Sunday, March 14, 2021

Current state of affairs

 So it's one year on since the global pandemic was declared.
We are closer to seeing the end, but we're not out of the woods yet. I thought I'd provide a bit of an update from my end.

There are 2 major hurdles affecting the smooth running of Yarmouth Model Works these days.

1- The mail in both Canada and the US continues to experience disruptions. A package containing 2 kits took 62 days to travel from Ontario to Michigan recently. The major sorting plant in Toronto had over 100 workers go down with COVID. I can only imagine how bad it has been in sorting plants in the US.
So bear with us if your item is not delivered quickly.
Even tracked packages are taking inordinate amounts of time.

2- My supply chain is, as you might expect, rather disrupted. I tried to order trucks from Kato last week. No inventory and no projected restock date.
Shipments of etchings from Germany are hit and miss, etc.
Add to that the need to limit my trips into the US to collect items at my PO Box, and you can see why certain projects are taking longer than we would like.
There are 3 pairs of ends and a new roof waiting to be printed for some upcoming kits, but we can't get access to the printer we use at this time.
It all piles up.

Rest assured that we are doing all that we can to fulfill all the orders that come in, and work is proceeding on new kits.
So I thought I'd share a sneak peak for you
This is one of the new kits coming in a couple of months.


Following on the success of the AC&F boxcar kits, we decided to tackle this reefer. It used the same proprietary roof stampings as the boxcars.
The patterns are done, the pilot model is started, just waiting for the etchings to arrive and I can finish the model.
As usual, there are etchings, 3D parts, and decals created specifically for this car.
Hopefully May release

Stay safe everyone

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