Welcome to the "Production guides" area.

for anyone waiting on "out of stock" items, here's some burrell front Axel castings....



we have also done foden front spring sets and 100's of leaf springs for the 4inch wagon and the bowser that are now ready for heat treating.

also most of the material for the bowser is now in the factory, so there you have it, we haven't just been sitting around re-enacting Micheal Barrymore's chocolate finger advert

very quick up-date...

the lyka water tank,fuel tank and master cylinder kit is going out this afternoon. the boilers are being tested this week.

the foden cylinder bolt on kit will be going tomorrow, still working on the roof kit (laser cut parts have arrived) and the crankshafts will probably be sent out as soon as we have the con road bearings machined (bronze on order).

now working on parts for the water bowser, 4inch wagon kit 3, and the next showmans kit. looking at stock and ordering material for the next lyka and foden kits.

some progress made on the Burrell Axels...

loads done... wagon kit 4 is nearly ready to go, foden crank-shafts ready to go, next foden kit on the way. lyka boiler cladding kit ready to go and the new burners arrived today, just in the middle of fitting up the control model.

showmans/road loco castings still not here but loads of work done on the boilers.

full up-dates and photos tomorrow.... promise

hello every one, welcome to 2011

just a few general points. first off, we are working flat out now to get the kits out for all models. there is a lot of time going into the showmans boilers and cylinders. these are basically taking up Marks time at the moment, but they need to be done.

lyka and foden are continuing at full speed with Steve tweaking the kits all the time

we also have a lot of "running behind" customers. basically these are customers who have joined the kits after the original start date or people who are having kits from stock. there are times when we need to produce parts for these kits as well for various reasons. the showmans hub covers below are a good example.

so at the moment we are producing all these at the same time. once the boilers and cylinders are done things should be a lot calmer.

OK, so a few showmans customers are waiting for their outer rear hub covers. basically we had to reject about a third of the original castings due to the lettering being substandard. the good news is these are now done and should be going out next week...



another part people are waiting for is the 2inch burrell boilers. again these are being done and will be ready very soon...



there is an ever growing list of parts that need revisiting but i guarantee you that we are working through them all

hello everyone. just a quick post to say normal "production updates" will resume very shortly.

not been too well these last few weeks, feeling really naff and getting constant motion sickness. turns out i have an inner ear infection thats upsetting my "balancing bits" and any type of visual stimulation has been sending my head spinning. so i've been avoiding using the computer as much as possible and had quite a few days off over the last few weeks.

seem to be getting better now so i'll get back to it.

good to see everyone's photos of the work thats going on. it really makes the forum into a place worth visiting. interesting things happening over the next few months so watch this space

craig

Craig

Not the best condition to be riding a bike with Also, its a bit late for writing on here, you should be in bed so your up birght and early for a good day's work.

Your probably in for a shock too if you have not been at work lately, the amount of progress the team will have made

Look forward to seing the updates again I certainly find it very informative, not as much fun as having a look round when collecting my DCC kits though.

Brian

Craig,

Your not alone.

I had swine flu. Been off work for what seems like an eternity.
Recovered from the initial flu but it's left me totally washed out and very weak.

I've been checking the site often while I've been layed up and was wondering where your much loved updates had gone.

As a result of the ilness I've fallen right behind
On the build.

3 kits now I think. Never mind.
In some ways it's not to ba as small issues should be ironed out by te time my kits arrive.
Not that there will be many but a build of this complexity there is bound to e a few head scratchers to deal with.

Look forward to the next update.

Nick

its not that I've been dizzy to the point of falling over, its just that my heads spinning. just like car sickness.

i can ride safely, its just a real struggle to get any power going. missed out on three weekend rides now and riding to work has just been a slow and painful chore.

been at work on and off but some days i would just wake up and couldn't even face getting out of bed. funny thing is, my ears don't hurt. but apparently that's what it is. not got anything for the infection, just pills that are basically travel sickness pills.

it don't help that this place is colder than most refrigerated warehouses

i have got some photos if the last few kits in production. showmans, lyka and foden. also the first of the showmans boilers is on the machine at the moment so will have some pics of this as well.

should get them on site tonight.

I don think youre alone with this loads of people have had it and on the radio and TV the doctors have been describing lots of people just unable to do anything. I've felt pretty crappy since early Jan and my business partner was very poorly over xmas. Hopefully the weathers beginning to brighten up now and will help lift peoples spirits, that and the prospect of seeing machines starting to look like the real thing.

quick look at what's happening in general at the moment...

the turning/lathe section has now stopped work and lee is helping out with the move.

the milling/manual and welding sections are still working and are currently on the showmans/road loco cladding and ash-pan kit. mark is actually machining the first batch of cylinders now.

over the last couple of weeks we have got the boilers out of the way, including the machining of boiler barrels for showmans/road-loco, foden and burrell.

also managed to clear some of the back log on stock items.

the lyka bodywork kit is nearly ready and we have started some parts for the next kit.

got to admit im a bit lost on where the foden is now but we have been working on the next two kits, im just not sure whats gone out yet i'll have to get an up-date on that.

general speaking the factory is in even more of a mess than usual. the team is split between the two buildings with production continuing in the current place and prep work and moving of stock going on in the new place. production will stop by the 28th so we can move the machines, and hopefully they will be working again within two weeks

sorry guys, no photos tonight as my PC monitor has just given up

all the photos are on the PC and now i cant get to them. now coming to you from my daughters lap top.

I'll have to re-take the photos tomorrow

craig@STW wrote:sorry guys, no photos tonight as my PC monitor has just given up

all the photos are on the PC and now i cant get to them. now coming to you from my daughters lap top.

I'll have to re-take the photos tomorrow

That's where remote control and shared drives come in handy. Know what you mean. I had 2 rather expensive graphic cards die within a week of each other.

well i tried to restart it to get the monitor going again but no luck. now i cant see to log in, other wise i could get to my files as are both networked together

Hi Craig

If you have a network share setup you do not need to be logged in to access it form another computer as it only needs to be sitting at the logon prompt.

OK, I'll try that. thanks

OK, another general post so this seems to be the best place for it.

we do plan to get a kit out to all builders before Xmas...

2inch Burrell: the 2 inch builders will get their kit 2. planned date is the 19th

4inch Burrell: the 4 inch builders are a kit ahead so will get their kit 3. just finishing chimney bases and large name rings. planned date is the 19th

Foden: foden builders will get their windows kit. not sure of kit number. just some metal forming to do on this.

Lyka: the lyka wiring looms are ready. before the kit can go out we have to fit it to the control model so we can take the photos that will appear in the instructions.

showmans/RL: the showmans/RL builders will get their Kit 26. this is the water fittings kit and is now 99% done. needs packing. we would like to get out kit 22 as well. we are waiting for delivery of the gears anytime between now and Xmas. we have very little work to do once they are here. if we can get this out in time for last post we will, otherwise it will be early January (assuming the delivery arrives)

I think I speak for most when I say we really appreciate you getting kits to us for Christmas. For those that work and have a week off over the festive period it means we get some extra free days to work on our builds I'm aiming to get the first coats of paint on during that week!

When you say you are aiming for a date I presume that date is the day of dispatch, correct?

Cheers Craig et al!!!

yes, dispatch date

hello all. just a few things on production in general.

it's been an interesting couple of months at STW. as has been said already, we have had a few staff issues, with one guy off due to illness, others taking the last of their holiday and yes, we did loose our CNC turner. Mark has had a crash course on turning and is now getting up to speed on that. i have been running the mills on my own, welding and manual have had to be covered by one guy.

so things have been slow but steady.

in all honesty i haven't given any time to updating the forum. i will get you the bare minimum as and when i can and as i always say, don't be afraid to prompt me if need be

Craig

just a quick update on whats happening at the moment.

showmans/road loco... the next kit is currently in steve's hands. i believe its the roof.

Burrell 2inch... the cylinder blocks are nearly ready to go.

Burrell 4inch... mark is currently working on a batch of cylinder blocks.

foden 6inch... currently working on the rear Axel boxes.

foden 4inch... yes we are starting a new batch this month. all the material for kit 1 is in and awaiting machining.

traction wagons !!... you will be please to hear that the first kit folders for this have been issued

generally speaking we are rushed off our feet. the new CNC machine is now fully working and dean and mark are doing their best to get to grips with the programing.

mark has recently been working on DCC boilers, burrell boilers, DCC cylinder blocks, burrell wheels and DCC wheels. all of these are very hands on and all have to go on our large CNC, so there has been a bit of a bottle neck there.

the rest of us are busy on current production and the odd job to top up stock levels

hello people, long time no see !! i apologize for the lack of updates lately (had a funny few months but i won't bore you with the details).

i have taken photos of the current production items and will get you an update posted up either tonight or tomorrow morning.

i'll also try to get at least one update a week from now on.

as a little teaser for now, we are working on the showmans roof kit, 6 inch Foden steering kit, 4 inch burrel steering and we have the wood in for the showmans wagon chassis.

craig

Craig

It sounds like you have set the SWT team a busy production schedule. I look forward to seeing some photos of the next 6” Foden lorry kit. Thanks for keeping us all updated.

Bill

Afternoon Guys, any updates on the first kit for the 4" Single Crank Compound ?