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[DavidHale]

Hi Martin, On the glue issue a friend of mine, who builds full size boats for a living told me that as wood is cellular structure and most glues bind by penetrating this. The laser cutting in effect seals the cells and prevents penetration hence the week joints. Sounds reasonable I suppose. Anyway he told me this as he watched me build the St Canute and I did sand each edge and tested a few joints to make sure it was enough. It might be put to the test at the weekend.  Graham :)

A laser (obviously) cuts by burning.  I suspect what is happening is that the laser is burning the wood to cut it and melting the glues between the plys at the same time, which then solidifies and 'seals' the wood.  A standard wood glue then struggles to bond properly. A quick sanding should help matters.

[jinks8]

HI all, started to do the model to sail three motors and i an getting on well got the running gear and the first lair of planking finished thanks to timber i had it was for another build i was going to do. Have used the planking they sent to line the in side so it can be filled with fome for boyency when cam batt,s are charged will post picks of inside. Getting my parts weekly and had no problems so far.Was doing Bismarck in bits but this is far better so will stop as not to good at computer lark nor at writing stuff better with hands not brains.Should get part 14 on Wednesday the part i have had have bean OK so fa. 8)r

[jinks8]

hear is mine so far

[Martin (Admin)]

Hi jinks8,

Are you in the UK and up to part 14?!?!?!?

HOW?????  >:(

[jinks8]

yes up in north Yorkshire get part 14 today around 1500 hrs got the running gear from Germany got the brass props as well and they are not bad at all.  So far had no prob,s well no big ones that is the thing that is not to clear is the sequence of the build had a look on the German site and no sine of bow front and they are up to 38and building sum of the super structure be for the deck is done .But  will not give up  regard s john had timber to hand

[Martin (Admin)]

Well I've just had another long and torturous   conversation with http://www.hachettepartworks.co.uk/ call centre in South Africa (?)
They are saying they are the "agents" for Hachett Part Works and cannot supply the magazines the same timing as the shops!
They say the shops (news agents etc.) receive the magazines before they do and the agents "seem to get the left overs" in my opinion.
I'm currently on issue 4, as below, but despite 2 phone calls to "Hachette" over the last month my next issues 5,6,7 & 8 have only been "allocated" 3 days ago?!?!?

I then asked 'how they propose for me to catch up?'
They said 'there is no way they can catch up with the shops.'
I said, 'OK, why don't you send me the current & future issues now and you can sort out the back issues as they become available?'
They said, 'No, they can't do that as they are "not on a par with the shops."
I said, ‘so there is no way I can catch up!’
…….”No.”


Make you own judgment........  :-\

[anmo]

This is all starting to sound like something that your friendly local Trading Standards could be persuaded to take an interest in.

[Daryl]

I had a similar conversation with them this morning, they claim to have sent issues 5,6 and 7 sent out on wednesday, and I still keep getting letters saying my bank detail are wrong even thougth they take the correct amount out. Also they keep verifiying that my bank details are correct on their system and when the paymants are made which correspond with my bank.

Hattchetts customer services are a total shambles.

Daryl

[Daryl]

One thing I have noticed during my numerious 'phone calls to them, it sounds like the same person answering the 'phones, at times I have to wait around 5 minutes before they answer.

Daryl

[dougal99]

I bet the call centre is an 0870 number... They are probably making more money from the calls than from the mag.

Cynical moi?

Doug

[Daryl]

It is an 0870 number that's why I ring from work!!!

Daryl

[Down below]

Well I've just had another long and torturous   conversation with http://www.hachettepartworks.co.uk/ call centre in South Africa (?)
They are saying they are the "agents" for Hachett Part Works and cannot supply the magazines the same timing as the shops!
They say the shops (news agents etc.) receive the magazines before they do and the agents "seem to get the left overs" in my opinion.
I'm currently on issue 4, as below, but despite 2 phone calls to "Hachette" over the last month my next issues 5,6,7 & 8 have only been "allocated" 3 days ago?!?!?

I then asked 'how they propose for me to catch up?'
They said 'there is no way they can catch up with the shops.'
I said, 'OK, why don't you send me the current & future issues now and you can sort out the back issues as they become available?'
They said, 'No, they can't do that as they are "not on a par with the shops."
I said, ‘so there is no way I can catch up!’
…….”No.”


Make you own judgment........  :-\

Partwork companies all operate on the same principal, to get as many people as possible to buy into a series, how this happens is that a series magazine goes on sale in a newsagent, any unsold left overs are then sent back to Hachette or in this case Jacklin's it handling company, then usually 3-4 weeks later subscribers are then sent these unsold mags.

You will never be at the same issue number as a retail customer and always behind by at least 4 mags, this way it also gives the partwork company a second bite of the cherry so to speak, any shortfall in mags is then made up from a top-up order to the manufacture and hence yet further delays >:(

My advice is simple, DO NOT subscribe to any partwork as if there are any problems in supply it is always the subscribers that bear the brunt of it, also the quickest route to complete a series is via the newsagent and NOT via subscription as subscribers generally run at least 6-8 weeks behind newsagents

Subscription is frought with disappointment & frustration, out of stock excuses, delay's, damage by the posty etc etc, also the reason why they offer so called free gifts (which are usually poor quality items) is to tempt you to subscribe.

I only subscribed once a long time ago and vowed I would never do it again, I'am currently at issue 15 of the Bismarck and it has never missed a beat via my newsagent, better still my model will be complete way before subscribers models are

Why dont you get your local newsagent to get the mag for you from the issue you want onwards, then kick your subscription into touch, cos if you dont you might loose the will to live on hearing the constant excuses from these foreign call centres who cant understand your problem let alone the cost of the call

[Daryl]

I agree newsagents are the best way to go but... I have subscribed before to part works without the shambles Jacklin/Hatchette are making of this one. My local newsagent won't order it as I would be the only one and to make it worth thier while they want at least 5 people to place a order with them. the next nearest one is quite a drive away which makes it a tad inconvienient. driving into town is costly in time, (traffic jams), parking charges £1.40 per hour and convienience. Thats why I subscribe, I don't mind waiting.

Having said that now I'm going to ring up somewhere foriegn to find out where my latest parts  are, ( on the works 'phone!).

Daryl

[Daryl]

Am I right in thinking that the call centre 0870 920 1133 is in South Africa, i ahd a different person on the 'phone to the normal lady. He said parts 7,8,9,10 & 11 were sent out yesterday, when I asked is that possible to send parts out via Royal Mail on a Sunday he said yes I should get them today or tommorrow. Last week they said they were supposed to be sent out on wednesday.

Good job juniour and I are patient.

Daryl

[Down below]

Yeah its a shame for those who have difficulties with newsagents

Hachette's office number in the UK is 0207 7493900 the person you want is Isabelle Couderc
or email isabelle.couderc@hachettepartworks.co.uk

They will try and filter the call to put you back to Jacklin's in South Africa, be firm and specific as who you want to speak with, hope it helps

[Daryl]

Excellent thanks for the number and contact name.

Many thanks
Daryl

[Down below]

No probs and hope the info gets some action for you

[Daryl]

Latest fiasco, they didn't put enough postage on the parcel, so tonight or first thing in the morning I have to go to the post office depot and cough up £1.24.

I rang Isabelle and she is going to sort out why they didn't put enough postage on and why I keep getting letters saying my card dtails are wrong when they arn't and the correct amount is taken out of my account.

Now I am awaiting someone to call me back, I won't hold my breath.

Daryl

[Down below]

They are taking the P now, well at least you cant get much higher to file a complaint, makes you wonder with all these mishaps how Jacklins are still in business ???

[Daryl]

Is Jacklin anything to do with the ex-golfer Tony?

I agree what a shambles, I wait to see what they make a mess of next, Isabelle did say she would get one of the managers at the call centre to see what has gone wrong and they should have shorted everything out without me ringing the top brass. The impression I got was that Jacklins have made a mess of this part work.

On a seperate note I wonder if DeAgostini is in trouble as they have cancelled several of their partworks so I am told half way through their run. I got this from someone who was collecting their clocks.

[Down below]

Jacklin's is a South African based fulfilment company who have a warehouse in the northeast of the UK to serve the UK though as you know its call centre is in Sth Africa, there seem to be three fulfilment houses that the UK partwork companies spread there product across, Jacklin's, Spark Response & Database, the latter two both have UK based call centres so I suppose the language barrier is not a problem for these.

As for Deag being in trouble....I doubt it, they operate in 33 countries and are the largest of all the partwork companies.
You will find that they all test product all year long, usually for 4-6 issues in a localised area to get the feel of how well something might do as a future national, I should imagine not everything makes the grade as partwork companies operate on massive figures to ensure viability.
I read some stuff about Del Prado (who did the Cutty Sark series) recently in the press, it said they were in financial trouble in the UK, hence probably why you dont see much of there stuff around at the moment.

Hachette did a clock series, though I cant say I have heard of one thru deag, sure your mate does not mean Hachette?

Its a risky business is partworks/publishing and a minefield of getting numbers right ::)

[Daryl]

probibly is Hatchette, he started collecting minature clocks and the series abruptly stopped half way through the expected run. I seem to remember one, can't be more than one partwork on clocks. I suppose he got them mixed up.

He did mention another partwork that stopped halfway through recently but I forgot which one he said. Age I suppose??????

Didn't get time to sort out the P. O. with my misisng parts, I'll try to do that tomorrow work permitting.

Daryl

[Down below]

Yeah miniature clocks was defo one of Hachette's, I suppose partworks is partwroks and as deag are the largest it is the first name that comes into mind especially when a senior moment kicks in....I know the feeling

A good place to look is on deags web site in there title listing, if you carefully scroll down the list you will see some titles not seen on TV or in the shops which I would hazard a guess are most likely local tests, though even then some titles do not even appear on the list at all like the Hood which was recently killed off at issue 4......probably becuse too many were already tied into the Bismarck and its expensive to have two partworks on the go at the same time.

Another good site to check out is deag's italian web site where most of there build-up starts off, see the product list down the left-hand column, loks like they dont have many plans for much boat stuff other than a yacht 

www.deamodellab.it/frontend/index.asp

[Daryl]

Good Site, I see what you mean a distinct lack of boats. Years ago I built the Delprado Bounty, made a bit of a mess of the planking but not a bad job. I have their cutty sark which I will attempt one day. One thing i have noticed is the Delprado instructions are a bit vauge at times and I get the impression they are a bad translation into english. On the other hand so far with the few issues Ihave had the Hattechte instructions seem quite clear.

I'll see today what the P.O. has to say when I hopefully go and get my latest bits. can't help feeling this series is going to be a bit of a shambles for a while until both paties, Jacklin in particular get the hang of it! I have collected partworks before and this has been the worst start I have yet seen.

Daryl

[Down below]

Hopefully you are in the minority but somehow if its subscribers I suspect not.
 
All the hassle generated will only result repeat business being carefully considered by many, there are lots out there that take an interest in such builds which have never bought into a partwork, after having read the fallout postings all around the net its likley they never will.
One thing for sure is if enough repeat business falls off and they cant attract enough new customers then partworks as an industry in the UK looks bleak, though it seems in Italy, Spain & France where all the partwork HO's are they seem to be a way of life.

All I can say is I'am at issue 15 and all so far is well but a very long way to go, it never misses a beat via the newsagent, no hassle with invoices & payment, no damaged parts, no late deliveries and not behind with the intended build though right now am sick of planking and ton's more yet to come!