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About the business
ACTion was started by Craig Talbot in 1994. Craig was an enthusiastic
modeller, primarily interested in boats and trucks, who wanted a particular
sound effect which he couldn’t find in any shop. Being a skilled electronics
engineer he set to and designed one. This proved to be very successful
and was soon in demand from other modellers, so Craig began to expand
his range of sound simulators. When he was made redundant from his job
he was persuaded to build ACTion into a full-time business. Sadly he passed
away in May 2007 but not before he saw his friend Dave Milbourn take over
the business.
Dave is perhaps best known for his design and drawing work on the recent
Model Slipway kits, but he has been in and around the model trade for
a long time – having designed the original Precedent Huntsman 31 in 1972
and most of the subsequent Precedent model aircraft kits e.g. Hi Boy,
Bi Fly, T-180. Under the stewardship of Dave and his wife Liz ACTion expanded
its range of products to include some of the most familiar electronic
items currently fitted in RC model boats. In 2012 Dave & Liz decided
that it was time to retire & the business passed to its current owners
Iain & Natasha Lewis at Component-Shop, with Dave staying on part-time
to help out.
All of the ACTion units are made “in house”, which means that if the one
you need isn’t already in stock then one will be made up for dispatch,
often on the same day. Units in DIY kit-form are packed to order. Stock
units can often be modified for a specific purpose (e.g. we have sold
more than one P14 Destroyer Sound unit for use as a doorbell!) or we can
offer advice on using them in specific installations. There is a fixed-charge
repair service for ACTion units and this fee can be credited against the
cost of a new unit if the old one proves to be unserviceable. We can’t,
however, repair non-ACTion items or undertake special projects or one-offs.
Please note that ACTion is primarily a ‘mail-order’ business and, although
we like to see our customers, it is best to let us know in advance if
you want to collect your goods. We attend several of the regular model
shows at various venues during the year, so make a visit to see us and
have a chat with us there. We usually take our whole range of products
(except kits, unless ordered in advance) but if we run out of stock then
you can order with payment and we’ll send on your goods post-free after
the show.
Iain, Natasha & the team at Component-Shop, like Dave and his wife
Liz before them, pride themselves on the quality and speed of their service
– just like Craig in the beginning, they like to get it right.
About the products
The ACTion range includes electronic speed controllers from 1A to 20A;
motor/steering mixers; multi-function controllers; in-line fuse-boards
and full power-distribution boards; several different sound effects units
e.g. foghorn, steam whistle, ASDIC, destroyer “whoop”; R/C switchers from
one to four functions; bulb-flashing devices and engine sounds for smaller
models which are coupled to the speed controller and whose “revs” increase
with engine speed. We also have the fantastic P100 Noisy Thing which is
a comprehensive digital-sound-sample playback system. Many of these units
are microprocessor-based and most can be purchased either ready-built
or in kit form. A wide range of other items such as batteries, chargers,
cables, connectors, LEDs, servos, motors, speakers and smoke-generators
are also stocked for your convenience.
What we don't sell.........
We aren't a general model boat supplier; we are a specialist retail-manufacturer
and so we only sell the items which are on our web site/catalogue. This
doesn't include such items as radios, props, couplings, shafts, rudders
or boat fittings. While we are happy to point customers to other trusted
traders' websites, we believe it is the customer's role to source and
order items from the appropriate supplier.
Wiring diagrams
There are now over 170 of these on the website, covering not only the
whole Model Slipway range but several other manufacturers' kits and many
"freelance" designs, including several bait boats. They are
now catalogued according to the manufacturer's name (where appropriate)
to make them easier to find. We also have an Excel table of these drawings
which shows the various units fitted in each installation, along with
such information as number of engines, sounds, bow thruster and other
functions. You can use the various clever devices within Excel to sort
and filter out the exact installation you require. If anyone would like
a copy of this file (Excel 2003 version .XLS or .CSV) then just send us
your E-Mail address. Please note, as explained above, that we may well
not sell every item which is required for an installation as per these
diagrams, and we certainly don't sell full installation "kits".
Our Price List should be your guide.
NEW!! P105 Single Stick Steam Engine/Waterjet reverser
Sounds quite a mouthful but what this little on-board gizmo does is to
split the throttle signal between two servos (or one servo and a speed
controller). The throttle moves proportionally with the Tx stick, but
only in one direction irrespective of whether you've selected forward
or reverse. This means that your steam engine regulator valve will always
move the same way for more speed or your waterjet motor won't try to suck
water into the outlet and pump it out of the inlet in reverse. The reversing
servo "snaps" between one extreme of its travel and the other
as the throttle stick passes through neutral, thereby changing over the
reversing lever on a steam engine or lowering the reverse-thrust bucket
on a waterjet. Handy, huh? More details under "Mixers and Multi-Function"
on the Products pages. Units should be in stock from the beginning of
September - perfect for that Graham engine you've always fancied! Price
is just £15.50 incl UK VAT.
How to use this website
On the left-hand side of this homepage you will see a blue rectangle,
headed Main Menu. If you move the cursor of your mouse over each sub-heading
it will change from an arrow into a pointing finger. If you then click
once with the left-hand mouse button then one of two things will happen,
depending upon which sub-heading you select:
Where the sub-heading is Main Menu, Home, Price List, Dates or Contact
Us, then your web browser will take you straight to the relevant page
of the website.
For Products and Diagrams, however, a second “fly-out” menu will appear.
You should then move you cursor over the name of page you are interested
in, and left-click once.
The Products are divided into pages of similar units (e.g. speed controllers),
and there are two pages of Miscellaneous item at the end. Except for the
very last page, further product information is available if you move the
cursor over the picture of each unit/product, when it will turn into a
pointing finger. If you then left-click your mouse once it will open a
PDF file which contains the full instructions, wiring diagrams, a photo
sequence of building the kit version etc. These are large files and may
take a while to download, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.
You won’t be able to download and save these files but you can print them
out or “bookmark” their URLs for future reference.
The Wiring Diagrams are divided between complete installations for all
current Model Slipway kits, and other diagrams which have been done either
for general use or have been specifically requested by ACTion customers.
Finally there are some articles which have been compiled to explain various
aspects of RC Model Boat electronics, and are (of course) biased towards
our products. If you're installing the radio and other functions in your
latest model there is almost certainly something in amongst them to inform
and inspire you.
Ordering goods – On-Line ordering is not
available on this site – yet. However, you can order the ACTion range
of products on the Component-Shop website from the following link: http:\\www.component-shop.co.uk/html/action/html
Whilst many customers will be familiar with the ACTion units, if you wish
to confirm that you are buying the correct unit for the job you have in
mind, it’s easiest then to give us a call and, if the unit is suitable,
the transaction can even be completed over the phone.
Alternatively you can send us your order/enquiry by E-Mail, but please
don’t include card details. We will contact you with details
of how the transaction can be completed on-line or, if you prefer, simply
give us your telephone number & we will call you back. We accept Mastercard,
VISA, Maestro, & American Express – in fact, just about all of the
recognized credit and debit cards. We can also accept Paypal & Nochex,
although we reserve the right to ship only to the registered Paypal address.
International Bank Transfers (only in pounds sterling) are acceptable
but we would strongly urge you to check with your bank on how much they
are going to charge you to do this. We had a customer who was charged
almost 25% of the value of the transfer as fees - and then we were also
charged by our own bank for converting A$ into Sterling! Finally there’s
the good old-fashioned “snail-mail” post. Cheques should always be made
out in £GB Pounds Sterling; we regret that we can’t accept cheques in
any other currency. Please make Cheques/Postal Orders out to “Component-Shop.co.uk
Ltd”
Finally, we are a mail-order business so goods are sent out strictly on
a payment-with-order basis. We will only debit your card when the goods
are sent out, although it’s very rare that we are unable to despatch goods
on the same day.
Phone calls
We are not a huge organisation with a call centre full of operators waiting
for your call. We will always answer the phone as quickly as we possibly
can, but if we are busy talking to another customer you may find yourself
in a queue. If this should happen, you can hold on & wait until your
call can be taken, or there is an option to leave a message. If you don’t
want to hold, just leave us your name & number & we will call
you back as soon as we can.
Carriage charges
These are shown at the end of the published Price List, and should be
added to the value of the order before sending it off. For customers outside
the EU, we generally weigh the items and will quote you an actual cost
price. We use Royal Mail First Class post as our “default” carrier although
we also offer a guaranteed next day service at an additional cost. We
will do our best to comply with requests to use alternative carriers.
Such costs will always be charged to the customer. We don’t aim to make
a profit from our carriage charges.
International customers should note that our terms are DDU i.e. they
are responsible for paying any import duties and taxes due in the country
of destination. Acceptance of these terms is implicit in placing an order.
Fiscal matters
We are registered for UK Value Added Tax. This means that the price list
is VAT-inclusive and applies to all customers within the UK and the EU.
EU customers registered for VAT & customers outside the EU are able
to purchase goods VAT-free; please contact us to obtain a firm price,
including shipping.
Warranty Terms and Conditions (aka The small print……….)
ACTion R/C Electronics guarantee all products to be free from manufacturing
defects for 12 months from date of purchase. This does not cover suitability
for specific applications; components worn or damaged by use, tampering
or incorrect connection; misuse; alteration to original components; damage
to batteries or other equipment through use, or shipping damage. Where
goods are found to be faulty, the customer shall return them to ACTion
R/C Electronics in their original condition and with their original instructions,
packaging etc.
Where a fixed repair charge is applicable, ACTion R/C Electronics shall
undertake repairs to the extent that they are judged economically viable.
Where such is not the case then the customer will be offered the option
of crediting the repair charge towards the cost of a new unit or having
the faulty unit returned and the charge refunded (less the cost of return
carriage). Our liability is limited to repairing or replacing goods to
their original specification and will not exceed the cost of the goods.
By using the product the user accepts all liability. We reserve the right
to modify this guarantee without notice. None of the above affects your
statutory rights.
In any instance where you are unhappy with either our goods or our service
then please contact us informally before taking any further action, we
are reasonable people & will always do what we can to help.
Recycling
We try to do our bit for the environment and we are conscious of the EU
regulations about the safe disposal of electronic equipment, so we would
ask that you return any unserviceable ACTion unit to us if you are unable
to dispose of it properly.
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