Mike Harvey

19 minutes ago, DavidH said:

 

Possibly, because in Dave's interpretation of bookkeeping, this was simply income that is now spent?

 

Regardless of the right and wrong way of doing it, if you're treating the deposits as income for the company then presumably you won't list it as a liability once it's gone (regardless of statements made on here that the money was for a particular model [he did say the money was ring-fenced, didn't he? Or was that another collective assumption, like the re-mortage?]).

 

Somebody did write on here that Dave wouldn't provide a refund because DJM had already paid the VAT on the money. He would need to keep a comprehensive record of receipts to account for the VAT to be passed over to HMRC.  If he did not.....then HMRC may take an interest. A close acquaintance of mine ended up bankrupt because he had kept the records but not passed all the VAT due to HMRC, until they came for it and took just about all his realisable assets to cover the shortfall, in lieu of prosecution.

12 minutes ago, Reorte said:

May I suggest "train" is added to the title? As it is it reads, erm, badly.

Thanks. Title corrected.

Almost completely off topic. Reading the account linked to the photo reminded me of a recent incident on the SNCF TGV line leaving Paris. A train made up of two coupled TGVs (so 20 vehicles, and 865 tonnes) was stranded in a tunnel on a rising gradient as a result of an OHLE failure. Getting things moving took a long time - applying scotches to the wheels when the train was first immobilised, not being able to remove the scotches because the train had settled back on them pinning them to the rails - and a whole lot more.

Worth a few minutes with Google translate, so we realise that we are not alone in having problems starting with the OHLE. My rough translation attached below.

https://www.bastamag.net/incident-TGV-recit-conducteur-train-secours-rame-detresse-conditions-travail?var_mode=calcul&fbclid=IwAR2mLurMnos8xUhpKwr0RxQcdw3SdHocfhre9kSaugEPgrGlLp8GwmZp42c

TGV Failure.docx

The link describes in French the long story of how two coupled TGV sets became immobilised in a tunnel and how it took so long to rescue them. Literally a case of one step forward and two steps backwards.

https://www.bastamag.net/incident-TGV-recit-conducteur-train-secours-rame-detresse-conditions-travail?var_mode=calcul&fbclid=IwAR2mLurMnos8xUhpKwr0RxQcdw3SdHocfhre9kSaugEPgrGlLp8GwmZp42c

Of course no-one knows how many were not refunded, and whether the funds retained were spent on the project they had committed to. It seemed curious that if the refunds were inspired by Paypal's concerns about "money laundering" they did not just debit the money from the bank account linked to the Paypal account and effect the refunds themselves. In retrospect this was another of those "red flags" because there were probably insufficient funds to effect refunds to everyone in an already underfunded business. And what exactly were Paypal's concerns?

Or it might just be a joke, coming from a company which is the second biggest external creditor of DJModels Ltd.  Smiling in the face of adversity.

31 minutes ago, wasabi said:

It does seem strange that DJ took a two week trip to China at such a crucial point for his business, unless it was not a 'jolly' as some have implied but actually a last ditch attempt to stop the Chinese pulling the plug - the factory may perhaps have demanded  his presence for face to face talks. 

 

 

I remain unconvinced that he visited China in May.

The Caledonian Sleeper sets are now listed too.

http://www.revolutiontrains.com/product-category/ngauge/mark-5-coaches/

6 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi Mike,

 

I believe some of the South Wales as well as Ravenscraig PTA fleets were recycled as JSAs?

 

Cheers,

 

Fran

The initial batch with steel hoods certainly included originally Ravenscraig tipplers, and may have included South Wales stock. When the steel plate hoods were replaced with lighter weight alloy ones is outside my personal involvement, but it is possible that there were some additions also when this programme was underway.  The Rolling Stock Library records should show original numbers as well as new numbers. Either way I'd be in for some N gauge tipplers for the Mendip operations at Whatley and Merehead. Now who could possibly be enticed to make them?

The original JSA project (with the steel hoods) was managed from Llanwern with Marcroft Engineering at Stoke carrying out the conversions. I cannot at this juncture confirm the original operating base for the wagons as tipplers but a bit of digging around might throw up something. I have a photo of me somewhere presenting a large scale model (made by Appleby Enginering) to the Director at Llanwern.

Edit: The source was indeed the original Ravenscraig wagons in the BSRV26xxx series.

4 minutes ago, phil gollin said:

.

 

Talks of "Ponzi schemes" etc are ridiculous.

 

We don't know the real details, but the crowdfunding was for development  of the CADs, and they were developed to a certain point - AND have a book value.

 

Unfortunately that book value is now zero for some reason (presumably a dispute between Dave and the factory) that does not mean that the venture was not honest - merely that DJ and/or the factory were poor managers.

 

.

Maybe the factories are not poor managers and would like the crowdfunders' money to have been used to pay their bills. We will probably never find out where the money went, or what amounts were paid to the factories and when. But the disputes with all the factories/designers suggest to me that they might have been misled somewhere along the track.

2 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Good to hear that some people are getting refunds from their card providers.  

 

But as CG & Co are stilling trying to establish the extent to which crowd funding money went into DJM it is still worth letting them know what your exposure was in terms of number of items (if more than one) and the amount of money involved as well as, obviously, noting that your card provider has (or hasn't) already refunded your money under S.75 or whatever.  The latter would also give the liquidators an idea of how much money is likely to be sought by credit card companies etc who would presumably have become creditors.

Even those who achieved refunds from the credit card companies were creditors at the date of the liquidation decision, even if not claiming recompense from the liquidator. The deposits from crowdfunders still went into the company.

36 minutes ago, JimFin said:

 

I wish Rovex every success with his venture as I do think there is a market place for components others cannot readily produce themselves, but do hope he will address one of my concerns with Shapeways and that is is to publish photographs of the finished models not just a CAD representation.

 

Whilst I agree in principle with this point I can understand some sellers on Shapeways cannot print every file in every scale for the purposes of photography. Most of the small range of items I offer are variations around a basic coach bodyshell, where only the window sizes, spacing, and layout vary. I have tested the basic file and printed enough items to be able to show the key variations in photos, without having to print the whole range which would set me back about £700 upfront! That overcomes the problem caused by one designer (nowhere on RMWeb) who can knock out a detailed and accurate file in about 24 hours, offer it on Shapeways, only to discover a minor but material error in the drawing after people have placed orders.

As well as choosing materials, and the printing system, to suit the files, I have always tried to ensure that my design will fit a commercially available chassis and reuse components from a donor vehicle with that chassis. I accept that some people offer models on Shapeways as scratchbuilding aids, with the buyer finding his/her own solution to getting, say an EMU, up and running. I am sure that there is a place in the market for that style of product, provided it will print to an acceptable standard, and that the scratch-aid nature is clear in the shop description.

Continuing my 40+ year love affair with Corail compartment coaches, I have just placed 15 new models in my Shapeways shop:-

A5t2u Vu75 Téoz (2 versions)
B3Su Téoz (2 versions Vu78 and VU86)
B7uh Vu83 Intercités and TER (Sliding plug door for handicapped access)
B11u Corail, Intercités and TER - (4 versions Vu75, Vu78,Vu83, Vu83 sliding plug doors) (Vu80 available from Piko)
A9u Vu75 Corail and TER
A10u Vu78 Corail, intercités and TER (different from the Piko version)
A4B6u Vu75 Corail and TER
B6Du Vu86 (different from the Piko Vu78)
B12u B3t7u A6t5u Vu85 (Cabine Huit and TER)
B5uxh réversible - matches up with the cab module already available on Shapeways from "Les petits trains de Théo".

The bodies are designed to reuse parts from Roco/Fleischmann Eurofima whilst different in many ways (bogies and skirts) still look convincing with the new bodies on.

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/moving-buses

1 hour ago, Ryde-on-time said:

Not sure if there were proper comprehensive t&c's but if ordering an APT the order page states

 

"Important
Please note that so far there has been considerable outlay for this model including research and laser scanning. Therefore the money from this 25% deposit will go towards paying this, and the initial cad/cam design within China. It is the first installment of four that are required to finish and deliver this model, and as such you are therefore asked carefully consider this investment funding before you re-order."

 

This would perhaps explain where the money went and why the pot is empty, the deposits from the APT, King, 92 etc have been spent on the initial research, CADs (and trips to China) etc

 

https://djmodels.co.uk/product/br-class-370-apt-existing-orders

Every time I see the word "investment" mentioned on a pull from the DJM website I wonder If Dave Jones realised that he may have been conducting a regulated activity which may or may not have required authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority. A managed pre-payment/deposit might not be an issue but calling it an investment might change the legal status entirely.

3 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

Not quite; more one that mustn't deviate from its designated route with Control's consent to avoid it arriving facing the wrong way, or sending it past structures where it might be out-of-gauge (this latter applies most noticeably to MoD trains conveying 'Warrior' armored vehicles, which have been known to remove platform valancing)

Thanks for the explanation.

As someone who is now completely out of touch with train operations, does the X in the train description indicate a train where the direction of travel has to be reversed at some point to get the vehicles the correct way round for unloading?

And these Bristol VR photos come from Halifax, Nova scotia on 8 October 2008. There were several Routemaster operating there too, but I'll spare readers seeing more than just this one.

Turned up these photos taken in Denver, Colorado on 27 September 2007. The body builder's plate might help pin down its operator in the UK.

News item on the RevolutioN website.

http://www.revolutiontrains.com/kfa-coming-this-way/

12 hours ago, royaloak said:

Still no HC Viva, plenty of Fords from that era but thin on other brands again, saying that there are plenty of good releases in there!

I think that licensing issues are influential in what gets made, and some companies are better set up for it. But even the Ford licensing appears to introduce delays, plus requiring every package to bear the Ford license sticker. The JLR, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce etc comprehensive deals seem to work smoothly, but the recent Nissan release required a lot of time consuming back and forths.

Oxford mentioned these issues at the trade presentation, as reported in the first part of the excellent Model Auto Review resumés.

On 16/06/2019 at 06:56, Mike Harvey said:

Maz Woolley at Model Auto Review has published a report on last week’s Oxford trade presentation including photos of pre-production models in N and 0 gauges. Included in these are the new shapes for the Land Rover Discovery and Bristol MW coach in N.

 

http://www.maronline.org.uk/oxford-diecast-preview-part-one/

 

There is also comment on Oxford’s efforts to catch up on the backlog of releases.

The second part of Maz Woolley’s report is now online:-

http://www.maronline.org.uk/oxford-diecast-preview-part-two/

This part covers 1/76 scale.

Maz Woolley at Model Auto Review has published a report on last week’s Oxford trade presentation including photos of pre-production models in N and 0 gauges. Included in these are the new shapes for the Land Rover Discovery and Bristol MW coach in N.

http://www.maronline.org.uk/oxford-diecast-preview-part-one/

There is also comment on Oxford’s efforts to catch up on the backlog of releases.

Thanks to a link from David Calderwood on another site, he has advised that there are now right hand drive 1/148 scale Scania 141R cabs available from Benny Soehave:-

https://www.shapeways.com/product/76ERBV6JY/2-spare-cabs-for-rhd-scania-140-in-uk-n-scale

On 10 July 2018 Grahame showed an almost finished Ford D series cab obtained from the same designer. Page 10 on this topic:-

2 hours ago, grahame said:

Thanks for the list link, although it is difficult to discern from it which are the four that are the new unrealised shapes. Presumably they are ones announced some time ago now, but  have they added any in the last twelve months?

 

I am not implying that ODC have pulled out of developing new N vehicles but that it is the impression they seem to have given recently (especially to me) by the lack of new N model releases and because previously announced ones have not been released nor seem to have a date for release. That is not creating a false impression but is a comment based on the impression that they give me. It just seems that way currently.

 

Listing items for the 'future' does not necessarily mean they are being developed or will get released (as we have learnt with DJM). However, it does just seem to give the impression of a potential 'to-do' list.  It would be nice if ODC could quickly catch up on long made announcements of N vehicle models to demonstrate support for the scale.

 

G

I do not really want to prolong this, but I would like people to be well informed. I do accept that your impression is genuine but based on incomplete information.

The 1/148 scale items based on announced but not yet released shapes are:-

NDIS001           Land Rover Discovery 4 - Ipanema Sand

NDIS002          Land Rover Discovery 4 - Santorini Black

NGG001          Green Goddess - AFS 

NGG003          Green Goddess - RAF 

NMW6001      Bristol MW6G - Royal Blue 

NMW6002      Bristol MW6G - Hants & Dorset 

NSDF001        Shelvoke & Drewry Freightlifter - British Rail (Western) 

NSDF002        Shelvoke & Drewry Freightlifter - British Rail (Crimson) 

These shapes were announced in January and June 2018, and engineering prototypes were displayed at the London Toy Fair in January 2019.

In 2018 Oxford released 35 new items in 1/148, and announced 32 additions. So far in 2019 Oxford have released 9 items in 1/148 scale:-

January 2019 - 3 items

February 2019 - 2 items

April 2019 - 2 items

May 2019 - 2 items

I do not really understand your reference to the recent events with DJModels. Are you implying that any manufacturer with a list of announcements for future release should be considered not to be releasing those items?  Does that include Farish, Dapol, as well as Oxford as examples? As mentioned in the post above, and elsewhere on some retailers sites, last week Oxford were at pains to explain that they are trying to speed up deliveries of new items and reduced new announcements accordingly. As far as I am aware Oxford have never cancelled an announced model in 1/148 scale, although I accept that Dapol and Farish have.

Just for the sake of completeness Oxford 1/148 scale models are also planned in the Arnold range - 4 different food trailers, and two different Land Rovers included in flat wagon sets. These were announced in January 2019.