09/25/2026
Hi guys,
I just want to preface this by please don't bring any politics into this post but I just got released from immigration custody.
Haven't been a good year at all. Prior to my mom's surgery in June we thought she might have cancer, thanksfully, it was just some benign tumors but her inside got pretty much removed anyway to prevent further complication. Then I had to be there for my dad's surgery on a tumor on his bicep too. Then it was my turn with my wisdom tooth, got 1 of 4 removed so far with the rest will follow soon, just not sure when.
That's when I was taken in because some people who used the same lawyer I use was investigated and convicted of immigration fraud through scam marriage and they pretty much investigated everyone else, myself included. Since January of this year, I've been letting one of my cousins help me with packing and shipping orders while I focus on printing and designing, so when I was taken in he naturally took over the shop for me since he's more familiar with the operation than my wife.
Big surprise, when I came back and Kevin Futton let me know of the fu**ed up situation, I found out that my cousin never shipped anything and had ran off to Vietnam with my cash and sold my laptop containing all the files for both the Skyraiders and Panthers, including sliced files that I didn't back up to my PC.
Then I was taken in again due to some paper errors and finally got released a couple days ago when my new lawyer got things straighten out.
Anyway, right now I have 50 or so Skyraiders of both scales that you guys bought plus unpacked Panther parts I have to sort through, and I'll have to figure out a way to get some money to ship them all since now I'm literally penniless. Probably have to sell a couple of those if possible.
Right now I don't have control over the website, my paypal account, and my shop email yet and I believe the yearly contract for the website has run out too, still have to try and recover the account since my 2-factor security code is in the laptop that was sold. I believe Shopify would have handled the refund request if any was made already, just hopefully my excel file containing the shipping info is good and up to date.
Also once I have the website back and running I'll probably turn off shipping to Israel due to the war, got some packages that I shipped in April return since they were not able to deliver. Just heard the news about new EU packaging rules too and I'll probably have to either find a workaround or find a retailer who are willing to work with me to do it. For those in the EU who have paid for my products, I'll still honor the order and will ship them once I have some funds to start it rolling again, even if it means I have to lose money on the orders.
Again, there should have been better ways to handle everything but it's a crazy time we live in and sorry for disappponting you guys.
From now on TTModelworks will be back to my sole control and moving forward, I'll update my inventory of readt-to-ship kits and once they run out I won't collect money until the kits are available again.
P/s: right now the only official channels to buy my kits are either through here or the website, Rudy of Cal-Tex hobby does have my kits on eBay and that's the only "retail" sale channel so far but any question about TTModelworks and kits should still go to me not Rudy
