Base Depth

[Fenton]

Sorry if this has been asked before but what depth are you bases please?

[Derek H]

They're cut from 2mm MDF if that's what you're asking. 

[Fenton]

Thanks Derek

Would there be any call for 1mm deep bases?.....apart from me

[Steve J]

You can't get 1mm mdf to the best of my knowledge, so you would have to use plastic. Not sure how well this cuts with a laser.

[Derek H]

You can get 0.8mm plywood, which would cut just fine.  Litko offer it as one of their standard materials.

http://www.tottontimber.com/birch-plywood-c-22_94_36.html?osCsid=88mqcmhq6uiugcbn1selttvc81

[Fenton]

Thanks Derek..I know about Litko and have ordered from them before, but a friend of mine told me he got stung by customs the last time he ordered from them and I would prefer to order from the UK if possible

[Derek H]

Anyone else get the impression that customs are intercepting many more parcels these days?

[Techno]

Definitely.....
They're a lot more careful nowadays... screening far more packages. (Can't do every single one though, surely ?)
I used to do fairly infrequent work for one particular company in the States....and could get a package to them via 'ordinary' airmail in as little as three days. (Normally 5-7 days)
Last couple of times I've done bits for them, they've taken the best part of a month to get to their destination.
They just get held up in customs because of security.
A real pain....But you can't blame them if they're trying to intercept potential threats.

One thing that peed me off recently was receiving a package of work from the States....with a custom's charge of just over £3.....(Fair enough)
The dear old Post Office had another £8 for 'handling charges'.
I thought that was a tad over the top.

Cheers - Phil.

[Leon]

Would there be any call for 1mm deep bases?.....apart from me

I can get the 0.8mm plywood, but it's around 5/6x the cost of the MDF, so isn't really viable for the business I wouldn't think.  Unless folk were willing to pay £5 for a pack of bases?

Anyone else get the impression that customs are intercepting many more parcels these days?

Definitely, and as Phil says, in both directions.  We've had some US orders which have taken quite some time over the past 6 months or so.

One thing that peed me off recently was receiving a package of work from the States....with a custom's charge of just over £3.....(Fair enough)
The dear old Post Office had another £8 for 'handling charges'.
I thought that was a tad over the top.

That annoys me as well, my last Customs bill was about £110 on a restock of decals, and that had a decent chunk of 'handling' charges.  I don't understand why they can't put these things on account or something similar, where the package gets scanned in, the charge goes on my account, and there's no delay on the delivery.  There was one last year, it got sent from the US late in August, arrived in the UK 1st week of September, and then got stuck at Customs for 6 weeks!  Only explanation I got was that it was being 'processed'.

[GordonY]

Fenton if you want 1mm bases from the UK this lad does them, theyre plasticard though.

http://www.15mm.co.uk/15mm_Plasticard_Bases.htm

limited sizes and they definitly dont look like theyre cut by laser.

[Fenton]

Thanks for the find Gordon..but I have used Platicard in the past but its too flexible, I woud love to use metal but for 60x30 its just too expensive

[Fenton]

Maybe I shall bite the bullet and go 2mm , its for a new army so it will all look uniform anyway

[barbarian]

I was thinking like you Fenton "2m is to much..."
But, it allows you to actually take the base by the base and not by the miniatures.

[Techno]

Definitely, and as Phil says, in both directions.  We've had some US orders which have taken quite some time over the past 6 months or so.
That annoys me as well, my last Customs bill was about £110 on a restock of decals, and that had a decent chunk of 'handling' charges.  I don't understand why they can't put these things on account or something similar, where the package gets scanned in, the charge goes on my account, and there's no delay on the delivery.  There was one last year, it got sent from the US late in August, arrived in the UK 1st week of September, and then got stuck at Customs for 6 weeks!  Only explanation I got was that it was being 'processed'.

I have to say that the firm that sent the stuff, did reimburse me the £11..(Hooray !!)....What got me, was the fact that the £8 seemed to be the 'lowest' charge....(or maybe it's a standing 'fee' the PO makes.)
Would that mean that if the customs wanted to collect just 20p off you you'd get charged £8.20p ?
Rip off, or what ?

Processed ?.....Yep....Probably in a massive queue to go through an X-Ray machine.
Maybe they do try and scan every single item.....What a task !!
Like I said before though, you can hardly blame them....If it stops some form of terrorist attack, I suppose that's the price we all have to pay.
I suppose the only way around this would be to 'courier' the package through using someone like UPS or Fed-Ex...But the last time (ages ago now) that I did this a fairly small package cost around £40.

Cheers - Phil.

[fred.]

Yes Phil, no matter how low the charge you will get the £8 handling fee. It is this which most people object to. I don't think most people mind paying a couple of quid in VAT, but really object to paying 4 or 5 times more in handling fees. The limit at which the tax is charge seems to keep coming down, its now at around £18 value of goods.

Using a courier is even worse - a good few years ago I wanted the latest version of a PC game - so I ordered it from the USA when it was released - it was about £30 for the game - and I ended up paying the same again in tax and handling fee - perhaps not helped by it coming to me at work.