Thursday 17 January 2013

t'internet,,and t'osser's on t'ebay



A sorry tale I'm afraid this week,,,, over the festive season as the shed was cold enough to freeze a gorilla's teste's I decided to get active on t'ebay,,, working on the theory that as it usually takes me 3 or 4 years from start to finish on a locomotive kit,,, with the current collection I am going to be about 156 years old by the time I've finished them all off.

So a selection was made of various kits which were purchased when I could afford them and have since been superceded by something much better by Messr's Hornmann or Bachby.

I sold the lot and joyous tidings were felt all around,, I can now obtain the wheels, motor, gearbox etc for the next project I thought,,, & only a phone call away,,,, "wheels, motor, gearbox and ancilliaries that will be £84 70p sir,, thankyouverymuch,,, and thankyou for shopping with us",,,, yeh-right,,, my joyous tidings had evaporated in an instant,,,
I know I enjoyed the festives but I don't remember going "O" Gauge I really don't,,,
£85 to "enhance" a kit which actually comes with a motor,,,, sort of,,, and a set of wheels,,, and these wheels really are special,, they are collectors items as not 2 are the same!!!!

We all know why Mr Keiser decided to retire to his kibutz,,, his kits were a challenge to say the least,,, I know I should know better,,,but when I was a lad the mantra in the local model railway club was it was impossible to get a K's kit to run properly,,, I've done it several times,,, by replacing the wheels, motor and bits that were miles out,,, but I proved the doubting burgers wrong and I still enjoy the challenge.

Anyway one of the kits I sold was duly checked and posted,,, "somewhere in Southern England" south of the Thames where they have a garden apparently.

48 hours later I receive an email through t'ebay advising the item is not as described in that there is no valve gear fret or parts for a tender!!!!

"WOT,,,,There bloomin was when it left here",,,
"well they aren't there now,,,anyway not to worry I've got a solution,,,drop you pants a little bit further on the price and we'll call it quits"
"I've got a better solution,,, send it back and I'll credit you"
"OH NO,,, I want the kit but it's just a pity about the valve gear fret and tender"
"WRONG,,,, SEND IT BACK"

My theory & the moral of this story,,,
Mr Nucast stopped making his kit's just after Mr Keiser retired and if you mess one up whilst assembling you are up a gum tree without a koala co's you can't get bits for them.
Unless of course you spot one identical on ebay,,, purchase for a song,,, take the bit's out you need,,, and then either renegotiate or send it back,,, easy peasy.

I spoke to Mr Ebay negotiations department advising of my suspicions,,,,,
"did you take photo's of the kit sir"
YES
"did they show all the ancilliary bits laid out and recognisable.
Well not really,,, I didn't want to disturb ALL the lovely 30 year old tissue paper,,, that kit has never been out of the box,,,
"Well it has now sir,, and technically the purchaser will receive out support if it comes to a dispute.
OK Mr Monotone,,,Can you advise if matey in southern england has a history of disputing what is in the box after he has purchased it,,, does he have a habit of sending things back after the event?????
"No I'm afraid we are not allowed to discuss other members track records sir"

FleaBay,,,, your history,,,, and dear readers if you do sell a kit,,, take piccy's of every conceivable bit co's I reckon matey has written the rule book on the "how to obtain spurious spare parts for out of production kits" he's turned it into an art form.

You see,,, I told you we were going to concentrate on the modelling!!!!!!!

One day bonny lad,, one day,, THERE IS divine intervention,,, after the sad demise of my mate Max Clifford I now believe in all this sort of thing,,,, and if anybody reading lives in the garden of England and gets bored one night and fancies a bit of fun then I have an address where you could really enjoy yourself,,,,,on my behalf.

The next one will be more instructive,,, hopefully,,, it could well be about how you put Nucast kit together without any valve gear or tender!!!!!.