[NSRCA-discussion] New Planes

Mon Jan 14 17:36:45 AKST 2008

You could certainly do worse than a VF3...but I admit, I am biased =) 

Actually you guys are hitting the nail on the head. I hear the same thing from people all the time. They expect more, settle for less, and it seems like it's swinging back the other direction lately. More and more people are looking for alternatives.

I do basically understand the "why" of it all as far as the overseas stuff is concerned, from both the buyer and the manufacturer's perspective. And I can admit I have a lot more sympathy for the manufacturers the last couple of years. I'll be the first to admit I'm not perfect, but I do everything humanly possible. The problem is there are no US "factories" making planes, at least not for pattern. All of us are small one man operations or just a couple of like minded guys who do it for the love of it, nothing more. There's not a lot of money in it so that's really not the motivating factor. And it makes it that much easier to just close up and move on to something else if things get rough.

And let me tell you first hand...Murphy is usually in full effect. I've had kits lost, damaged, pieces missing, everything under the sun you name it. Sometimes just getting boxes is like pulling teeth. lead times get long, sometimes a LOT longer than expected, but we plug through it. And by and large ALL of the people I have dealt with have been extremely patient and understanding. And you have no idea how much I appreciate that. 

But, things still go wrong. What I can't deal with is defects or flaws. If something gets damaged, I do my best to replace it as fast as I can. if something needs to be changed, I change it. If I find something that makes the plane fly better or build easier, I share it immediately. I actually took some flak over the 2.2 mod...but hey, it made a better plane and it was easy to do, why not get it out there? When I first started, all I had was a rolled up hand drawn plan and a few pieces of foam and a couple scraps of fiberglass. We have come a LONG way but we still have a long way to go....in my opinion. Especially documentation and details. But these things have difficult problems that take a lot of creativity (and time) to solve.

I know a lot of American guys are working hard on new stuff, so pretty soon we will all have even more options, especially American made and supported stuff. Just understand how long these things take...how much time and money we spend, how many all nighters we pull, etc...we do it because we LOVE IT!!! But no as of now we don't have full on factory support teams developing new stuff, it's just us.

But, even so, the number of guys seeking alternatives to the overseas ARFs is growing strongly, and that gives me a great feeling of pride and motivation to do more. For instance, follow this link http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6872498/tm.htm  However I understand the decision was based solely on how the plane flies, nothing else...I don't think....I didn't ask.

The sad thing is that there are some fantastic planes out there...but nobody knows how good they really are, because the hot dog pilots aren't flying them. So they get ignored. I know of quite a few fantastic American made planes, and have heard rumors of even better ones on the way. From wood kits to full composite jobs to over the top custom built ARFs and ARCs....all of this is on the way, soon. We hear you, and we're on it!!!! But we need your support if we are to build these cottage industries into what all of us probably are asking for.

One last thing, there are some fantastic planes out there that are imports. Of the ARF variety and of the kit variety. But sometimes I wonder how many people buy them without asking the right questions...or, better yet, if they are asking the right questions to the right people. If you buy a plane JUST because pilot X flies one, then you deserve whatever you get. Pilot X flying one should get your attention and get you interested in the plane to begin with. From there, just ask questions and use your head. It's your money and your time, spend them both wisely. you can get some really fantastic planes, but you can also get burned if you don't dig deeper. My rule of thumb: never be the first guy to get a new ARF, and wait for the "6 months later" review...the first one is usually heavily slanted by new plane euphoria.

I didn't post this to get into an arguement, or stir the pot, but to try and lend maybe some insight to a question I hear all too often.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.....I see all of this as a "glass half full" scenario. Of course, I haven't had a wing failure lately that was termed as a "minor inconvenience and very rare" by the importer.....just look around guys and ask around, find the good ones, avoid the problems....or be prepared to do a laundry list of modifications and/or repairs, just know what they are in advance.

-Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: chris moon 
  To: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org 
  Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 9:07 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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