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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>You could certainly do worse than a VF3...but I admit, I
am biased =) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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 <A
href="http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6872498/tm.htm">http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6872498/tm.htm</A>
However I understand the decision was based solely on how the plane flies,
nothing else...I don't think....I didn't ask.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>-Mike</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=cjm767driver@hotmail.com href="mailto:cjm767driver@hotmail.com">chris
moon</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, January 13, 2008 9:07
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [NSRCA-discussion] New
Planes</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Since it has been so quiet, I want to stir the pot and ask
everyone why <BR>it is that we as a group accept lots of poor quality kits and
just shrug <BR>it off? I spoke with 2 people this weekend who are building
different <BR>planes and both are unhappy with the quality of the kits. Pieces
are <BR>warped and twisted and tubes misaligned and we just say..."oh well,
I'll <BR>fix it". One guy said something to the effect that well, it was ONLY
<BR>$1,000.00!!!! We are way too lenient on accepting cruddy quality and
<BR>just fixing it. I know there are not a lot of vendors out there, but we
<BR>are happy to pay just $1,000 and get a twisted plane in return?? I was
<BR>told one popular plane that many guys now have has 5 DEGREES of down
<BR>thrust mistakenly molded into the fuse and everyone just says, oh well,
<BR>I'll fix it. Don't know about you, but $1,000 is a lot of dough to me,
<BR>and to happily pay for a cruddy product in return is just wrong. I
<BR>still remember that famous email from one mfg that basically said that
<BR>the person complaining about his wing was twisted should be HAPPY that
<BR>it was twisted because famous pilot XX flew the plane too and he won the
<BR>NATS with it. The problem is that we don't as a group send the junk back
<BR>and demand that we get our money's worth. Nobody expects a perfect kit
<BR>without any problems at all, but aren't we too lenient? Maybe we need
<BR>to just buy kits like Mike's Black Magic and then we can only blame
<BR>ourselves if it comes out crooked.<BR>Sorry, but I really feel that we are
being taken advantage of due to the <BR>limited supply of planes available and
we are told to take it or leave it.<BR><BR>Ok, I feel better
now.<BR><BR>Chris<BR><BR><BR>
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