Thunder Valley F1 ®

Hi Everyone,

The Ferrari 641/2 (F190) kits are shipping along with a lot of other products. Nearly everything has returned to being in stock, but with so much product going out the door there are brief moments when something is temporarily out of stock.

Presently I am finishing up a big machining job and this has slowed the packing and shipping of other orders. I think I’ll have this job wrapped up in 7 to 10 days and I’ll once agian be able to focus 100 percent of my attention to completing orders and shipping them.

Right at this very moment I’m loading parts in the NC Mill, and while it’s running, I’m taking those brief moments to update the web site with images and news.

The last year plus has been very humbling for me, with experiencing for the first time the struggle to keep food on the table for my family and having to seek free medicine from my doctor to keep everyone healthy. Secondly, I’ve been humbled by everyone’s continued kindness, understanding and support while we struggle through these difficult times. At the moment I feel I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, but also realize this struggle isn’t going to come to an end soon or as quickly as I’d like it to. The economic condition in the US, and especailly Michigan, isn’t really expected to get better until 2011. My other business is operating at approx. 30% of what it was prior to June of 2008 and I hope this continues. The reality is, we (my family and I) would not be as well as we are if it weren’t for the kindness and support of all of you. It is you, my fellow F1 model builders, who have allowed us to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, while also providing just enough income so we could restock the company and move towards fulfilling everyone’s orders.

It is certainly difficult for me to write these words, but I feel I need to say them, and, more importantly, you need to hear them from me.

I have now walked in shoes I never thought I’d be wearing and it has opened my eyes to much and humbled me more.

I can only say “Thank You” at this time and ask for your continued support. I know that I, and Thunder Valley, have a lot of offer to our hobby and I ertainly look forward to another 20 years of bring great product to realization for all of us to enjoy.

On brighter news, I was able to put in over 40 hours of product development time while we were away for Thanksgiving and this pushed the 1/12th Ferrari F2002 Formula Perfect much closer to going into production. There are some components that will be shipping out of here this week for pre-production masters to be created. I expect those to be back in the shop before Christmas Break which will mean I can flip them around and send them off for the first batch of production parts to be manufactured. While we are on Christmas Break I’ll finish up another component of the F2002 product and send that off to go into production by mid-January. It will take until mid-February for those components to make it through the production process and while that is taking place I’ll get the machined parts run and ready to pack in the kits.

I realize, very starkly, that the last year and a half have caused a lot of you, my valued friends and customers, a lot of frustation. For that I am deeply and truly sorry. Much of what has happened are events I never saw coming. As soon as it’s possible I’ll put the Customer Apprecaition Event into play and begin to make it up to everyone.

Thank you for hanging in there with me, helping me save Thunder Valley, as well as helping take care of my family during these difficult times.

All the Best,

Paul