12/24/07 - Merry Christmas to all!

12/17/07 - Shown below are the master patterns for our first two sculpted figures. The coloring shown is the modeled material of which there are several grades used based on the detail required. The finished figures will be offered either as miniature bronzes or fully hand painted with exquisite detailing. The two figures are separate and free-standing and their pose recreates a classic scene often seen when children had the opportunity to get close to one of those steaming giants.The male figure is modeled after a 6' tall man for scale and as you can see, the figures offer a great sense of scale for the tremendous size of even an average locomotive. More information will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.

12/14/07 - We have been diligently working to get our new models shipped leading up to the holidays and we have had our hands full to say the least. Progress is being made and we will push on until everything is delivered as quickly as possible without compromising the final quality. Our efforts are now so diverse in terms of projects that help has been enlisted to deal with shipping as well as project research and development, more on this as time allows, but I wanted to take just a couple of minutes away from shipping to update a couple of situations.

The decision has been made to hold off bringing the PRR G22b gondolas into the country until after the Christmas holiday. Shipping volumes currently are ridiculously high and even if we had the models on hand we wouldn't be able to get them shipped out until after the H-8's and N&W cabooses have left the shop. As a result the final notices for this project were held and will go out in the near term, there has been considerable concern on the part of customers that their notices were lost in the mail, but that is not the case, I apologize for any confusion as I struggle to deal with an overload of work! The production models for this project have been completed, are all inspected, packed for shipping and just waiting to head to our shop in Clarkston.

I have had numerous inquiries about having our models weathered and I am happy to say that service will be offered in the near future on an exclusive basis to our model customers. Samples of this work are shown below, one of our PRR K-4's (above) and a Virginian C10 caboose (below). This weathering is permanent and sealed with a clear-coat so that the models can be safely handled without affecting the weathering detail. More information will be provided about this service in the very near future, but needless to say, I am extremely excited to be able to offer this service, it adds another dimension to our models and the weathering process is an art form in it's own right.

In the past we have discussed the idea of developing high quality figures to display with our models to provide some scale reference for the prototypes massive size, we have made progress on this as well. We contracted with one of the foremost figure sculptors in the world, Alan Ball in Switzerland developed our first offerings and I have just received the master patterns for our first two figures. The masters will be photographed in the next couple of days and the photos will be posted so you can see what the first offering will be. This also adds another dimension to what we collectively are trying to do with our model developmentt. If you would like to see the type and quality of work that Alan does, please check out his web site.

Well, it time to get back to inspecting and packing models for shipment, we are spending approximately 16-18 hours a day on this process so please believe that we are making every effort to get the models shipped as quickly as possible. I recently had a customer ask why it's always the holiday season when we are trying to get models to customers and I wish that I had a good answer for that question. We put a maximum effort into every aspect of the development and production of our projects, but it seems that the delivery timing always works out to be at the worst time of year. I wish that I had more control over this aspect of the business, but I will settle for being able to deliver the absolute finest models available when ever we can get them completed! I will continue to take the occasional break during our shipping to offer up more information about what is happening with our current projects and I have some great photos to share that document aspects of the model production that have never been shown in detail before, I think you'll find these photos fascinating so stay tuned.

11/22/07 - We would like to wish you all of our friends in the United States a happy Thanksgiving holiday season, a time to spend with friends and family. A special thank you and good wishes to all of our men and women in the armed services as well as all of those dedicated to foreign service who routinely spend many holidays away from home. You are an inspiration to us all, be safe and know that we care!

11/09/07 - Just a brief update to advise that our shipping efforts continue with our two latest projects, the Allegheny's and the N&W/Virginian cabooses. The process is getting a bit faster, but there is no quick way to ensure the overall quality of these detail laden models. Please keep in mind that, as we always do, we are delivering the models in the order in which we received the final payments from the reservation holders, all of the models will be delivered before the big holiday that we always seem to bang up against each year! We have a number of new projects coming on line in terms of development and there are more to be announced in the very near future. The long ago promised mail update is nearly complete and should be going out to everyone on our mailing list in the nest 1-2 weeks.

We are in a bit of an overload situation at this time so if you are trying to contact us, the most efficient way to do so is by voicemail or e-mail if you are unable to catch us 'in person' on the phone. Hearing from all of you is very important to us and we will get back to you as quickly as we can, please understand that we are diligently working to deliver models to those customers that have been patiently waiting.

7/23/07 - From the beginning of our model production we have routinely been asked about providing complete freight car truck assemblies for use on models other than our own production, until now we have not been able to do so. We have always been too overwhelmed getting our regularly scheduled projects completed to undertake the production of just trucks, but that situation has changed thanks to the effort of everyone involved in the production of our rolling stock. We are now exploring the possibility of offering limited numbers of completed truck assemblies (unpainted), but we need the input of those interested to make a final determination. We first need to develop a 'wish' list of trucks that are of interest to modelers and also determine if the market will bare the cost. We anticipate that the prices will range from $65-$75 (depending on style) for a pair of fully finished and assembled trucks, complete with all brake rigging, double insulated stainless steel Kohs & Company profile wheelsets running in stainless steel ball-bearings. These trucks would be built to the same level of quality as our regular production trucks in Korea, not China. If this is of interest to you, let us know what truck types you would like to see produced first. To make this offer has taken a bit of arm twisting with Mr. Sin our rolling stock builder, because quite frankly there is little profit to be made in the effort after factoring in all of the miscellaneous costs associated with the production and importation. We are looking at this situation more as a service considering the thousands of beautifully produced unfinished models that have been sold without trucks and with no suitable trucks available to complete the models. Please give us your thoughts, this is what many of you have been asking for!

7/06/07 - You will notice on our site index that we have updated several projects and we wish it were better news for several of them as we continue to struggle with our research efforts. You will also note that we have added a new project, the Norfolk & Western Class 'A', a continuation of our series of prototypes from that road. In the near future we will offer further adjustments to what we have planned as we need to work with projects for which we have adequate reference on hand. We will not be dropping any of the projects previously listed from our plans, we simply need to work around them until their reference is fully developed.

7/01/07 - Little doubt remains regarding what a master modeler Mr. Lee our builder is, but the photo below should give you further insight into what a talented man he really is. What Mr. Lee is holding is the rear engine bed of his personal project, a 1:16 scale Union Pacific 'Big Boy' ! All components are machined from solid brass stock, there are no castings utilized in what you see and when the model is complete, Mr. Lee intends to use a minimum of castings in the entire model in favor of machining as many components as possible. He is considering the very limited production of several units, so if you feel the need for something larger than O scale, this may well be just the ticket for your collection!

6/28/07 - Just a brief update to advise that we are now accepting credit cards directly for the purchase of our models and products. We have finally negotiate terms acceptable in all regards for our clients and we are pleased to offer this convenience for future purchases. Personal/business checks are certainly still preferred as that saves us all money, but in many situations the use of credit cards certainly can make things easier especially for our overseas customers since banks have started to charge rather high fees for the electronic transfer of funds.

6/04/07 - As a matter of explanation for our slow updates and more limited communication than usual, we have had our hands very full again dealing with multiple health issues in our immediate family. Understand that we are not vacationing, losing interest in our projects or anything of the sort, we have been forced to heavily prioritize our efforts to handle what has been thrown at us as effectively as we possibly can. All of our projects have been moving forward nicely despite what you have seen, or not seen, on our site and the individual project sites will be updated to reflect more accurately the current status as quickly as we can get to it. In addition to maintaining the pace with existing projects, we have been working on new ideas and quite frankly, some of these are among the most exciting we have considered to date. More information will be offered on the new once the old has been brought up to date! The demand for our models has never been greater and the future of O scale at least from our perspective has never looked brighter. We appreciate your patience as we work through our personal challenges, particularly those of you that are reservation holders for current projects. Being a small highly specialized company, it is not an easy task for just anyone to jump into the fray in the short term to speed 'things' up, so we have to rely on our finished products to 'carry the mail' so to speak in terms of securing our future and proving our seriousness of purpose. Please check back frequently for the very latest information.

5/06/07 - It has been several weeks since we have done a general update and it's time that we get caught up a bit on everything that has been happening in the interim. We will be updating individual project sites over the next few days and there is a new mail update in process which should go out to everyone on our mailing list in the next week or so. We will also be seeking input regarding our next projects and we will be offering information regarding our long anticipated passenger equipment projects. Please stay tunes for the latest information, check back soon and often!

2/06/07 - To avoid a lot of apprehension for some customers it should have been mentioned that the photo of the allegheny sample model below does not reflect the final paint detailing of the final production models. The white trim is yet to be added on the running board edge, handrails and tire faces.

2/04/07 - A new year is well underway and this is our first general posting to our web site and a fitting one it is as we attend our first show of the year in Nurnberg, Germany. We have tried to make a bit more room in our stand this year as the crowds have been much larger at least for us this time around. This year gave us the first sense of really 'belonging' here as part of the modeling community in this part of the world. It has been very gratifying to see the number of people, clients and general public alike, that have come looking for us at the show this year, in addition to the very generous coverage provided by more than a dozen magazines that have sought out our latest projects for inclusion in their pages. At one point on the weekend we had client visitors from five countries in our stand at one time, all meeting each other for the first time and discussing our projects together like old friends. Before leaving each made sure to exchange contact information to be sure that they could stay in contact with each other. It has been extremely busy, but below are the first of the images that we will post from the Toy Fair. The first image is a general overview of our stand location, the second image is of our new Union Pacific 'Challenger' sample which had caused quite a stir during the show and last but certainly not least is our first painted H-8 'Allegheny' sample. Needless to say, we will be posting a lot of new photos of the new sample models once they are back home in our shop.

We will posting some additional images from around the show so you can get an idea of what the atmosphere here is like, if the interest in model railroading is dying, you couldn't prove it by what we have again experienced here with the dedication of resources to this show by the major companies. We are among the two companies from the United States exhibiting this year, the other is MTH. More soon so please check back!

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