New Products On The
Horizon
There are 3 new products
in the works at the moment, a new Elastomeric Drive option for
the In-Line bogie, a complete powered chassis for Birney 4 wheel
street cars, and a car lighting device.
Elastomeric Drive
The Elastomeric Drive
option will soon be offered with the In-Line bogies, replacing
the existing train of 3 gears with a pair of pulleys and a rubber
band. The rubber is no ordinary rubber, but rather a synthetic
type called EPDM, with enhanced characteristics suited to this
type of drive. The band runs in a 'V' groove machined into the
brass pulleys for better grip.
This option has come about
due to the need to find ever-quieter drive systems, and this is
one way it can be done. The Elastomeric Drive also means a reduction
in the length of the In-Line drive, shortening the amount of overhang
at the front end. A tiny ball bearing supports the side load introduced
by the band tension to reduce wear.
The drive will
be offered in two gear ratios, 15 to 1 and 25 to 1, and will not
replace the geared version of the In-Line, but rather supplement
it. The drives are currently being tested prior to introduction.
A spare belt will be supplied with each unit, and the belts are
utter simplicity to fit.
Birney 4 Wheel Chassis
A Ready-To-Go chassis
will also be released soon for HO scale Birney 4 wheel trolley/trams.
This chassis will feature:
* Fixed 28mm wheelbase,
suited to 8 foot wheelbase Brill 21E trucks
* Mashima 1015 motor
with 15:1 gearing, both axles driven.
* Cast brass Brill 21E
sideframes.
* Etched brass life preservers
under both ends.
* Operations mode switching
between 2 rail DC, DCC and common rail with trolley pole switched
overhead.
* Provision for LED head-lamps
and interior constant brightness lighting.
* Choice of HO Gauge
(16.5mm) or HOm (12mm).
Car Lighting System
A versatile car (carriage)
lighting unit is soon to be released. This is a narrow printed
circuit board, 8.75mm wide (5/16") and up to 235mm long (>9").
The narrow board can therefore fit in the space of clerestory roof
cars.
The board features a voltage
regulator circuit that will drive up to 10 tiny white LEDs. There
are 37 LED positions on the board, spaced approximately 6.3mm apart.
LEDs can be placed in any 10 of the positions, such that the board
can be tailored to specific prototype passenger cars.
The board also features
a magnetic reed switch that allows the lights to be switched on
or off by waving a wand over the roof of the car. The on-off control
system can be daisy-chained throughout a string of cars so that
the entire consist can be switched on or off at one car.
The board is electrically
compatible with both DC and DCC systems, without requiring any
changes or actions by the user. The on-off circuit may also be
controlled by a DCC decoder, or even just a simple lighting decoder,
and as mentioned above, the control can be daisy-chained throughout
the train.
LEDs are available as
warm white, or blue tinged actinic white to suit cars with flourescent
lighting.
In order to fit a particular
car, the PCB board may be trimmed to length by simply cutting the
un-used end off.
There is provision to
connect a Super Capacitor (not supplied) to keep DC lights lit
when the train is stopped.
The lighting system comes
in a kit together with etched phosphor bronze pick-ups and wiring
to provide power collection from the car, screws and mounting tape
are also provided & a comprehensive instruction leaflet.
Installation of the kit
requires that the car be fitted with metal wheels insulated on
one side.
Rise in Production Costs
The cost of production of our products is rising
very fast. In the two years we have been operating, the cost of
producing a single BullAnt has risen by 75%.
This rise has mostly been
caused by the domination of China in the manufacturing business.
Metals are getting extremely
difficult to source as the overseas suppliers prefer to deal with
Chinese manufacturers in large quantities. Small operators, like
ourselves, are finding it difficult to get metals for a number
of reasons. Firstly the minimum quantities have risen to around
5 tonnes from the previous 500Kg, secondly the cost of some metals
has risen sharply, particularly nickel and copper.
In addition, Australian
companies are moving their production to China and selling off
their machinery,
so there is little demand for the metals anymore. As a consequence,
they are not being imported in Australia for us to buy.
The remaining manufacturers have had to increase
their prices to us as a result of these factors. Some products,
like wheels, have increased by 110% in price. And we have to hold
something like 250 different components on hand to make sure we
can build our products as sales demand.
The real danger is that by moving their production
of small machined components and injection moulded plastic to China,
the companies sell off the machinery and retrench the skilled employees
that operated that machinery. If there was to be a resurgence of
manufacturing, the skill base will not be there nor the equipment
to make the products.
So anyone who rejoices in
the fact that they are getting all those lovely ready-to-run
models made in China should
think very carefully about where this is leading. Companies like
Hollywood Foundry produce items that the Chinese will NEVER
PRODUCE,
and if we go down the gurgler because it is getting too hard to
do business, then you, the modeller, will be the ultimate loser.
We have recently acquired a small cam automatic lathe
in order to try and reduce our costs by making some of the components
we previously contracted out, but it will take time to refurbish
it and get it going. And guess where we got the lathe - from a
large company who has moved their production to China.
We
regret that a 10% price increase has taken effect from January
1, 2008.
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