Thunder Valley F1 ®

Greetings Everyone,

The big push is on and nearly every product will be available once again during May.

The pre-production cast metal parts for the Ferrari 641/2 (F190) arrived and everythinbg looks great except for one of the radiators. It has a couple of defective areas and a new one is being sent on Monday to make another new master part. We go through an extra step in making the production masters so we can catch these types of defects and prevent them from becoming a permanent part of the production molds. This process costs more, but I will not allow any parts to be produced that are defective. Real F1 cars don’t have dents in the radiators and Thunder Valley F1 parts won’t either. It looks like the production parts will still be in the shop by or before May 1st.

The photo etch for the 641/2 is in process at the manufacturing company and it will be really close to have it arrive by May 1st. However, it is in process and everything else is completed and set to pack up so as soon as the PE arrives we will stop everything and pack up the goods.

The Photo Reference CDs for the 641/2 are completed and I have also added this CD to our “On The Grid” selections. The photos of Prost’s 641/2 were taken before the popularity of digital cameras which meant I needed to scan the images, save them as .jpg’s and then write them to the CD’s. The quality is great but the file sizes are not as large as the other reference pictures so the price is set to reflect this. Just a reminder, if you have pre-ordered the 641/2 Set 1 or will be purchasing it in the near future, this CD is a part of that kit. If you purchase the CD and contact us later to purchase the 641/2 Set just let us know and we will deduct the the CD and it’s cost from the price of the kit.

Photo etch is the only thing we are waiting on to complete nearly every product and it’s all in process. We are looking forward to completing and shipping the bulk of orders we have, so, May now looks like it is going to be “Shipping Month”.

I’ll be sending an e-Newsletter in the next few days so everyone can get a look at the pre-production cast metal parts along with maybe a couple of other announcements.

I’ll also be adding .pdf images to the site for the 641/2 Photo Etch Sheets. These will be included in each kit but they’ll also be available on-line for easy reference and download.

Enjoy the Grand Prix of China this weekend. So far, I like the changes that have taken place as the racing has been pretty good.

Stay Well Everyone,

Paul

Well….this is Spring Break time which means my men are home with me until April 14th. Karen is off for this time as well and is taking care of her children. Since we can’t be in the office or shop working, I am going through e-mails I’ve missed and I’ll be drafting a new e-newsletter to send out here in a couple of days.

If I haven’t responded to one of your notes then hopefully I’ll address it here in the next couple of days. I am prepping a lot of paperwork for Karen to take care of on the 14th and she is going to be very busy and certainly earning her keep.

The stars are finally aligning and products are quickly returning to being in stock. The 641/2 kit is staying on schedule, my work is done and I am waiting on the cast metal components and the photo etch, which are both in production. The MP4/6 kits are complete except the photo etch, and again, I am waiting for the PE to make it through the manufacturing process. Once it’s here, Karen and I will be working as fast as possible to pack everything and get orders on their way to customers. The DFV PE parts are nearly back in stock as well, agian we are waiting on one of the PE sheets to be finished and we will take care of back-orders and replenish stock.

The Lotus 25 and and Honda RA272 kits are back in stock with hearly all back-orders being shipped. The McLaren M8 kits are waiting on PE…….PE that seems to be the present bottle-neck but at least it’s in production and will arrive soon.

The MP4/6, FW14B, 641/2 and the T-Series Spindle Sets are back in stock and Karen and I will address fulfilling all orders as soon as school resumes on the 14th.

The Brake kits will be addressed once the MP4/6 and 641/2 kits have been shipped out of here. I’ll also include the FW14B kits at the same time. It now looks that I can focus on those products in late May or early June.

Ealry June will bring the end of the current school year and the boys being on Summer Break until early September. Karen has already offered to keep everyone busy so I can continue to work on orders…how wonderful for all of us.

As mentioned before, our trip to Grandma’s in June will allow for the development of the next new product and we will be incorporating some new technology into it’s development. Look for the announcement of this new product around late August and shipping will begin by mid-September.

If you have a pre-rder on file for Set 1 of the MP4/6 now is the time to confirm your order so we make certain enough photo etch is produced to fulfill everyone’s orders. If not, then the next batch of PE parts will arrive around mid-May to June 1st.

As always, everyone stay well and please contact me if I can answer any specific questions.

Best Regards,

Paul