[NSRCA-discussion] New Planes

[Doug Cronkhite]

The funny thing is.. it isn't limited to just our little facet of the 
hobby either.

Some years ago, my father designed and built a simple, entry level 
Wakefield rubber free flight airplane. It had a flat-bottom wing, and 
was all wood. That airframe made it to the US Team Trials finals and 
very nearly earned a spot on the US team. A fully detailed construction 
article was written up for the magazines and almost universally was 
passed as not being 'Hi-tech' enough to be of interest. Instead, the 
mags ran articles on the latest Russian all composite, fully automated 
airframes which cost upwards of $1000. Yep.. for a rubber model.

Gus Ozols ran into the same problems I think with the Boxer series of 
airplanes. Everyone who built and flew one (myself included) RAVED about 
them, but I think most dismissed them as not being the current flavor of 
the month.

-Doug




Jerry Stebbins wrote:
> Chris, you keep forgetting the old adage-- It's not the plane-it's the 
> name". Precisely why there are fewer and fewer USA companies staying 
> in business. Build a straight and good flying kit for less than the 
> "name" planes and they will flock to the "name" plane. It's the culture---
> Jerry
>  
>  
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* chris moon <mailto:cjm767driver at hotmail.com>
>     *To:* nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
>     <mailto:nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>     *Sent:* Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:07 PM
>     *Subject:* [NSRCA-discussion] New Planes
>
>     Since it has been so quiet, I want to stir the pot and ask
>     everyone why
>     it is that we as a group accept lots of poor quality kits and just
>     shrug
>     it off? I spoke with 2 people this weekend who are building different
>     planes and both are unhappy with the quality of the kits. Pieces are
>     warped and twisted and tubes misaligned and we just say..."oh
>     well, I'll
>     fix it". One guy said something to the effect that well, it was ONLY
>     $1,000.00!!!! We are way too lenient on accepting cruddy quality and
>     just fixing it. I know there are not a lot of vendors out there,
>     but we
>     are happy to pay just $1,000 and get a twisted plane in return?? I
>     was
>     told one popular plane that many guys now have has 5 DEGREES of down
>     thrust mistakenly molded into the fuse and everyone just says, oh
>     well,
>     I'll fix it. Don't know about you, but $1,000 is a lot of dough to
>     me,
>     and to happily pay for a cruddy product in return is just wrong. I
>     still remember that famous email from one mfg that basically said
>     that
>     the person complaining about his wing was twisted should be HAPPY
>     that
>     it was twisted because famous pilot XX flew the plane too and he
>     won the
>     NATS with it. The problem is that we don't as a group send the
>     junk back
>     and demand that we get our money's worth. Nobody expects a perfect
>     kit
>     without any problems at all, but aren't we too lenient? Maybe we need
>     to just buy kits like Mike's Black Magic and then we can only blame
>     ourselves if it comes out crooked.
>     Sorry, but I really feel that we are being taken advantage of due
>     to the
>     limited supply of planes available and we are told to take it or
>     leave it.
>
>     Ok, I feel better now.
>
>     Chris
>
>
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