Snowwolflair

8 minutes ago, wellseasoned said:

 

 

All things said and done I do believe he should give some brief updates to those of us who have shown faith in him and parted with our cash. It does not need to be reams, just a couple of lines of project update to reassure people that things are "on track" 

 

It also serves as good P.R. when modellers speak to each-other. The sparse updates and not knowing where the model is at doesn't fill me with confidence to go for the Mogul. This must surely be the same for many others, so it's a sort of own goal he is scoring, but maybe he just doesn't recognise this?

 

Granted he has come in for a fair bit of stick from people, many saying when I actually see something from him then maybe I will part with my money. He would therefore do himself some great favours if he kept those of us supporting the King project in the loop (no pun intended...honestly)

 

I think we have to keep in mind that its been Chinese New Year for the last month, like Christmas + New Year+ Easter and a few bank holidays thrown in for good measure and nothing will have happened since late January (and probably since before Christmas), so probably nothing to report.

22 minutes ago, Vonzack said:

@bridgiesimon - Sorry no real update on the PXAs at the moment. I should have some time to pick all this stuff up now. I'll produce some of the brake gear, but will probably print it inside the wagon to keep the volume to a minimum.

 

@Marbelup - I thought the ripples were support residue too when I got the print as I'd seen something similar on the FUD Binliner containers, but it can't be removed and it is the actual surface. Weirdly and I think you can see this from the pictures, the insides of the wagon are smooth as are the buffer details and the top lip of the wagon side. I think on the 4th picture down, you can see where I've attacked part of the side to see if it would rub off. It's the only print to date that I've received like this and allot of my models have large flat sides, so I think it's just a printing glitch. When I order the next test print, hopefully it will be correct.

 

@Snowwolflair - I will have to give Heptane a go, is there one in particular you use?

 

Cheers, Mark.

It is sold as a generic chemical from chemical merchants just do a web search.

1 minute ago, Marbelup said:

Looking back at the photos from June 8, 2016, I am pretty sure the layering on the sides of the wagons is the residue from the wax support material used for Shapeways FUD.  I haven't ordered from Shapeways since I first started out in 3D in 2012, as I wasn't impressed by the residue, although some people seem to get good results with FUD.  I have had some success on wagons with similar overhangs by making the underside of the overhang slope upwards, which can elimate the need for supports of any kind while not being too obvious on the finished model.  I usually print in i.Materialise Standard Resin and, prior to that, their Grey Resin.

Heptane removes the wax completely, which you have to do to get good paint adhesion.

My knowledge of Chinese manufacturing is now about 15 years old and relates to automotive but back then the factory would claim to be the owner of the tooling you paid for even though they accept that you paid for it. This is very different from the EU where tooling you had paid for could be removed from any factory at any time subject to any contracted notice.

Absolutely it is still the case.

Its not just in China, it happens in Chigwell, Chester and Chelsea and insert any other place you choose too.

Almost nothing in this world is 100% perfect on the first go, everything needs rework.. ever had someone work on your house ? - Theres always something “discovered” that “must” be done, regardless the original contract, which is unfinished renders the end product incomplete, thats the reason for contingencies.

 

This is all hypothesis.

Last week i saw the new TPE express on test, complete with its upside down LED displays.. somewhere theres contingency for fixing things that must be done... minor, but suppose the doors didnt have mechanisms to open them.. the choice is to do it.. or have a train whos doors doesnt open, regardless fault.

I have a great travel story, from Eastern Poland, this pet shop ordered puppies from Ukraine, sold them to customers. months later they were growing a bit too big, turns out they were bears...

Another example is auditors on piece work... they estimate x items to be audited, but discover y.... Do you pay x, and ignore y, knowing your getting incomplete / missing data from the auditors ?

You deliberately misunderstand.

I order a cake and pay for it. When it’s ready the baker says it the cost we agreed plus the cost of three extra eggs and although I made the mistake of giving you the wrong price you have to pay for the extra eggs.

.

The term you refer to there is “Work At Risk”.

This infers the person doing the work would own the work, as it was their risk to do it without authorisation and ergo not received payment.

 

It happens, I recall a few years back a construction yard built an “insert” piece for a ship to make it longer, by cutting the ship in half and inserting in the new piece...

 

Only the company owning the ship folded before the ship arrived at the yard for the work, leaving the yard with the rather unique piece of ship insert !!!... that was working at risk !

 

Obviously we dont know if thats the case here ?

You are partially correct, however, In most of the world the additional authorised work to complete the work as specified in the contract is at the factories risk (the client must be asked for approval for the additional work).  In China its at the clients risk even though the client does not authorise the additional work to complete the contractually deliverable product..  You can easily see how this can be abused.  Its a bit like a cost plus contract.

A contract written in Chinese law doesn't allow the factory (for example) to change the terms or payments on a whim unless it's poorly written or unenforceable.

 

This notion that China is the wild west and they mistreat foreigners and rob them doesn't stack up when there is evidence of other companies trading successfully in both the world of MR and elsewhere.

 

There is an alternative that the Chinese factory were actually unpaid for work done...but no one seems to want to think that.

They are unpaid for work they did not get authorisation to carry out.

Any contract agreed in China (and Hong Kong) even if it is stated as primarily lawful in another jurisdiction is subservient to Chinese law.

Is this based on experience or hearsay ?

 

I now of 2 people who trade in China and they have less problems there than here.

Experience, I used to run factories in China

The game in China is.

Thank you for paying up front for the work we quoted for.

We have completed the work, however it has cost us more than we quoted. 

We were not obliged to tell you this or ask your approval under Chinese contract law.

Under China's contract law we are entitled to surcharge you for the extra work and we are not prepared to release anything until you pay the surcharge.

You can take legal action but you will loose in a Chinese court of law.

There is no legal limit to the amount they can surcharge and it generally varies based on how desperate they believe the customer is.

Dave advertises regularly in the mags, so everyone should be well aware of his products and plans.

Dave has been attending shows (photos have peen posted) and has been anticipating magazine coverage, which is typically unreliable and has a three month lead, as his promotion methods.  Without paying out large amounts for advertising he really does not have many alternatives.  Top this with the amount of deliberate bating he gets by a few Trolls (fortunately now subsided) when he does post you can understand his reluctance.

I always refer back to the Troll post last year on the NGF forum saying his class 14 was going to be released by Dapol.

A quick Google search also found this quote

"Do not be misled by 'model railway experts' saying the GWR always put assistant engines on passenger trains inside the train engine - that is a very misleading representation of a far more complex picture which depended on the size of engine of driving wheels, the engine's wheel arrangement, and whatever sorts of assistant were authorised at particular places.  Gradients were particularly relevant in that generally - and I suspect with only very rare exceptions or only over very short distances - it was not permitted to assist passenger trains from the rear over falling gradients.  Equally there were restrictions on the manner of assisting freights if there were any particular sections of rising gradient which involved a falling gradient."

What about people that model preserved lines with no turntable?

And running with a pilot loco 

Or two kings or three kings 

This has already been covered several pages back and it wont be a problem.

Its Warley tomorrow, I was told to expect something there.

I think he just get fed up countering the crap posted by a handful of people who go out of their way to do him down and spread false stories.  I sight the incident of the scammer posing on the NGF some months ago claiming his Clayton was going to be released by Dapol at TINGS

He does not have the emails of the original EIOs so you have to do a new EIO to join the party.  (GDPR data protection nonsense but he does not want fined for holding the old data).

So drop him a direct line and ask to be put on the mailing list.

Is Dave now intending to communicate directly with those who logged an EOI for this project? I've heard nothing yet.

I got a direct reply saying it was on track and looking for a good return from Warley.

Can we have an update on numbers please.

Can we have an update on numbers please.

Following the scam story about the DJ Clayton going to be a Dapol announcement at TINGS by a Troll on the N Gauge Forum last month, I have to say that any post that appear to be "exaggerating" or "over dressed" is getting a healthy degree of scepticism.

By the way, if you put a worm on a coreless motor you need to limit its play as a coreless motor can only rely on the motor case as a thrust bearing in one direction.  When the worm is forced towards the brush end of the motor case it sticks.  this is what happens when forced forward.  The fix is a brass tube to brace the worm against the motor case, which creates the other thrust bearing.

What interests me is that seven models passed through someones hands without this being spotted or understood.

 including the 1 hexagonal driving wheel. 

Definitely a Swindon works loco then 

A lot of people look at what they have left from their pay packet before they spend on non family items, so at this time of year family spend gets priority. 

Anecdotally I have been told model railway spending picks up sharply in the three weeks before Christmas, probably as they then know by then they have cash spare to spend on themselves.

For instance as an example of early Christmas spending, I have just paid for two City of Truro models from Union Mills and that is my Christmas present budgeted for back in July. 

No, most Christmas shopping is done in October & November apart from food, and if you look at the shops over the next two weeks Christmas will arrive.

I did not say retail.  Retail is obviously bigger in December because its too late to order online.