etendam

Why if almost all manufacturers are swapping to coreless motors now? Soon you can't choose anymore. As manufacturers also don't have to keep brushes in stock anymore - just spare motors. Ed

Don't also forget to adjust the inside distance between the wheels! Traditionally NEM wheels have 0,3 mm wider track and smaller flanges than Marklin wheels. Just compare the wheels at NEM 310 H0-DC to NEM 340 H0-Märklin. This will avoid derailments. Ed

As more and more manufacturers (Kato, Hobbytrain, Arnold, several Trix and Märklin models and lot's of others) are now switching to the coreless motors now they say in a polite way that the feedback controllers should be scrapped. As coreless motors in large quantities have the same price as the old brush motors the manufacturers are easily conviced that this is their future. Soon there will be conversion kits to convert from a coreless motor to a brush motor available. Ed

The UK post has a small note at the bottom of the page saying: You are responsible for checking postal restrictions and prohibitions for your destination. There are rules about what Royal Mail will carry and each country has their own restrictions which may differ, so it’s important to check both. So the responsibilty is yours......excellent communication like everybody is aware of constant changes! Ed

I don't think they wil use the Netherlands, Germany and several other countries anymore as they simply can't ship anymore with just stamps. Now they have to pay for parcels and that is 3 - 5 times more expensive. But beside that my wife is informed as a business seller by the shipping company if a hard Brexit will occur that sellers will be responsible for the VAT and costs of costums in case the import value is less then £ 135. Above that amount the buyer is responsible for the costs. So in case you have ordered items abroard with a delivery time.....(fingers crossed that arrangements are made to avoid cancelled orders) Aliexpress and Ebay are not going to pay the costs if sellers refuse to pay for the VAT & Costum charges. read the full text at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accounting-for-import-vat?step-by-step-nav=db1149f5-f60a-4d02-be0c-9c9db2828665 Ed

If it contains goods then it should be send as a small parcel with a track and tracecode and not with stamps anymore! It may only contain paper or card! Ed

There was a full review and a lot of testing on the CS.trains forum: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/276338/3154460.aspx Ed

The Dutch post (together with several other EU countries - Not the UK) has made new regulations regarding sending letters. From Januari 1st 2020 it isn't allowed anymore to ship goods as a letter in the Netherlands and many other EU countries. As the Postal services earn hardly anything on the Chinese Aliexpress (and other) shipments it is now mandatory that goods are shipped as a parcel and not in an enveloppe with stamps anymore. The postal service have announced that items shipped in a letter (even a small handrailknob !!) will either be delayed (and be fined with the costs of a package shipment) , will be returned or even destroyed. It is up to the postal service to decide what to do with the shipment. A letter may only contain paper(s) or a card all other items are handled as goods and must be shipped with a track and tracecode and in some countries the content must be on the package. Be warned when shipping goods in an enveloppe that items may never arrive (and perhaps not returned!) Ed

Crowd funding has become a mess. Lots of projects (if they are released) are dropped in price as compatitors make the same during the project. Companies beggin to get funds to buy a very expensive 3D printer (even with poor quality) and other machines where the "investors" get a discount on work that is made from the machine? If they would have gone to a bank they first should have a proper business plan, and some assets if something goes wrong with the payments. Yes and I know that a bank isn't always giving the needed amount but on the other hand you can do other things first to get the funds realised by yourself in stead of just focussing on the one thing you want! The number of investers on crowd funding projects is slowly drying out especially as not all promoters have the intention to get projects realised and there are so many projects launched! Ed

The VAT was obvious....He expected that his VAT taxable turnover to be more than £85,000 so he had to register. That is releasing just one of his locos. Ed

There was a similar case in the Netherlands with Palo-modeltreinen. They went broke after a huge number of people had paid a decent amount to get a build brass locomotive. The actual steps in the process could be followed on his website and lot's of things in the development did go wrong - Mostly the blame of others of course...parts that didn't meet the required standards etc (I just call that no experience with shrinkage, under etching etc) After a long period and still no modeltrains (Just selling off the wrong etch plates) the company finally went in liquidation. What lot's of people have learned from this was that lot's of buyers will NEVER make deposits again to get a model. (they rather wait to get a used one when they are sold out) So others in the market (who did release excellent models and are working hard AND honest to get something made) where affected by this as well and less models have been released for a while. It is now that Piko is producing "Dutch" models again that the market is finally growing again. Ed

If you are still sourcing for a supplier that delivers laser cuttable sheets in 0,5 mm (In 1245 x 610 mm sheets - that can be cut 12 A4 sheets) to private users.... https://www.graveermaterialen.nl/trolase-thins-115827.html They sell 1 sheet for € 46 (that is € 4 a sheet) + shipping. I am sure the UK seller will deliver the same sheets about the same price https://www.engraving-supplies.co.uk/lasermaterials/engraving-plastic/trolase-thins.html Ed

Rowmark in small quantities can be obtained https://www.signseen.nl/laser-graveer-platen/rowmark-graveerplaten-lasermax.html This Dutch company offers laser engravable 610 x 1238mm sheets from just € 37,50 + VAT + Shipping. they can be cut in 4 parts to make shipping possible. Available thickness 0.8, 1.6, or 3.2 mm They only deliver to companies and not to private persons! Minimum Order quantity for the total order € 200 ex VAT. Ed

Most 3D paper designers use Pepakura (38 Dollar for the license key). As the Modelmaker software ( 50 dollar for the license key) will probably work better with their cutters, lots of users (if the possibilities are almost equal) will make the switch. For styrene cutters the software will be less usefull. Ed

Although the studio software is easy, I still miss a "real" eraser tool. In Corel (from version X3 from more then 10 years ago) it is possible to erase a part of a circle without that the software closes the circle again. This is why you don't need to use the Bezier curves. This makes live so easy. Jason - thanks for testing the converter but I think it is a no go for the work most of us wants to do. Ed

Did you try the converter in post 1737? Ed

The good news is that I am retiring my Craft robo cutter at the moment, and then I will buy a Curio. I will start with the Studio software but if it doesn't work I will get to Coreldraw (I am using that software for almost 20 years now) Ed

There are online converters but I have tested them. (I don't use inkscape, still using Coreldraw on my old Craft Robo cutter) http://www.ideas-r-us-software.uk/FileConverters/SilhouetteStudioConverter.aspx Ed

No, this has not been changed..... I have seen it on the web somewhere, but reading it again ( ) you should save it as a JPEG and then they convert the file. http://www.silhouetteschoolblog.com/2016/03/converting-silhouette-studio-files-to.html I don't know if converting it this way file properties are kept. Ed

Perhaps....Export the file to SVG format, open the file in your drawing program & copy / paste what you need. Ed

Inkscape is free and is used by a number of people in this topic. Ed

Rob, why don't you make 1 set and cast them in Resin? In the speed you make new models you will need a lot more.... Ed

Rob, they look excellent, the only thing I can think of if you need a lot is to make alignment pegs in the rings. That would make the assembly much easier. Ed

They also do black lettering, however you can't combine white lettering with another colour on the same sheet. You can combine black with all other colours except white. i have made lot's of decals in the past (I have had several OKI / ALPS printers) however for these prices you don't want to have a printer for yourself anymore. On an average A4 sheet there are 50 - 100 H0 - 00 decals so each wagon / loco will come down to less then 10p. The costs for Decalcompanies are not the printing of the decals. The hours of design / artwork, packaging & distibution are the costs. Ed

Why invest in an expensive printer if you can get an A4 sheet for a few pounds (€ 4,60 decalsheet included!)? See: http://ngrm-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/15926-how-i-make-waterslide-transfers/ Post # 14 Ed