Nathan nts engineering
 

Sorry to drag everyone into this but has anyone seen or heard from Nathan (nts engineering) as I cannot get hold of him and I am desperate to contact him it's very important
Thanks

I got a PM from him 1/7 thats was the last time I heard from him.

Janne

Nathan did say he was going to ground for a while to close down the business and work out what he was going to do for work from now on. He also said one of his options was overseas security work.
It may be best to ask others on here for advice for the time being. Though it can be annoying not being able to contact someone you need help and advice from when you are stuck I have every sympathy for Nathan as he has tried doing business the right way, not been able to meet his overheads and responded by going out of his way to make sure that everyone gets their parts or a refund. If it's desperate you could always try Spud or HandyAndy as they live near him.

Well, mgglep didn't get his refund :)

And I'm still waiting for my bodywork. Of reasonable quality this time.

I knocked on his door the other day when I was near by but nobody home

I have every sympathy for Nathan as he has tried doing business the right way, not been able to meet his overheads and responded by going out of his way to make sure that everyone gets their parts or a refund.

I wish the above was true

If you look at his profile, Nathan hasn't been online for a month (4th July).

I would not be surprised if he was abroad now, he said right from the start of shutting down NTS that he would go overseas for a bit. I'm still of the opinion that he is unaware that the refund that he did issue via Paypal went wrong. Others (who were owed more than you currently are) received their refunds at the same time that yours was issued. They haven't since posted anything to the contrary.

I know this doesn't help; I would be equally frustrated if I was in the same situation and you have my every sympathy (because it's a reasonably large sum of money).

Albert, what went wrong with your bodywork?

It's a long story.

The price quoted by spud69 was in the range of £230-250 for shipping a 6-piece set of bodywork to Lithuania. I toyed with the idea of making my own bodywork, but in January finally pooled up on shipping with another dude making a roadster in Lithiuania. Then we arranged transport by someone who could pick up both sets and bring them down to Lithuania for 100 quid. We paid for the 2 sets from Saturn on 11 January. Then 5 days later Andy announced he'll be transfering the business to Nathan/NTS.

In mid-February Nathan sent a note that the bodywork is ready. We started arranging to get it picked up, and eventually in early March or so it finally brought to Lithuania. But at the moment I was on holiday in Tenerife. In the end of March I returned and finally got my bodywork. The other guy we ordered together with got his set from the guy who arranged us the transport, so we have never met.

The quality was disappointing, especially given the high expectations set by all the praise Andy and SSC got on this forum. I was not sure whether I'm being too picky, so I made some photos and sent them to Nathan and an impartial expert in GRP, MarkB. Nathan admitted that the panels "do look like crap", and MarkB replied that I it's totally appaling, he had binned panels that looked better than this, and I should get my money back and think about buying from Voudou. MarkB wrote that the moulds are obviously in a very bad state and he's sad to see that. Apparently, also MarkB sent some abuse Nathan's way privately.

Nathan expressed his intention to put it right numerous times, initially he offered a refund or a replacement set, but later wrote that he didn't see any of my money (I paid to Saturn), and he's started making a replacement set anyway. This was late March/early April. Nathan didn't want me to publicize the photos of my bodywork, but asked for evidence of defects on the second set. I made the Picasa album with my photos private.

As shipping the bad sets just does not make sense, I offered to buy at least my set for a fair price for what it is, and pass them on to other builders (there are a couple of people who could be interested). Nathan suggested that I use the bad set to progress with my build, practice drilling it, and then just replace the bodywork once it's done.

Several months passed, Nathan decided to close down the operation. He acknowledged several times both privately and on the forum that he intends to make good on his promises, in fact one of the sets is done and just needs some elbow grease to ensure that it's top notch this time.

The last time I've heard from Nathan was 6 June. He promissed to have the two sets ready for the first week in August (this week), but, apparently, it did not pan out. I still believe he's intends to fulfill his promise, but I feel the urge to share on the forum, too... It's been almost 7 months since I paid...

Anyway, here are the photos of the disappintment that came after the initial euphoria of offering the bodywork to the chassis:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1008810...eat=directlink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7722909...7629458919298/

Now I'm really blocked on bodywork. I want to mount the front indicators and rear lights, but if I intend to recoup my costs for the seconds set, I want the visible surfaces to unspoiled if possible.

Trust me he is 100% aware of the situation

I'm friends with him on facebook but for somereason it is saying his account has been de-activated? just so you know i'm trying aswell.
I will let you know if i see or hear anything.

Dean

Cheers everyone. Another thing that's stressing me out is I had a nose and scuttle from Satur, when I ordered my other parts ( the ones I haven't got) I started making and fitting my scuttle, firewall, battery, header tank etc now if I don't get my bonnet I fear the nose, scuttle and firewall will be scrap as I doubt it will fit another bodywork suppliers scuttle panel it is such a mess and the whole thing is really getting to me and my family

I've just looked at the pics and I agree that the quality is not up to scratch. I'm very disappointed for you. I have CF panels that I know Nathan has made and they are much higher quality than the GRP products posted here :(.

If he is, then Nathan should sort it out as soon as he possibly can. As I've said before, I've dealt with Nathan and it's been very pleasant and straightforward. I'm disappointed that not everyone can share my experience :(

I know what you mean, but try to not let it get to you. On the upside, a bonnet could be made from ali sheet, so it's not a lost cause :) I'll gladly supply measurements of my SSC bonnet which should be a good starting point if you don't suceed in getting a GRP bonnet. You could then add whatever size bonnet scoop you require :)

Do you still need rear wings?

Hi I am trying to contact Nathan for the last few months with no joy.He promised me a replacment bonnet as the one Saturn supplied was very badly finished with big gaps between scuttle and nose cone.This has been going on since the end of january he has told me he lost my details,then was waiting for a couriur then he was having trouble at home.I then told him i would collect it at Stoneleigh to save him courier charges to be phoned at the show that he was sending it by courier as it was cheaper than driving down with it.So as it is I totally pi**ed off as I cant line up the body work

FWIW, I haven't heard from Nathan since September and this situation has not been resolved in any way.

I bought a Gulf Blue nose cone from CTWV50. Received it today and got depressed how much worse the yellow NTS nose cone was than the one that was sold on the SSC seconds sale.

Does anyone have Nathan Smith's email or phone? Looks like he's forgotten me.

Alga, I have just looked at the photos and I am appalled at what has been sent to you.
I personally would not be able to live with my-self if I had sold something of that poor a quality to someone.
I bought some grp items from a member on here who was selling up but he told me before I left home to go and see them that he had bought them as seconds from Saturn, and I kid you not, my second look like firsts compared to what you have received.
I do hope you are able to sort this out soon, and I sympathize with you being in a different country you cant just jump into your car and go and thump the Cr*p out of him, which I would have by now.
Nathan if you are reading this do the right thing and give the guy his money back

Arfon

Dan at Gillham online now has the Saturn moulds, if you give him a chance to set him self up at his new workshop I'm sure he'll be able to sort you out.

never mentioned this before and frankly i still dont want to kick the guy whilst he down and not here to defend himself however i helped him do a few sets of bodywork as its all stuff i used to do back in the day

my observation was this

gelcoat was applied too thick in places and was uneven hence corners pulling off on release he applied the gel by pouring a load into the bottom of the mould and spreading it about ( i was always taught to do corners first then apply evenly to rest of mould) he nearly always had air bubbles to deal with

my next observation was that he never radius rolled the edges and corners mainly cause they were thick with gel so a simple paddle roller would do the job

but the biggest problem he had to deal with was the stress when things went wrong putting pressure on himself to get orders out on time lead to him almost saying that wll do they can have it like that

I ordered frontwings in carbonfibre from Nathan in May 2012 and payed £200 but never got anything but lies from him:mad:
He is not answer in phone or by e-mail:mad:

Janne

It just seems to go from bad to worse

Arfon

I have been waiting for the right time to bring this up and now seems as good a time as any .... I would like to put things right with regards to people missing bodywork from nts, now that I have taken over the moulds from andy I have the flexibility to do so. What I was planning to do is after I have moved workshops and my bodywork group buy has passed is to offer bodywork at a reduced price to the nts customers who have had issues with the parts supplied / not supplied. Ill need to see your origional invoice with info and pics of the problem item to get this discount. I'm sorry but I can't supply the parts for free or do anything about postage rates but I can supply with a decent amount of money off my product. I need to sit down and work out the costs etc and be settled into the new worshop before I can say what discount I can supply.

Hope this comes as some relief and ill put a post up to confirm when I am in a position to offer this.

In the meantime if you have any questions please get in contact.

Dan

P.S. Sorry to hijack the thread!

Dan,
I am sure that the people involved will appreciate the kind gesture that you are making to try and help people get over a problem that is none of your doing.
Nathan if Dan is offering the parts at reduced cost maybe you could contribute towards them using the money they have paid you and that way you will get everyone off your back and peace can return to the mad house once and for all

Just a thought

Arfon

Here's a couple of up-to-date pics of Nathan's rear arches that were never refunded nor replaced, after three months of use:

I have always had the issues of outer fibre glass gel coat coming off. I thought thats what fibre glass did. thats why I always went for abs plastic. (back in the day of big bumpers and side skirts)

should good fibreglass not split/chip then? I was going to put rubberized under sealer on the inside of my arches (about 10 coats :D )

do I not need to? should it hold together if its good stuff.

I would think that is the result of pouring the gel coat in to the middle of mould and then spreading it around with a paddle or a brush, I bet it's nice and thick at the top of the arch? The edges and the returns should have been done first in a nice thick coat with a brush left for 5-10mins then the flat areas done with a roller so it goes on even. If it was given two coats that would have been even better but gel coat is more expensive than laminating resin, I'm guessing there is not much of it on the bigger parts like the scuttle and bonnet.
As for the matting not being pushed into the resin either there is not enough of it so it was done dry or a finned consolidating roller was not used which costs about £5-7.
The hollow voids between the gel coat and the resin is caused by trying to force 600csm into tight corners, a way round the problem is to cut strips of a lighter 200g csm mat and put that around the edges and corners as this has a bit more give to it. A radius roller costing £4-7 would then push the matting in to place. When I get my act together and start to produce my GRP parts I'm using 200g woven roven around the edges and corners so that hopefully this does not happen.
Has any body thought about using a polyurethane truck bed liner under the arches that stuff is near impossible to damage?

At this point I'd like to point out that I have no back ground in GRP but I do have 14 months worth of college education in industrial model making, the advice on laminating was given to me by a neighbour who makes £130,000 racing yachts.

my triton arches from the same moulds have been on the car for 3 1/2 years without any problems. fibreglassing is an art form