Eric J. Olson

Nah, what happens is, when you put in an invalid URL (i.e. trying to spoof the URL, special characters, etc), it blocks the IP and redirects to the FBI site as a joke. I've cleaned up the database and you all should be good to go. :)

Dear ME Rail Fans and Supporters, We hope everyone is doing well. We know that there are quite a few people out there wondering when we are going to deliver metal rails to the hobby. The following is a pretty good update for everyone that will show you what we have been working on for the past couple of months. It has not been easy. The good news is that we are poised to help move our L Gauge hobby another step forward. BRING YOU UP TO SPEED We would like to restate what has happened since the 2015 holidays. On Christmas Day, our ABS manufacturer had a major health ailment/event occur, which required a lengthy hospital stay and recovery period. Our manufacturer shut down operations to allow for recovery and stabilization of their personal health. We did not feel it was appropriate to air our personal ‘ME family’ situation, but some of you may have already known or may have found out about this from a discussion in February on Eurobricks, and some of you may have known if you contacted us individually. Having said that, if you placed an online order from mid-December until now, you now have the specific reason for our delay of delivery to you. We did receive a portion of a very large order in December from our manufacturer, right before the shutdown, some of which was used to fill our remaining 2015 orders and some additional KickStarter rewards. With our manufacturer resuming production as of March 1, we have started to receive the remaining parts of our December order. We will be filling online orders from the end of 2015 up through the present and will continue to send KickStarter rewards until we have delivered ALL of our outstanding obligations. We have also started to stock some new inventory on our home site www.me-models.com that is now available for purchase. METAL RAILS As of March 8, the metal rail system is almost ready for production. We are continuing our test trials to make sure that everything will be in working order as we get ready to release our metal rail product. Going back to 2010, we conducted research and development on applying in-laid metal strips to our ABS rail system and also worked on developing a full metal rail configurations. As you know we made the full metal rail configuration part of our KickStarter campaign. We have spent the past year and a half of trying to create a process that keeps the tolerances between the mating of metal and plastic into one functioning unit. After having limited success, we have decided to go back and review a few of our original ideas, as well as, take under advisement additional ideas to deliver a viable metal rail system. We would like to thank Steve Barlie for his assistance and technical insight in helping us deliver on what we feel is a sustainable system. We have included some pictures of one of our new molds so everyone can see the progress and the direction we decided to pursue. With the conclusion of testing, the ME Models’ Metal Rail System will be ready for sale through our website very soon. We now have the capability of delivering the R56 curve, ½ straights, standard straights and double length straights that we promised as a reward via our Kickstarter campaign. As an added bonus and as an additional reward for everyone’s patience, we would like to announce that we will also be making the R72, R88 and R104 9-volt electric curves. The final update on tap is in regards the German E-44 engine that was also part of the KickStarter campaign. For the 9 backers at this level, we have included pictures of the NEWLY DESIGNED and upgraded model. MOVING FORWARD Our goal is to finish shipping all pledges from KickStarter as soon as we have enough metal track inventory built. We are at the finish line. We know it has taken some extra time. We truly appreciate the flexibility and patience from everyone involved. We cannot thank you enough for allowing us to continue to be the ‘go to’ track manufacturer for the “L” Gauge Train Hobby. Sincerely, ME Models P.S. The full KickStarter update includes the images: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/memodels/me-models-railway-system/posts/1446579

To try and answer all in one shot, they're being tested as we speak, so as soon as that is done, we will be able to start filling pre-orders (KickStarter) and open the selling gates. I would imagine that this process will be done soon. As for "one piece" vs "loose parts", we have been kicking the idea back and forth. At present, loose parts will be an option...as for the single-piece units, we are trying to find the best solution to make that happen.

Hi guys, To end the speculation, of course, no payment = no product. Back on track (no pun intended), we are working very hard every day to expand our retail partners getting our product into the hands of everyone. These sales are then being turned around and being used to make sure that all of you who pledged money during the Kickstarter Campaign as well as purchased extra product via BackerKit are taken care of as soon as practical.

I'll try and explain this the best I can... BackerKit does "the work" for us. It groups orders into like categories based upon what a person has pledged through KickStarter as well as any additional product purchased in the BackerKit add-ons. So, if 20 people ordered 2 bags of standard and 2 bags of double in the same color, those individuals will be in the same group. What I have been doing is looking at our inventory, finding a group that can meet that inventory requirement, and then shipping that group. Whatever I have leftover, I will try to find an individual from the list that I can fill that order. The inventory lists on our site aren't a good gauge...to be perfectly honest, aside from the model kits, the inventory there isn't accurate as the mold presses are running all day long. Also, please keep in mind, as Mike explained earlier, we were unable to collect a substantial portion of the funds...this translates into a need to keep funds coming in to keep the injectors going and the boxes going out. Frankly, retail sales of our product are actually getting the products out FASTER to our backers.

Solved! Thanks again USPS... You're welcome. You're welcome. On a side note, we picked up another HUGE box of items today...once we have them packed, another round or two will be going out this week.

If I could provide a date, I would be happy to do so, but I can't give anything definitive. What I can tell you is this: the money coming in from other retail sales is being put to work to keep the production of the plastic going as fast a possible. Once we have satisfied all of our plastic orders, all of that will then be diverted to getting the metal done. As Mike said in another post, we had to contend with a funding shortage (essentially, bad debt from some KickStarter backers) and we're trying to make the funds that we have coming in work in the most effective manner. Assuming it's dark blue gray, probably within the next two weeks (I'm hoping for this coming week). This is what Mike is talking about:

Hi Jim, Nope, I actually cancelled that label after I printed it because I had ran out of connectors to fill your order. I have them again now and will ship tomorrow (new number to follow).

Hi there, I checked where you are at, and you should be out in the next batch. We have been shipping orders in batches based upon what we pick up from the manufacturer. The sheets that I get for fulfillment do not list anything such as order date, etc, so I just have to try and batch things by what we have on hand and where they are going. I hope that sheds some light on the "method to our madness" and rest assured, another batch will be going out this week without fail.

Shipping module has been repaired to allow first class package service. Let's hope USPS doesn't decide to rename everything again next week...

Those lazy Federal employees.

The USPS changed their "International Services" coding again...so I'm going to try and figure out what they did to allow First Class Package Service again for international buyers. In the meantime, if you're interested in purchasing, add the items you want to the cart and get a shipping quote. Send this information to me and I will issue a discount code for the difference in the shipping. Alternatively, you can always purchase and then mail me and I will refund any excess.

Corrected link for above: http://www.me-models.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22_57_61&products_id=146

An open letter to our backers with a long-awaited update: First and foremost, ME Models would like to thank everyone who participated in our community rail initiative. We would also like to thank everyone for being extremely patient with us as we have tired to demonstrate to you, the hobbyist and fan of model toy train railroading, all of the steps of our process including the capital needs, engineering operation, and the coordination and effort it takes to make a NEW product compatible with an existing product without any outside technical help. Over the past six months, we have updated everyone with information and pictures as we reach milestones in the development of the new rail geometries. One has to keep in mind we are not in control of the six (6) small companies we contracted with in order to produce the track we all want. With that said, time-lines, projected delivery, and forecast, all become a moving target with no real delivery time. We have also had to overcome shortfalls in capital. Some of the pledged monies from the initial offering went uncollected, therefore, we needed to self-fund the balance plus unforeseen testing costs. Along with 5 months of mold production, 6 weeks of mold adjustments (to make sure everything fits together), time for educating the contractors how to approach making a plastic railroad system, metal process testing, development of new fabrication techniques, and now the production of the track, this process has lead us to where we are today -- December 26, 2014. We have decided to share with you what 260 backers generated for parts production. In order to fill the pipeline for those folks we need to make 229,500 connectors, rails and plates in ABS. (THREE (3) TONS of ABS -- 6000 lb.). In addition we will be producing 19,560 metal rails to cover all geometries. Our plastic manufacturer has been stamping for two weeks. We have ordered 44,000 feet (8.3 miles - ONE TON of Aluminum Alloy -- 2000 lb.) of extruded rail and are expecting delivery in early January. We are accelerating the metal rail production. We have been working right along side our metal fabricator and they are focused on getting our metal rails done. Again for those of you who ordered the metal rails we are committed to delivering to you a high quality product that will meet expectation. Now that we have brought you up to speed we are going to begin shipping and selling the plastic ABS track this Friday December 26. If you are wondering why we are also opening up the ABS track for retail sales, we have been notified by the manufacturer that they will guarantee us NO machine down time during our product launch and we will get priority line time if we have larger part orders. This translates to faster delivery to you. Again, we ask that everybody please be patient on delivery. We have added personnel to help with the shipping and packaging. Plastic rail orders will go out as fast as we can humanly process and package. You still may not see your order for 2 to 4 weeks. So please understand your plastic order will be delivered to you - AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE PATIENCE! Lastly, we have been working on additional geometries and the narrow gauge connector and will move ahead with additional geometries once we have completed our initial orders. As we dig out of the "hole" we will be looking to take care of the train community as we move forward. We are very excited that you are all a part of this and could not have gotten this far without your involvement. Happy Holidays! Mike & Eric ME Models

Yes, in fact, I was going to put out another KickStarter update later this week once I had a little more definitive detail. The manufacturer now has the completed mold and has placed the order for the raw plastic material. We should, with any luck, actually be in production later this week or early next week. With that said, we will, at that point, begin shipping orders from KickStarter and BackerKit to our supporters while also simultaneously selling product through a variety of retail sites. It's important to realize that the manufacturing process will take a little bit of time as when products are pressed out, we will have to be "choosy" with quantities, varieties, etc. So, in short, some people will see their stuff sooner than others just because of the "nature of the beast". Rest assured though, everyone WILL get their stuff and they WILL get it as soon as practical from our side. Likewise, as I said with quantities, etc, anything that would be a leftover (that is, can't be combined to fill a specific backer order based upon supply, etc) will be available through our site.

Latest update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/memodels/me-models-railway-system/posts/1049303

Let me do a full count of mixed orders and get back to you...frankly, at a quick glance, I don't think there were that many and if that is the case, I have no problem breaking them up. --EDIT-- There are only about 25 people who ordered a mixture, so we'll ship them separate. I hope I can keep that straight. :D

That's a possibility too, Tony. I'll have to take a look at how many have "split" orders...

This is my problem. The orders are setup by individual depending upon what was ordered and grouped accordingly. I can ship them separate...but here is my dilemma: since they're grouped by what you ordered, when I go to ship, if you ordered BOTH, it's going to mark the whole thing off as shipped. I can go back and *TRY* to find the people who I may have missed, but I'm concerned about the "customer service" nightmare that may come with it when we start overlooking people. Here's the second part of my problem...shipping will cost us around $10 per package on average and we have over 400 orders... I'll ask you all for input here, would it be better to wait and ship them in groups as the system is laid out, or do I risk the "flame mails" that say, "you forgot about me," and just take care of them as they come? :)

Yeah, I haven't gotten around to removing it yet. First and foremost, I need to take care of the people who helped us out with the project through KickStarter and the BackerKit Pre-Orders. Once they are complete, we will add product to the storefront. At present, I can safely say that plastic rails will be on there first followed by the metal products. In case you are curious, anyone who ordered plastic only will get their products first as we will have them first and will ship them that way. If you ordered plastic + metal, most likely, they will come when the metal are available as I'm not sure how to differentiate the packing lists and I don't want to miss anyone. :)

Dark Bluish-Gray. We may explore other colors in the future with enough requests.

Eh...without a map in mind, it's hard to say. :)

Yes. Plastic first, metal second. Metal is doubtful on the R40 due to the availability and cost. We can certainly look at it, but it's not highest priority.

Last call for pre-orders...the system will be closing up tomorrow. All plastic products are anticipated to ship during the month of November. All metal products do not yet have a definitive date, however, we anticipate this will be ready before the year's end.

It should have directed you to BackerKit for a pre-order...