E Strader

Dan,
Thank you for jogging my aging memory! I've been racking my brain trying to remember the plane that I liked so as a young modeler in the seventies, the Banshee, which if memory serves was a Jim Martin design? I have several brand new 60 and 61 engines from the 70's K&B, ST, HB and now I know what I'm going to do with them. If you know of plans of this plane please let me know.



Eric L. Strader

dfturnock

rd..
Yep, the Banshe was a Jim Martin bird... Eureka Aircraft has the rights to all the J&J stuff, and sells a short kit of the Banshee, along with the Eyeball, etc...

www.eurekaaircraft.com

Don

RickMunn

If your interested, have some very nice MK Kit for sale on eBay:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/111611344672?...84.m1558.l2649
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/111611346995?...84.m1558.l2649
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/111611358163?...84.m1558.l2649
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/111611360081?...84.m1558.l2649

Best Regards,
Rick

flywilly

My Feedback: (121)

Some nice engines, too!

ppljr

My Feedback: (94)

My two cents... make ABSOLUTELY SURE you put some kind of security rights on your files. The Curare part files that are CAD/PDF drawn and found all over the internet were done by me. I sold several copies of my drawings and plans scans until some HACK (whom I sold the drawings to) decided what I was doing wasn't right and then splashed it all over the internet. To be clear, I was selling MY drawings and scans of original parts, the plans were free. That is my experience. Take it for what it's worth. I recently purchased an e-book from a guy and he has a watermark on every page with my email on it. If some unscrupulous person decided to release your files, at least you know who it was.

stuntflyr

Are you an aviation photographer, too?
Chris...

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Rick,

I sent you a message via the auction site.

Thanks, David

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Hey Pedro,

it's good to see you back on the forums - 'tas been a while!

I'm not sure when Raindave posted those comments but I'm sure it's a very old post. Unfortunately, he hasn't been on the forums for some time now - probably 5 years. He made a brief re-appearance around 2012 but then left the community again. It was a loss to see him go as he was a wonderful contributor.

As to your drawings, I'm still sorry to hear about the incident. If there is any solace in how things turned out, many Curare's have been and will continue to be built as a result of your diligent work and efforts.

David

Patrick F

My Feedback: (17)

Hi All, Lasercut USA has Wood short kits for Pattern planes check out my website www.lasercutusa.com

Thanks Pat
Lasercut USA

Pattern One

My Feedback: (73)

Hi Guys,

Fiberglass pattern planes here: www.ballisticaircraftcompany.com The page will be up in the next few days. The NovaRossi page went up today.

Leo
Klasskotemo
NovaRossi Engines

dhal22

With no way to log in to Ebay Canada with my 10 year old US ebay account, I registered a new name on Ebay Canada and was willing to pay stupid money for the Blue Angel kit. Unfortunately, Rick didn't know that and kicked me off the bid list right at the end of the bidding. Rick, you lost several hundred dollars last night.

J Kikkert

Just thought you guys might like to know that The Hobby Barn in Tucson has an exclusive contract for marketing the Curare in the united states paying royalties to Hanno Prettner for every kit sold . They also trademarked the name Curare as a model airplane. They still sell his Curare, Magic, and Joker in a fiberglass and foam kit. Just passing on a little bit of my ancient knowledge of the hobby industry.
Jerry

rodders

I thought the hobby barn had closed?

Rodders

stuntflyr

They're done. The poster is telling a story from long ago, that was probably a fabrication at that. The proprietors of Hobby Barn are done with Classic kits, there was one little stab at makng them again and then... over.
Chris...

J Kikkert

GUYS:
I DONT POST ANYTHING THAT I DON"T KNOW IS TRUE. Let me give you a little current information and history. Hobby Barn was started in the 1960s by Bill Hempel sr. It was always thought that Bill Hempel jr would take over the store, but he had started his own very successful business of importing and selling Giant Scale Models. This business along with his current life has kept him more busy than most humans care to be. His father Bill sr. recently retired and the business was taken over by one of his other sons. Hobby Barn is currently going stronger than ever. They still manufacture their "Quality Line Kits". They just don't advertise in the magazines like they used to. You can call them or fax them after hours@ (520)747-3633.
Now for little information about me. I met Bill sr. in 1972 when I moved to Tucson. I helped out at his business for over 40 YEARS, till he recently retired. I helped design and build a lot of their kits in my " after work spare time hours" Bill was a great innovator in Fiberglass models and our hobby. He had a lot of "Firsts" in the hobby industry. I look at Bill sr. as My Best Friend, and I like to think of Bill jr. as a son I never had This is how I know that that the Hobby Barn is still thriving in the hobby industry.
JERRY
PS: if you have any questions of my knowledge, feel free to call me @ (520) 335-7751

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Jerry,

thanks for your enlightening post. I personally appreciate your candor and am happy to see the resurgence of classic pattern not only from the hobbyist standpoint (of which I am member) but also from the manufacturing or manufacturers standpoint (of which I am also a budding member). When I returned to the hobby in '08, one of the things I wished for was the ability to buy, build and fly kits and models like we used to in the 70's and 80's. At the time, in '08, classic pattern was in a somewhat rarefied state but amazingly in the last five years we've had some great folks who are bringiing about excellent contributions from a "kit offering" standpoint. We have folks who are doing glass/foam basic kits and others who are bringing about either classic wood kits to be built per the original plans or modernized construction CAD laser cut kits allowing us to build the classics better, faster, stronger and lighter. I have been contributing in some way to this latter movement and I have been enjoying it immensely although I still don't have the time I wished being still in the work force with two young children.

That said, I'd like to comment briefly on how the resurgence of Hobby Barn and their classic pattern QL kits came about from the forum members perspective (there are 3-4 classic pattern forums with a similar membership pool). It was actually Chip Hyde who I believe informed us that Bill Hempel would be offering once again glass/foam kits from their QL lineup using the original molds and foam cores from a stockpile that existed when the business went on hiatus for some years. Needless to say all the folks here were very excited to hear this news and for a while (probably two years) Rob at HB was the one, to my understanding, who was doing the layups and selling these kits to the classic pattern community. Although I was unable to personally obtain one of these kits myself, there were threads here discussing Rob's great work including 2-3 threads of his own showing the build of a couple of kits he was undertaking himself. It all was great news and it was good to see the increasing "diversified pool" of kits being offered to us builders. Naturally, there was some tension which arose due to the "mixed situation" with other people's efforts to bring back the classics which is reasonable and expected. I won't comment on moral or legal issues as it is not my place nor am I qualified to do so.

Returning to HB and the QL kit lineup, and without any ill intention, my feeling was that there wasn't a serious effort or desire on HB's part to offer these kits in a way that was viable for both them and us. The communication channels were meagre at best and it was (is) hard, in this day and age, to get a hold of someone who could actually provide the information necessary and enable the purchase transaction to be trusted and concluded. What I suppose I'm getting at is that it was never clear whether HB wanted to reach out to the community of clients at large or just deal with them on a one to one basis if and when time and disposition was available on their part. I had a few conversations with Rob who was very kind and helpful but I felt that his time and activities were being split in a few too many directions. I have also had a number of exchanges with recent (and past) clients of HB as well as potential clients who never seemed to be able to get any traction with ordering a kit primarily due to lack of response and communication on HB's part.

In short, I believe that communication is paramount to bringing about the sale and purchase of these classics and without it, we, as clients, are left with thoughts such as those expressed in this thread. Indeed I believe it is unclear to most whether HB today is manufacturing and selling classics and if so, how would we go about knowing that, knowing which ones, at what price and in what time frame could we expect the model to be shipped. The telephone is a great means but I feel that a little more might be needed to offer clients a sense of purchase security and seriousness on HB's part. If HB is indeed manufacturing and selling classic kits, I, as one of several potential clients, would encourage them to maintain open communication paths via these online forums as well as via email and telephone with proactive response to inquires. A website (even a simple one) with kit related information is always helpful too but I do realize that these things take time and effort.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this given your proximity to the Hempel's as well as Tucson where I've spent many enjoyable times in years past.

Regards, David

dhal22

Nothing like a vendor offering AND following up with actual kits. We often gave up on waiting for some vendors to produce. Then Don figured it out. Perform. If you're going to offer kits then do it, don't log in here promising to produce then fail. I own several of Don's excellent short kits and plan on ordering more. Cheers.

stuntflyr

I think Jerry defending his friends is nice, and what I read was that he took umbrage with was that they aren't in business anymore. Or perhaps the "exclusive" Curare deal. My comments were directed only at Classic kit production which I stand by that they are not available. The Curare deal is of no import, but I'm sorry if you took offense on that point, Jerry. I didn't mean to say you fabricated the story.

I get my Classics from Don at RCAiir and we'll all be able to do so for as long as Don says he's going to produce. As Dave Halcomb and David Oxilia stated, he produces where others have only talked about it. My last 3 kits from RCAiir included my buying Spring Air retracts, quality hardware and Sig contest balsa packs from them, so it's hard to beat a kit manufacturer that provides all of the stuff at one place.
Chris...

dhal22

There has been more than 1 here claiming rights to this kit or that kit or claiming that there should be unstated rights to produce a certain model, then nothing. As rare as kits were before more recent times we went for the kit that would show up at your doorstep in a few days.

Yak13

My Feedback: (17)

Leo, good to see that you are also moving in the right direction. Let us know when these will be available. That shrike looks so interesting...

Ed

Pattern One

My Feedback: (73)

Hi Ed,

Things are moving forward. Please watch the site for updates.

Leo
Klasskotemo
Ballistic Aircraft Company

dhal22

Excellent, please keep us posted. I would love to order a kit.

Pattern One

My Feedback: (73)

David,

Thank you. Will do. I have plenty of contest balsa, B&D retracts, and NovaRossi engines on hand.

Leo

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

I think the word plenty is somewhat of an understatement when it comes to Leo's shop!

My understanding is that it is a veritable classic pattern museum!!

David

rodders

Hey Jerry,

Just to put the claim into context:
1)Who is making the kits ?
2) How many kits have been made and actually sold this year?

If you can provide a name and a numbers to these questions, that's news. Otherwise you are out of date with your assertions.

I beat myself up trying to get one of these kits, it's was a pointless and frustrating exercise.


Regards
Rodders