Next Kit planned?

Having got the weekend out of the way now and pretty much finished assembly of the tender I wondered what the thoughts were for the next kit. I can see from the work needed that it is unlikely to be the back wheels as they also need the castings that are slow. So just wondered what you might be putting together or are the castings arriving shortly?

Kev.

Hi all,

Having nearly completed the tender build, should I put the water tank top on first before sealing with the fuel tank sealer? If so there is a big hole on the top which isn't likely to help with sealing it all up. Any one any ideas please ?

Just a tip, it may be of use - I used a flat sheet sander with 80 grit to clean up all the tender parts - worked a treat.

Cheers

Rick

Hi Rick

I have just sealed my tender tank this weekend. I used POR 15 as I have on my MK 1 Burrell and the Foden. This time i painted the tank ....... Befor I used to swill it round in the tank. I then put the tank top on. I was worried that the brake tube would not get enough sealer on it and could rust hence painting it. I found that by putting pleny of sealer on the joints it would run through which it seems to have done.
Hope this help Mike

Hi Mike,
yes that helps! So seal everything then put the lid on and seal as best as you can afterwards. Only problem being Frost are out of the POR 15 sealer - must have had a run on due to 30 Burrell tender kits going out together!!!

They say 3 weeks for the next lot, so I hope i won't have to clean it all up again. Do you need the whole kit or just the tank sealer, do you know ?

cheers

Rick

Hi Rick Sealed 3 tanks now and only used the POR 15 and not all the cleaners etc they say you need . Common sence is as good as anything , just make sure there is no grease or muck on the metal. I just wipe it all down with spirit wipe first. Cheers Mike

Kev,

In answer to your original question about the next kit:

We only really have two alternatives until the castings arrive, Kit 9 the Hornplates or Kit 17 the Belly Tank. We would rather produce one of these than miss a month with the belly tank looking favourite at the minute.

We are hoping that everything is back on normal schedule by the end of May.

Dean.

OOOHHH the belly tank would be really quite nice as its not like anything on the first engine we have all built so would be something completely new. Steve did mention that there were possibly more rivets bolts in this kit than the tender So ,maybe thats not quite such a joy to look forward to. The hornplates will of course be very similar to those we did for the SC, but anything is progress and keeps me in the shed.

the next kit will be the horn-plates. the laser cuts arrived today and are already being machined. there's lots to do but its now top priority and should be done by the end of the month, if not early June.

i'll do a proper production update tomorrow with some photos

craig

Hi craig,
How's things going with the Hornplates ? Any news - will Kit three follow on end of June ?

Not chasing particularly, just nice to have an idea.

Cheers

Rick

I have to say I'm starting to feel like Showmans/Road locos are the poor second cousins in the STW family instead of the flagship models. I realise that things have conspired to make monthly kits releases a little difficult but we dont seem to get anything much in the way of news even when somethings in production. The current ad in Old Glory doesnt make it any easier to be patient. I came across the letter that was sent out in January regarding planned schedules which reads as follows:

Kit 3 Delivery likely end of March

Kit 4 and 5 expected to ship in April to bring us back on schedule.

Can you try and inspire some confidence in us that things will pick up so we can try and finish in the expected time frame otherwise were likely to run into 2013.

OK, fair enough, there have not been many updates lately, this is my fault and mine alone,i apologize. all i can say is i have moved house this month and i do a full days work at STW, full time cycle commute and come home to feed and bath 3 kids as my wife works in the evening. forgive me for then wanting to simply get some sleep at the end of the day

we have been working very hard this month, two lyka kits done and another two started, two foden kits done and the drop-down sides kit and we are halfway through the showman's horn-plate kit, why ??? simply to try to get ahead so that we can get the showman's back on schedule when the castings arrive.

kit 3 is now in the system and should be done by the end of June, but as always, im not going to promise unless im sure i can deliver.

i can inspire as much confidence in you as you want if you want a lot of BS, but im not going to do that. honesty is what you will get, i feel you deserve that.

i'll go and post some photos, now

craig...

Might I point out at this time that it is STW who promised a monthly kit delivery and this is the third incarnation of this company. I would have hoped that by now the time frames needed for various items to be bought in or machined could be factored in. I am only voicing what a number of builders have said in the last few weeks and I think we have all been very patient.

On a number of occasions I have recommended people to look at STW as an opiton for obtaining a model like this and carry a number of all the leaflets in my trailer which I give out at rallies. I have also recently defended the company to someone who told me I must be insane for giving STW a second go at sending me kits as they were very negative. I have met both Steve and Dean and hold the company in high regard and felt very guilty about not finishing the first Burrell so really want this venture to suceed but also from the DCC builders point of veiw hearing that a number of other models have had not one but two kits completed in the last month or so is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

I dont feel I can appreciate the workload not having visited the factory but it is not a personal attack on your abilities.

the other models had two kits "made" so that we could make the best use of the time available to us while waiting for the showmans castings to arrive. two kits have not yet been dispatched. these two kits have very small batch quantities (9 and 15) the showmans is a much larger undertaking at 30+ kits being made

the time saved next month on not having to make these kits will be spent on the showmans kits, would you rather we sat reading the paper all day ??

we had done what we thought was necessary to "factor in" delivery times, these parts were ordered last year, however we have been let down by our supplier. these are brand new suppliers that were not used during the Modelworks days. we took this "risk" to avoid getting the type of substandard castings that had been provided to modelworks at times. we honestly tried to go down the route of quality rather than speed.

when it became obvious that we could not deliver kit 3 on schedule we had to look for an alternative kit. many parts of these models have to be made in a certain sequence, we had to look for areas we could manufacture without risk of making parts that would not fit. the tender kit was not a small thing to turn around in a month, but we did it. as i've said before, we can make you as much as you like as soon as you like, but it probably won't fit together. please don't underestimate what we do

on a personal note, i have also been through all versions of this company, worked myself into a state of stress, fought a loosing battle against impossible schedules, actually done the impossible to get things made, lost my job twice (with all the money problems that came with it), seen many of my respected colleagues loose their jobs and struggle to get by but i too came back. why ??? STW is NOT modelworks or any other version of it from the past. it is now owned and run by two hard working passionate people who finally have FULL control of the way they run the company and also have a lot to loose.

we have come up against problems with suppliers on the showmans model but we have tried to be honest and open about it and provide alternative kits to dispatch. we are proud of this model, it will turn heads when its complete and it will be completed as close to schedule as we can manage.

i will try to keep the updates coming more regularly in the future.

i thank you

craig

Craig,

for what it's worth I think you and the rest of the team are doing a brilliant job.

I'm happy as I'm sure a majority are to go with quality rather than speed.

You just take as long as you need and don't go
stressing over it.

I do agree with more regular updates and lots of photos.
It helps pass the time when we are sitting here eagerly awaiting the next box of goodies to arrive.

I know you have come up against problems with suppliers etc ad I'm sure there will be more delays ahead but so far so good.

There are always going to be those who want delivery on time every time regardless of all the other factors that go into delivering 30+ kits relying on suppliers delivering from overseas on time.
To be honest I think this was impossible from the outset.

Thanks for continuing to be open and honest
and may te excelent work continue.

Nick

thank you for your comments nick. we will continue to try and stick to schedule as much as possible, we have no intention of letting things run indefinitely.

i will try and keep the up-dates regular. i agree they are great for the customers and i am happy to take the time to do them.

i have not (and will not) take offence by any comments of the type highpressure has made, i would much rather people felt they had the chance to air their views, and hopefully give some of the answers you want to hear. that is what the forum is here for

craig

Hi all

I just want to add abit to the recent comments about the DCC production. Nothing would give us more satisfaction than to get production back on schedule. We've been working very hard indeed to try and achieve this. I just seems that recently every time we take a step forward we're hit with further delays from our suppliers. Most of the castings (but not all) are now in for kit 3. The orders were actually placed for these along with the castings for kit 4 and 5 back in December 2009. Difficult to factor in these sort of delays. Delivery was initially promised to us towards the end of March. As soon as we were notified of potential delays we started working on kit 7 (the tender). The drawings were completed for all the tender accessories (kit 08) and were sent off for quotation the same month. We placed our order for these at the end of March.

I couldn't pull forward any other kit until I was sufficiently confident about the design. The Hornplates interact with pretty much every major part of the model, the design had to be finished before I dare consider this as a possible alternative kit. As soon as this was achieved orders were placed and as you've seen are now in production.

I suppose in some ways we've made life difficult for ourselves. It would have been so much easier and quicker to have copied the LSM design for their Showmans engine, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as what we've got now. I firmly believe that whether you're building the Showmans or Road Loco version they will be some of the most impressive engines at any rally. So when Kevin meets the guy who said he must be insane then I think Kevin will have the last laugh.

You might rightly say that we should consider changing supplier to one that can deliver when promised, but it takes a long time to build up a good relationship, infact some of the delays have been caused by our supplier rejecting substandard castings. I and I'm sure you, would also prefer quality rather than anything else. This is the first time that we've experienced substantial delays with this supplier and I know they're working hard to correct things.

In the mean time, I thought you would be interested in the status of other kits:

Kit 03 Smokebox. Remaining items expected in next couple of weeks.
Kit 04/05 Rear Wheel. Castings now expected in June. Rims expected next week.
Kit 08 Tender Accessories. Orders placed. Delivery expected June/July.
Kit 09 Hornplates. In production.
Kit 10 Bearing Housings. Casting quotes received. Orders due to be placed next week.
Kit 11/12 Cylinder. Order placed last month. Pattern is currently being made.
Kit 13 Cylinder Components. Not even worth thinking about until cylinder samples received.
Kit 14/15 Boiler. Boiler barrel ordered. Orders for plates will be placed in June.
Kit 17 Bellytank. Drawings being done currently. Could be another kit to pull forward!

Having said all of the above I do accept that it our responsibility to deliver but we will not knowingly deliver poor quality. I would far prefer critisism on delays rather than poor quality.

Regards

Steve

p.s. You're always welcome to visit our workshop. I'm sure we could find a couple of machines for you to clean out.

Hi All

Further to my recent update about the status of future kits for the DCC, I can confirm that I placed the order for the patterns and castings for Kit 10 today. This kit contains all the bearing housings for the crankshaft, 2nd shaft and rear axle. Some quite large and complex castings.

Regards

Steve