Action R/C Electronics

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.