any fees / taxes.

 

Your decision though - just a shame to abandon such an excellent product.

 

CJI.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

 

And for clarity, I use to pay about £25 for Black Beetles from Charlie at DC Kits. I'm not messing about with the costs and inconvenience of ordering from abroad and then extortionate P&P. Just not worth the hassle. Been burned so many times over the years I'm afraid.

 

 

Um, just think what it's like for us overseas that want to buy ANYTHING!

[Bulleid34088]

I have been looking for some of these and I emailed steam era models this week enquiring about availability, and the email failed to deliver, so I am not sure what the problem might be. 

[cctransuk]

54 minutes ago, Bulleid34088 said:

I have been looking for some of these and I emailed steam era models this week enquiring about availability, and the email failed to deliver, so I am not sure what the problem might be. 

 

Presumably you used the 'Email us - click here' link?

 

CJI.

[Bulleid34088]

i did. that.bloke@steameramodels.com  

 

I haven't a second undelivered message yet as it did say temporary failure so fingers crossed.