Fixed my own error ....
when you copy the model - the model runs in a separate database to the data, so i had to create 2 databases at the client... one for model and one for data.
opening the project is from the model database.
In project settings I had to set the database to the data database .... this all worked now ....
Have you checked your database settings? It might still try to connect to your development database. Might want to switch it something local or a HSQL db.