Okay, this is NOT a bash on SMT, but the molds had a RESTART DATE OF NOV. 15th?
You mean that he didn't have molds made BEFORE he was supposed to be shipping the kits way back in JUNE?
That doesn't sound like biting off more than you can chew. That sounds like being catastrophically behind schedule... possibly due to technical diffculties with the molds or one's own mold making acumen.
I, like many of you, have a pre-order pending for that shuttle. I, like many of you, had the best of hopes for receiving it shortly after it was promised. Then I, like many of you, had hoped it would arrive before the end of the calendar year. Now I, like many of you, am hoping I just eventually get it.
In this hobby, and in most aspects of life in general, timely honesty goes quite a long way to keeping things under control. Not being above-board with your situation and with your customers serves no purpose. If Colin promised more than he could handle, it was his responsibility to own up to it. Right up until the promised shipping date, the official word out of SMT was that all was well and that things were on schedule. Then it was a couple of weeks delay. Then Colin had a bunch of bad family stuff go down. And then it was completely indefinite as to when the kits would be shipped.
But if everything was fine right up to the actual shipping date, wouldn't that mean that all the molds had been made and all the parts had been cast and were just waiting to be packed and shipped? Isn't that what being "on schedule" means? But now we hear that the molds haven't even been completed? Six months after the whole thing was supposed to be finished?
I'm still super hyped about the model. I'm still looking forward t the time when I can lavish time and attention and model building skills upon it. I have only the best wishes in mind for Colin, SMT, and his family.
All I'm saying is that if there were problems, I would have liked to know instead of just wondering and stewing and getting frustrated.
-Gordon