rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Sorry if there is already a thread about this.

Has anyone looked at the new re-organization of the AMA Plans service? Prices have doubled and even TRIPLED for some of the plans, and others that were available no longer are (MA DB Mathews 4-40 for example). A few months back I got Sr. Falcon plans for $10.80. They are now $28! The MA 4-60 is also $28. It was around a third of that before the holidays, I'm pretty sure. They now want $30 for the Falcon Mk II (Pond collection).

I'm sorry to gripe, but this is outrageous.

Hossfly

I have a lot of Pond plans. They are just reprints. Just an opinion, but I suspect that John Pond, great guy that he was, didn't get too involved with copy-right stuff. OTOH, an organization like AMA simply cannot afford to take any chances. They spent a lot of time checking over those situations. Consider that if AMA has to pay royalties the plans will be considerably more expensive.

Of course the bottom line is that with the current steady loss of membership someone has to pay the expense of that glossy "Model Aviation" that cannot even break even and the membership did not want to change it. So fork it over, Ya'll!

SSRCCPREZ

Hmmm... You know my first thought here is that the plans are still relatively inexpensive based on other plans that are out there to be purchased.Granted those are for profit companies and offer accessories etc...
My second thought here is that the AMA implemented this all wrong. If they came out and said the cost of archiving,printing,packaging etc has increased therefor we will be raising the prices, than the sting may have been a little less. Although there still would have been a ton of rock throwing about the evil,greedy AMA. Had they been upfront about it and not appear to be less sneaky about it, than maybe it would have been a better PR route.
especially where we can all look at past issues of MA and see the cost increase. I would however be interested in any reason for a 50% increase in cost in such a short time. Royalties aside,this does seem a little steep without any membership warning.

Jim Thomerson

Do you think this is an effort to shut down people who scratch build in the hopes that they will buy more ARF's? []

Gremlin Castle

My Feedback: (14)

Death is about the only thing that stops a scratch builder. Scratch building by its definition indicates that you create the plans/patterns and build it your way with your style of construction.
AMA has a much greater overhead than an individual so anything that they do must reflect the additional cost. It does hurt the few of us that still build from plans but in the relative scheme of modeling, plans are probably among the smallest part of the dollars spent.

papermache

My Feedback: (35)

With the way things are right now, the AMA can't afford to lose any more members. That includes us scratch builders who use the plan service.

papermache

shag555

Is there any EASY way to search that library (from online)???

cyclops2

A lot of Hobby Equipment people donate their time and effort to AMA.
I am sure they have steered the organization into it's present directions.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

That is only some people's definition. Many people do not consider using someone else's plans to mean they are not scratch building.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

shag555, you can keyword search the digital archive, though it's not as easy as the old page they had where you could see all the construction articles for a given year. You can still see it by using that web.archive.org thing: http://web.archive.org/web/200503160....org/plans.asp

I'm beginning to feel like joining the AMA is nothing other than subscribing to a magazine of glossy ARF ads.

cyclops2

A lot of mags. are nothing but page after page of ADS.
Same for pay TV.
Wife NEEDS TV.
I do not. Same old stuff every year, edited a little differently.
Pay the man.

cyclops2

A lot of mags. are nothing but page after page of ADS.
Same for pay TV.
Wife NEEDS TV.
I do not. Same old stuff every year, edited a little differently.
Pay the man.

Jim Thomerson

Well, I just checked. Plans for my Cheap Thrill (MA 98/12) 1/2A CL stunt airplane are only $7.50 plus shipping. That is reasonable. I take back all my adverse comments.