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Supply Problems With Some Kits. |
I wish to apologise as some of my kits are in short supply or have run out at present as supplies are beyond my control.
This is due to a number of factors. The general one being components I source for inclusion are awaiting arrival or the manufacturer is taking their time to supply them to me. Occasionally they no longer produce them and as a result I will look for an alternative source. Sometimes unfortunately a kit is deleted because of this.
Brass etched items.
Recently most brass etchers in Australia that I use for component parts have closed their doors and this has left me little in the way of home grown people willing to do the etching at a reasonable price as previously. I can use some but their charges are 300% higher than what I was paying before and I'm sure you the modeller would not want a price hike this steep. I am therefore trying to source a reasonable etcher overseas willing to do trial runs plus production units of less than 10 sheets.
Laser timber for all my wooden kits.
I know it sounds like the old catch cry but you should BUY IT NOW as the source for micro ply has closed its doors as the invasion of cheap quality 3mm-9mm Chinese plywood has undercut their quality product and if they don't make their bread and butter lines they can't afford to stay open and hence stopped making micro ply as well.
Unfortunately this reality hit when I was at Hobson's Bay Exhibition in early 2008. As a consequence I tried to obtain as many of these expensive micro ply as I could afford. I was unable to obtain certain sizes and as a result some kits will be released once only whilst stocks of base materials are at hand. I'm as disappointed as you as I expected these laser kits to be my bread and butter lines for many years to come. The American version of the Finish Birch ply has more knots and are only available in small sheets. Mostly its a hassle to send to Australia unless you order $1000's of dollars worth at a time.
The Australian 1.5mm hoop pine from Brims I was using for underframes etc has also ceased production. This will make completing some kits even harder as I have enough micro 3 ply to do sides and roofs but not the underframes. I am currently looking for alternatives but nothing has come to hand as yet.
About Me.
As I work full time this is a hobby business I started to try and help others model N scale Victorian Railways by producing good quality kits at a fair price. I do all my own casting, packaging, researching, laser cutting/etching, designing, webmaster for Spirit Design and Victorian N Scale Collective Websites and also produce the Newsletter for the Collective as well as run their Yahoo website. Also amongst this spare time I have a family and the usual chores to do around the house plus family gatherings. I trust you'll understand that sometimes projected release times can slip a month or two.
News about my products regularly appear in AMRM and on the Yahoo Australian N Scale Groups.
Regards
Chris Pearce.