Not quite the silver bullet

Further to the last post, and one of the comments that was made. I don't see CAD as a solution to all my modeling problems, but I do see it as a useful tool to solve my lack of being able to cut a straight line or measure anything the same twice. And if you want to use etched parts its either that or get out your crayons and a big sheet of paper to draw everything 4 times the size.

I've also always been good at breaking items down into separate assemblies and thinking in 3D; its just a logical extension of that. I don't think its going to slow me down much. I think a large problem is deciding when something is good enough to print out or etch, and in Nz120 thats when I can see all the detail that I want from about 18". I struggle to have 4-5 goes at a master for something, I either get it right, or it goes to the back of the que.

To finish tonight, and another reason why i would like to be able to source more bits on shore, heres part of a newsletter from Austrains, an Ho scale manufacturer in Australia ( no kidding) who (like everyone else) get their models made in China.

"A couple of months ago we were advised by the factory that, effective 1st August, all product prices will rise by 10%. This will be followed by a further 10% increase commencing with product shipped after 1st January. At the moment the price rises apply only to product but we can be certain that individual quotations for new tooling will now also rise accordingly.

We had always worked on the basis that once the tooling was paid for the product price could be held almost indefinitely. This is now longer the case.

As an example. Three months ago the rerun of the JX Cement Hoppers was quoted 30% higher than a similar run at the same time last year. Now we have another 10% on top of that. Effectively 43% more than last year. With the help of the strong Australian dollar we can absorb some of the price rises but not all. In recent weeks the A$ has fallen from a high 0f $0.97c to $0.81c as this is being written. If the dollar falls dramatically we will have to have a major rethink about both product and pricing.

This price rise does not only affect Australian importers. It is the same for the 80+ companies who use the same facility in China and we can only assume that other factories will follow suite."

So the take home story is that you can get everything done overseas, but there are hidden surprises and what looks cheap to start with, can suddenly become quite expensive.
personally, I'd like to at least try to support NZ industries to keep some people in work here a little bit longer.