I turned on bounds. Still no luck though. I can see the jME test model (man.dae) fine from very "far away" when bounds are enabled so I should be able to see my test model as well. Strange, especially since its located at the origin in Max.
Here is the complete debug output for my test model. Do the "INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct." lines provide any clue? The debug output when loading man.dae doesn't say anything about "reconstruct".
2006-nov-28 08:32:32 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (Golf) attached to this node (golf5p_max)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (aluminium) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (aluminium-mesh) attached to this node (aluminium)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (backlght) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (backlght-mesh) attached to this node (backlght)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (black) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (black-mesh) attached to this node (black)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (body) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (body-mesh) attached to this node (body)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (fronlght) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (fronlght-mesh) attached to this node (fronlght)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (glass) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (glass-mesh) attached to this node (glass)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (inter_w) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (inter_w-mesh) attached to this node (inter_w)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (glassblk) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (glassblk-mesh) attached to this node (glassblk)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (interior) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (interior-mesh) attached to this node (interior)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (mirror) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (mirror-mesh) attached to this node (mirror)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (plastic) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (plastic-mesh) attached to this node (plastic)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (nplate) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (nplate-mesh) attached to this node (nplate)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (rearlght) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (rearlght-mesh) attached to this node (rearlght)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (turnlght) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (turnlght-mesh) attached to this node (turnlght)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (tyre) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (tyre-mesh) attached to this node (tyre)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (wheel) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (wheel-mesh) attached to this node (wheel)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (braklght) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (braklght-mesh) attached to this node (braklght)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (chrome) attached to this node (Golf)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.SharedMesh reconstruct
INFO: SharedMesh will ignore reconstruct.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (chrome-mesh) attached to this node (chrome)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node <init>
INFO: Node created.
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (VisualSceneNode) attached to this node (golf5p_max)
2006-nov-28 08:32:33 com.jme.scene.Node attachChild
INFO: Child (golf5p_max) attached to this node (model)
batch: chrome-mesh: Batch 0 old: 10026 new: 2755
batch: glassblk-mesh: Batch 0 old: 582 new: 237
batch: tyre-mesh: Batch 0 old: 8184 new: 1852
batch: backlght-mesh: Batch 0 old: 1788 new: 479
batch: braklght-mesh: Batch 0 old: 156 new: 66
batch: fronlght-mesh: Batch 0 old: 312 new: 102
batch: wheel-mesh: Batch 0 old: 27612 new: 7612
batch: interior-mesh: Batch 0 old: 1446 new: 430
batch: glass-mesh: Batch 0 old: 1224 new: 420
batch: plastic-mesh: Batch 0 old: 12867 new: 4163
batch: nplate-mesh: Batch 0 old: 240 new: 94
batch: body-mesh: Batch 0 old: 27168 new: 7553
batch: mirror-mesh: Batch 0 old: 228 new: 83
batch: rearlght-mesh: Batch 0 old: 216 new: 87
batch: black-mesh: Batch 0 old: 3426 new: 1648
batch: aluminium-mesh: Batch 0 old: 1584 new: 404
batch: turnlght-mesh: Batch 0 old: 714 new: 206
batch: inter_w-mesh: Batch 0 old: 5502 new: 1414