We have a new 19D available in stock right now. Send in your email right now, first received, first served…
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We have a new 19D available in stock right now. Send in your email right now, first received, first served…
A relationship between Precision Miniatures and our main supplier, DJH Engineering, has sadly come to an end with the liquidation of DJH/Modelloco in the United Kingdom.
This event led to a lot of soul searching on the way forward for Precision Miniatures. Fortunately, the tooling and other property has been saved.
I could have simply found other suppliers in the UK, and carried on as before, but I have used the time to rethink the business model.
Precision Miniatures sourced 100% of the components from the UK, which would then be assembled in South Africa, and the completed loco. would then, be reshipped to the new owner to all the corners of the Globe. This, with the exorbitant costs of shipping, and the volatility of the SA Rand exchange rate, led to many inefficiencies.
Additionally, I have reached an age, where it was very tempting to walk away and enjoy travelling with my wife in the remote parts of Africa.
Now for the good news.
I have brought a new younger partner into the business. This will ensure the longevity of Precision Miniatures going forward.
We will be bringing as much of the production to South Africa as possible, along with the introduction new technologies. It will also allow us to introduce new models, as we will not face the crippling cost of skilled toolmakers producing the masters and tooling in the United Kingdom.
Obviously, with the demise of DJH, there are components that will eventually run out and cannot be replaced, but we still have a quantity of spare parts to the existing loco’s out there which now number in excess of 4,000 locos.
With the ‘South Africanising’ of the existing loco’s we will wherever possible make sure that the common replacement parts will be able to be retro fitted. Some of these parts will be available for sale as upgrades for the existing fleet.
This website will be totally revamped, and all the new developments will be communicated via this website and the Precision Miniatures Facebook page.
Thank you to all of our supporters over the years and be safe in knowledge that we will still support the existing products, and look forward to an expanded range of South African steam locomotives.
Due to the increased cost of holding stock, as a direct result of the exorbitant charges by freight forwarding companies, interest rates, exchange rates and increased cost of components from our suppliers in the UK, we have had to re-look at how we conduct our business. In the past we would hold stock of components of all of the locomotives in our catalogue, and we would assemble them as the orders were received from customers. This way of doing things is no longer sustainable, and in future we will be assembling locomotives in batches of a particular type.
We have just sold the last of a batch of 6J’s, and are currently assembling a batch of six 19D, of which four have been ordered, and pre-sold to customers. There are two left that have not been sold.
In September we will receive a supply of components to assemble six GMAM, of which five have been ordered from customers, leaving one unsold so far. We are holding orders for three GCA’s, so we will be assembling a batch of six in December 2023 and January 2024. It is scheduled that in February 2024, we will be assembling another batch of six GMAM.
After that we will look at the state of the orders received and advise what we will be assembling next.
Once we have announced what locomotive we are assembling next, and its price, that price will be held for all orders placed for that batch. If any locomotive is not pre-sold from a batch, they will be advertised for sale, as, ‘immediately available’ on this page.
Well over 90% of our sales are outside of South Africa, in future all prices will be quoted in Pound Sterling as we source the majority of our components from the United Kingdom.For South African sales, we will quote a fixed Rand price on receipt of your enquiry.
This will give an indication of what locomotives will be available for the next 6 months.
All orders will be honoured strictly in the order that they are received, via our website or email.
Please note that Precision Miniatures has discontinued the sale of kits of our range of SAR locomotives. The almost non existent demand (one sale in three years), coupled with the high cost of holding the stock makes it totally not viable. Obviously this does not affect the supply of our ready to run models, which are enjoying a resurgence now that supply of components is normalising after the Covid idiocy.
Please keep following us for announcements shortly on new locomotives in the pipe line.