herbieham wrote:
OK,
photos to come
I have recieved my hull
A few words,
yes, I have expressed at times great frustration about getting it, and Tim has been very contrite.
The hull is simply magnificent
I learnt a few things today.
Tim, thankyou, you delivered
For those waiting, I have never met a more honest man in my life, he will deliver, I have had an insite into his life, and the fact that he has not
dropped it all and walked away, when almost everyone else wold have, is amazing
He has, and I saw with my own eyes, gone a long way to catching up.
So if you are waiting too, your hull is coming
If you want a hull pretty quickly, order one that is available already, I think you will get it pretty quick
I am so looking forward to getting stuck back into building, I am confident what I have built will fit in nicely
I am going to aim for a Christmas commissioning
Photos to come!
Hi Herbie,
I appreciate what you’ve said above, when I commit to a customer, I’m committed to getting the job done, It’s just been a struggle for years.
Glad your happy, I know I’m certainly happy you have your first Kongo hull.
I haven’t laid up your second hull yet, but it will be next week. I’ve been finishing 10 hulls off of various types, all of which will ship out this week. I’m in a hurry to get as many hulls done before it gets too hot.
For everyone else,
I’ve seen comments about how “ridiculous” it is that Herbie waited five years for his hull, and it IS a ridiculous amount of time to be waiting. I never ever thought it would take that long, the Kongo build was a struggle for me for a number of reasons.
Most people understand the value of getting on a roll with a project. When your tools and time are set up and you can focus on only one hull master, you can get a lot done. I struggled for years to commit enough time to build the Kongo plug. It might take a week to lay up the Kongo mould or a hull, but the plug took 3 solid months this year to complete, when it was already built ready for shaping, 5 weeks to plate and detail the hull alone. Ask any kit manufacturer or professional hull builder and they will tell you of the cost in money and time to launch a new product. While I’m working on a big hull, nothing else gets done, I’m a one man show in a small shed(way too small). It only costs money to build hull masters, so it’s an investment long before you make much money.
Southern Cross Models has been the biggest battle of my life, and I’ve had some battles. When I started it I had basic Joinery tools, skills and model building knowledge, that’s it. I took over the double garage, built cupboards and benches and over time bought tools and equipment needed for this unique occupation. But if I knew how hard it would be to build a decent product range to make it worthwhile, I would never have started.
In the five years that Herbie waited, I did add many new products to my range and caught up a lot, these were products that were in the works for longer than the Kongo. if any of you have seen my coming soon page on my website, you’ll see that I’m still catching up and will be fully caught up sometime in 2021.
I have about 45 hulls in my range, I’m working towards a hundred over the next 5 years. I have another 25 hull masters well under way in various stages of construction, most are not on my website yet.
Also note that as my work gets more widely known and my sales increase, it’s making it harder to spend time on hull master construction. A catch 22 situation.
Many hulls I keep in stock and I can lay up available hulls in my range fairly quickly.
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