A4 E Skyhawk in 1/144

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

There is a so-called 1/300th sacle carrier which comes up on Amazon from time to time - its actually 1/600th but a nice model.

[Sunray]

There is a so-called 1/300th sacle carrier which comes up on Amazon from time to time - its actually 1/600th but a nice model.

It is a nice model in a 1/600 setting.  My 1/300 is again a bit of a wendy.  The hull is a toy around 1/400 and the island is scratch built with 90% bits from an old  Foch kit,  I use H&R aircraft.

[Sunray]

I've dropped him an email, no worries.

Many thanks Leon, it's not as if you have nothing better to do at Pendraken with two of the  machines  on industrial action.  They demand daily supply of WD40.

[Leon]

...it's not as if you have nothing better to do at Pendraken with two of the  machines  on industrial action.  They demand daily supply of WD40.

Annoyingly I'm having to drive two of the melting pots down to Keighley tomorrow to get them fixed.  And we've just paid £1000 to get the two laser machines serviced and repaired as well.  Equipment seems to have it in for me at the moment, as soon as we fix one bit of kit, something else breaks down!

[paulr]

Only 16,000 40x20mm bases to recoup that bill; ignoring the cost of the MDF, power, staff...

[Sunray]

Annoyingly I'm having to drive two of the melting pots down to Keighley tomorrow to get them fixed.  And we've just paid £1000 to get the two laser machines serviced and repaired as well.  Equipment seems to have it in for me at the moment, as soon as we fix one bit of kit, something else breaks down!

It is a pain.  The fact is the more complex and AI these machines become, the higher the service/repair costs.

The only consolation is that such costs are tax deductible.

[Steve J]

The bill for servicing our CNC machines, RP machines and Laser Cutter was horrendous, running at around 10K per annum and that was without parts costs!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ouch!

[Techno]

Stroll on !! 

Cheers - Phil

[Steve J]

Yep, they lure you in with 'cheap' purchase costs, then try and tie you in with maintenance contracts, which are 'cheap' to start with then soon rise within a few years. If you don't take the contract out, it can be weeks before they see you (you are presumably last in the queue) and then it costs a lot for even one visit!

[Techno]

Equipment seems to have it in for me at the moment, as soon as we fix one bit of kit, something else breaks down!

I've had the estimate done to fix me, Leon.

£15,000 was the absolute rock bottom price.....If you want the full works, they said you'll have to win Euromillions.

Cheers - Phil

[sean66]

Techno,
I've lived in Wales !
I think you have moved the decimal point four places to the right 
more like 1 1/2 P (do they still do half pences  :- )
regards
Sean

[Leon]

The bill for servicing our CNC machines, RP machines and Laser Cutter was horrendous, running at around 10K per annum and that was without parts costs!

Wow, hopefully we never reach that level!  We tend to pay for a full laser machine service every 12-18 months but we brought it forward after all of the PPE production.  I've never bothered with 'contract' maintenance as I find it's rarely worth the annual fee.

£15,000 was the absolute rock bottom price.....If you want the full works, they said you'll have to win Euromillions.

I'll have to check for 'nearly new' Techno's on eBay first I think, just to make there's not a cheap replacement available instead... 

[Steve J]

We had to keep them serviced for ISO quality control, PUWER regs, PAT testing as well as general H&S. We did have 3 CNC machines, 5 RP machines, 3 vac-casting machines and 1 laser cutter, hence the high overall cost.

[Leon]

Thankfully we don't need all of those just yet, just the PAT testing which gets done each year.