Topic: My new Victoria arrived BROKEN, what do I do? (Read 3283 times)

Muleears · « **Reply #35 on:** January 26, 2012, 08:43:19 AM »

Now I have a new letter which sounds like pure and utter BS to me. Let me point out that I live just outside a large metropolitan area. Here is the latest from MiniSteam:

"UPS declined the insurance claim. It was costly to send the boat to you. It does not make sense to send the same boat in the same packaging by the same service to the same address.

We will still carry the boat but we can not take the risk shipping to your area.
Sorry
Doug"

I don't know what's going on here but I'll buy nothing else from MiniSteam. Anyone know where else (in the US) I can get a Victoria?

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #36 on:** January 26, 2012, 10:47:42 AM »

Hi there, have you tried an email to Jotika LTD, they are a uk based company who has a distributor in the US, I am sure they will be able to help, alternatively, A Model World, also based in UK but very helpfull and very reasonable pricing. Good luck with your search.
Regards,
Nick.

http://www.jotika-ltd.com/

A Model World - RC Model Boats - Never beaten on Price or Service
www.amodelworld.co.uk/

Circlip · « **Reply #37 on:** January 26, 2012, 01:44:20 PM »

Pity you don't know anyone in the USAF and get it "Transported" via Mildenhall, Lakenheath or Fairford.

Regards Ian.

Muleears · « **Reply #38 on:** January 26, 2012, 03:44:10 PM »

Quote from: pettyofficernick on January 26, 2012, 10:47:42 AM

Hi there, have you tried an email to Jotika LTD, they are a uk based company who has a distributor in the US, I am sure they will be able to help, alternatively, A Model World, also based in UK but very helpfull and very reasonable pricing. Good luck with your search.
Regards,
Nick.

http://www.jotika-ltd.com/

A Model World - RC Model Boats - Never beaten on Price or Service
www.amodelworld.co.uk/

Thanks Nick, I sent an email to Jotika-Ltd, we'll see what happens. I have also requested a full refund from MiniSteam. Through this action they have lost me as a customer.

Muleears · « **Reply #39 on:** February 05, 2012, 02:37:42 PM »

As an update on my quest to get a Victoria, as mentioned I sent a letter to Jotika Ltd. and got an immediate response from John Wright. Mr. Wright told me he would forward my letter to Mr. Krick himself and he was sure Mr. Krick would be in touch with me soon. Well it has been over a week and I haven't heard anything from Mr. Krick or Mr. Wright even after a reminder letter. The only positive note in this so far is I have gotten a full refund from MiniSteam. I had no idea it would be so hard to buy one of these kits. It astounds me. I am not sure where to go from here... As I see it my only option may be to buy one from the UK and pay an additional $70+ shipping and run the risk of damage again. I am open to suggestions....

Muleears · « **Reply #40 on:** February 06, 2012, 08:56:20 PM »

I received a letter from Mr. Wright at Jotika Ltd that informs me that Mr. Krick is at a toy expo in Nuremburg and he is sure Mr. Krick will solve my problem upon his return. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I did find another source for the Victoria in the States but it was $98 more than I originally paid...

HS93 · « **Reply #41 on:** February 06, 2012, 10:26:31 PM »

are the two splits shown the only damage done in transit, if so a drop of aliphatic resin or whatever you are going to use to build it would have fixed it in seconds, far less time than all the emails etc that you have sent from what I gather the part is even coverd ? sorry its a kit if you read Neil's post on how a kit or 3 are put together you will see that there is not a lot of profit for the manufacturer , you have found that it is the cheapest you will be able to get one by far so just stick it. when you start building you will know doubt break other parts or cut them a fraction short etc that is what happens with kits you have to learn to fix these little problems as you build or every kit you buy will be scraped at the first hurdle, this might sound harsh but kits are kit's a kit of parts you have to fit together.

Peter

Muleears · « **Reply #42 on:** February 07, 2012, 01:50:46 AM »

Quote from: HS93 on February 06, 2012, 10:26:31 PM

are the two splits shown the only damage done in transit, if so a drop of aliphatic resin or whatever you are going to use to build it would have fixed it in seconds, far less time than all the emails etc that you have sent from what I gather the part is even coverd ? sorry its a kit if you read Neil's post on how a kit or 3 are put together you will see that there is not a lot of profit for the manufacturer , you have found that it is the cheapest you will be able to get one by far so just stick it. when you start building you will know doubt break other parts or cut them a fraction short etc that is what happens with kits you have to learn to fix these little problems as you build or every kit you buy will be scraped at the first hurdle, this might sound harsh but kits are kit's a kit of parts you have to fit together.

Peter

Peter,

I agree with you, had I realized from the start that this was the sub-deck that was split I never would have sent it back. My fault for not being familiar with the kit and its construction.

irishcarguy · « **Reply #43 on:** February 11, 2012, 09:27:35 PM »

My advice to ANYBODY shipping anywhere in the world, DO NOT USE UPS. I ship & receive lots of auto parts on a regular basis & I will not use UPS. I will also not allow any supplier to ship to me using UPS, if they insist I will not buy from them period. In all my years ( over 10 years) until I stopped doing any business with UPS either shipping or receiving, I have never received or shipped anything with UPS that did not cause me a problem & I never collected a dime on a damage claim. I have the letters & documents to prove it. My biggest loss was over $1400.00 & not one cent refunded. One of their regular staff told me he would never ship by UPS, he used another company, not a ringing endorsement I would say. However I have never had a problem with Fedex, it may cost a little more but no hassles. I have shipped & received parts in excess of $200,000.00 some years so I have lots of experience with shipping companies, believe me. Mick B.

Jerry C · « **Reply #44 on:** February 11, 2012, 09:46:23 PM »

I once had a box of foam aeroplane wings deivered by Australia Post and right in the middle it had a hole that was the exact shape of a forklift blade, sent photos and a letter to them and was told It should have had a layer of 3mm ply either side to protect the foam wings.
Fought it and won the complete value back but I would love to know who sells the 3mm ply that is impervious to forklift attack!

muleears · « **Reply #45 on:** April 11, 2012, 09:23:57 PM »

Well, I have decided to try again. This time, since they won't ship to my address I'm having it shipped to a friends house in a nearby city. Hopefully have it next week and get started next weekend. I'll probably start a build thread then. Actually, due to my lack of experience and no one nearby, it will actually be a question asking thread! Wish me luck, both with the shipping and the build.

Tug---Kenny · « **Reply #46 on:** April 11, 2012, 09:47:21 PM »

Ask away, we love to help.

ken

muleears · « **Reply #47 on:** April 12, 2012, 09:43:45 AM »

Quote from: Tug---Kenny on April 11, 2012, 09:47:21 PM

Ask away, we love to help.

ken

I have a PMR 8M twin for the motor and a Macsteam 3.5" horizontal boiler. Does this sound like a good power supply for this boat? I originally bought this pair for an African Queen but the 'Queen was only 30" long and I realized the motor and a full boiler would probably sink the boat!

kiwimodeller · « **Reply #48 on:** April 12, 2012, 11:58:52 AM »

Muleears, I have fitted the PMR V Twin in a 42" Kingston Mouldings hull and it pushed that along really easily so for the Victoria I am sure you will have power to spare. Just make sure you mount the propshaft in such a manner that you can fit a big prop. Based on my experience I think you will need to fit at least a 3" diameter prop and it might be better to get a Propshop steam prop which has more pitch than the diameter. That way you might get away with perhaps a 2.5" prop with a 3.5" pitch. You need to load the engine up and keep the revs down so it does not use too much steam. Hope this helps, Ian.

muleears · « **Reply #49 on:** April 13, 2012, 12:22:24 PM »

Ian, that's great advice

! I would have thought of shaft placement about the time I tried to put the prop on for the first time which probably would have been too late! So you think the 3.5" Macsteam will provide enough steam?

The Victoria II will be in my hands Wednesday.

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #50 on:** April 13, 2012, 06:41:57 PM »

Hi Muleears, I have a 3.5'' Maccsteam horizontal in my Victoria and an SVS 10mm bore engine with a 65mm coarse prop and it runs like a goodun, I get about half an hours run on a boiler full of water with no extra feedwater. There is a link to a couple of utube videos of the engine trials down at my local lake. Unfortunately, I am using my phone at the moment so cant copy and paste, but I have posted them elsewhere on the forum. To save space, I made a disk coupling from a Meccano wheel, only takes up about half an inch instead of the two inches or so required by a Huco type coupling. Mounting the boiler with the funnel towards the engine looks better, and you can then mount the gas tank close up to the burner to allow some radiant heat to keep the gas warm.

muleears · « **Reply #51 on:** April 14, 2012, 10:47:22 AM »

Quote from: pettyofficernick on April 13, 2012, 06:41:57 PM

Hi Muleears, I have a 3.5'' Maccsteam horizontal in my Victoria and an SVS 10mm bore engine with a 65mm coarse prop and it runs like a goodun, I get about half an hours run on a boiler full of water with no extra feedwater. There is a link to a couple of utube videos of the engine trials down at my local lake. Unfortunately, I am using my phone at the moment so cant copy and paste, but I have posted them elsewhere on the forum. To save space, I made a disk coupling from a Meccano wheel, only takes up about half an inch instead of the two inches or so required by a Huco type coupling. Mounting the boiler with the funnel towards the engine looks better, and you can then mount the gas tank close up to the burner to allow some radiant heat to keep the gas warm.

Great advice Nick, I am not familiar with the Meccano wheel? I'll do a search and see what I find. Using the horizontal boiler am I going to have a problem fitting everything in, or will all the weight be too far forward? Did you mount your motor/boiler setup on one piece of wood/metal or are they seperate? Ian had suggested the PropShop, I found a 2.4" prop with a 4.1 pitch, is that similar to yours? Will my PMR V twin opererate at a similar RPM to your SVS? I had already viewed your vids, they were great. Looked like a nice place to run your boat too. I will be using a lake. Most likely early morning when the water is calm. It's good to know someone else has a similar setup and has been successful with it. I am sure I will be asking plenty of questions! Thanks!

kiwimodeller · « **Reply #52 on:** April 14, 2012, 12:00:32 PM »

Muleears, I used a 4" diameter vertical boiler with the V twin but the Macc 3 & 1/2" horizontal would probably hold as much water and horizontal boilers are more efficient than vertical ones. You can read about the "why" on the Maccsteam website. Do short runs at first, gradually lengthining until you know how many minutes you can run for before the water level gets too low. The main way to conserve steam is to load up the engine so it does not rev too high and to do that you need a good big prop with plenty of pitch. The 2.4/4.1 prop sounds ideal and I will try one next time I am buiding a prop driven boat. Cheers, Ian.

Circlip · « **Reply #53 on:** April 14, 2012, 12:44:49 PM »

Meccano wheel is probably a "Pin and disk" type coupling, so if you feed that into your search engine.

Regards Ian.

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #54 on:** April 14, 2012, 06:46:42 PM »

Good evening Muleears, the Meccano wheel is basically a brass disk with a boss in the centre and a series of holes around the edge. I turned one of the holes onto a slot from the edge to the centre and reduced the diameter of the disk. A hole was drilled into the flywheek to match up with the slot and pushed a roll pin into the aforementioned hole. It sounds more involved than it actually is, I am away at the moment, so I will post a photo when I return home next weekend, and all will become clear. I mounted the boiler on a baseplate fron Tony Green steam Models and the engine on an offcut from the same plate, as mt engine is tilted as in the ans for the boat. I had several trial fittings, each time I managed to reduce the overall footprint of the steeamplant.
Have fun,
Nick

muleears · « **Reply #55 on:** April 18, 2012, 09:54:16 PM »

My new Victoria has arrived! I will start a new thread to document and ask for help as I progress. Thanks to all for the help in this thread.

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Author Topic: My new Victoria arrived BROKEN, what do I do? (Read 3283 times)

Muleears

pettyofficernick

Muleears

Muleears

Muleears

Muleears