Craig-RCU

You can browse through all of Tower's products on their website, maybe? You can order right off the site or, they also have an 800 number.

CHassan

My Feedback: (13)

You can also call them and get the Tower Talk for free

Old RC Aviator

My Feedback: (9)

I've been flying rc since 1975 and outside of my kids and grandkids it's the only thing that gives me total enjoyment. I was flying when I was a newly wed struggling to make ends meet. It always has given me satisfaction no matter what I was flying be it ARFs or scratch built or kit built and I've flown them all. Trainers to Jets. Price has never entered into it. If you dwell on how much it costs you will never get total enjoyment out of it. This hobby is not for the faint of heart. It is for the satisfaction you get watching your son solo for the first time or when you hear your grand daughter say " Lets go fly Pa Pa". There's nothing like it in the world. Forget the prices, We can't do a thing about it. Just enjoy it for what it is. A Wonderful Hobby and a wonderful way to keep the family together.

AJF--2

My Feedback: (119)

WOW--well said OldAviator. Many words of wisdom

Mpilot

Well I guess I'm jumping in the dogfight! I like to build from plans, to me that is the best. The point is this a HOBBY.
and A hobby is all about what a person likes kits, arfs or plans. the problem is Tower's hobby is money. I miss the mom&pop store when you got good stuff at a fare price and good advice for free." sorry Tower your customer service sucks for the prices you have. " one of these days some one will realize that mail order was not the best idea. it was nice when you needed some thing at the last minute you could stop at the store on the way to the field.

ctdahle

So, On the front cover of Tower Talk, it says, 12TH ANNUAL PLANE BUILDERS HEADQUARTERS. Yeah! a catalog full of kits for a change I'm thinking, but in the first 13 pages, there is only 3 kits listed, and you gotta leaf through till page 20 to see any real kit listings.

I recognize that boat loads of people are too busy, too lazy, too clumsy, or too unskilled to build a model airplane. Tower devotes EVERY friggin issue of Tower Talk to the people who lack the desire or inclination to build. Fine, good business and all that, but can't they just have ONE issue of Tower Talk each year for people who like to build?

CHassan

My Feedback: (13)

I think it's called "sound marketing". Do you think they would devote so much space to ARFs if no one was buying them? They advertise what sells. Tower is a business, and a business exists for one reason, the procurement of large amounts of money. You can't expect tower to sell things at or below cost.
I have to agree with Old aviator, I would spend thousands more on my planes and equipment, if it ment one more hour I could spend with my kids enjoying R/C.

Nuker

hmm I've never bought from Tower but I mistakenly?? filled out a survey once. I've been receiving sales flyers for 3 years now.

I fly, my wife flies and now my daughter has joined our club's wings program for 2003. Again in agreement with Old Aviator, if I looked at the prices of everything I put into this, including time and materials, I'll probably take up crossword puzzles Look at what the hobby pays you. Now I get to spend even more time with my family (we golf together too). I love building as it's part of my hobby so I have ample things to build. My wife builds some and has an ARF as well. My daughter, well I have to build for her since she is "particular" about colors

I support my LHS and if it's $5 more there, who really cares? They keep the stock and advice I need and at worse I have to wait a week while they order it on my behalf. If I wanted to pinch pennies, I sure has heck wouldn't be in this hobby

As was said, the catalogues wouldn't be pusing the ARF's unless they were being sold, can't really blame them. But remember there are always options.

Oh well, Happy New Year everyone

Bob aka Nuker

ps gotta warm up my fingers for our Frozen Finger Fun Fly at noon today

Old RC Aviator

My Feedback: (9)

To CHASSAN And NUKER,

Your getting the picture now boys. I'm not a wealthy man. I get by ok, But I don't make lots of money. I'm just an artist and we don't get rich. It's the Kids that count. When you enjoy something, cost is secondary to the thrill and satisfaction you receive from watching those smiles on the faces of those kids.
I understand not all R/C folk have kids but you must know someone who has and have you ever seen a kid that wasn't awed by an R/C plane or car? I've noticed that over the last few years that interest in the hobby especially flying has taken a down turn. The LHSs don't make the sales they used to because the demand for build up kits isn't what it used to be. We baby Boomers are getting older and a new generation of flyers are coming into the picture but are being weened on ARFs instead of actually building from a kit. There's a lot of factors involved that drive up prices. In 1975 I scrimped and saved to buy an EK Logictrol 7ch Super Pro radio For $700.00. Thats right!! $700.00. In 1975!! That radio which I still Have doesn't hold a candle to even the cheepist 4ch of today. So some things Have changed for the better. Please, If you know a kid who needs a friend, or guidence. Introduce him or her to R/C Flying. It's a real kick to see their eyes light up the first time they see that plane leave the ground. Happy New Year!!!

Mpilot

Now you guys are talking. I have loved RC planes since I was a boy. It was not my dad that got me my wings (thumbs). It was one of my customers on a paper route I had. I was 12 years old, the starting age for a paper boy. The first week on the job when I got to my last customer on my route he had a Super Chaos on his porch with the motor running. That did it!! My folks were doomed. I had been standing there for 10 min. when he came out. We talked till it was dark then he took me home, bike in the back of his truck. He talked to my parents about teaching me to fly model planes. They said it cost to much. He told them not to worry about that. He was a truck driver and was willing to let me wash his truck once a week when he came in from a trip. They finally said ok. The next week he had to bring me home again because I could not carry all the stuff he bought me. It was Goldberg Eaglet 50 a O.S. 20 fp, Futaba FG7 radio (the gold ones) glue and parts. He coverd it for me and taught me to fly it. People like that are an asset to the hobby. My wife and I are 8 months pregnant and it is a BOY! YES!!! She wants me to share my hobby with my son. I'm a scratch builder and we believe that this is better than a child sitting in front of the TV playing video games 24 7. We believe that the hobby can promote confidence, respect, an ability to do for yourself, and most of all good family time, building and flying.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

Did you know that Mozart had 19 children!!! Thats why he was Baroque!!!

I have been in the hobby 23 years. One thing that I have noticed is that things tend to ebb and flow. There seems to be about a five year cycle in the hobby's popularity. I think the same might be true of the products that are for sale. Ducted fans were king for a while. Big bird scale was all the rage. Now its seems giant aerobats have infested most fields. We are a herding animal for the most part. But, for those of us that choose a less beaten path, the trend is disappointing. Not because I wish others to do as I do; but because I wish to do what I want to do. It is difficult to find kits that appeal to me at this time because the herd is off doing something else and the manufactures are chasing them.
My thing, (right now), is civilian scale. Bonanzas and Ercoupes and such. How many of those do you see at your feild today? I am a lifer!! I shall fly models until the day I die! "My" kits have been discontinued because the herd, which is generally not lifers, has led the manufactures away. So, I am angry with the herd. I preach of the merits of building scale ships to the deaf and unwilling. "It ain't my thing man." Well it was mine, until you guys killed it! You have the right to go your way. And I have a right to go mine. And anyone who's way is blocked has the right to complain. As mentioned above, it would seem inappropriate to blame the manufactures for responding to the market place. I can't blame the market place for being what it is. I'm just a dinosaur that likes Baroque Chamber music.

Old RC Aviator

My Feedback: (9)

Gear Up and Locked ! As long as we are still on the subject of prices how about the local Hobby Shop owners. I don't know about where you live but here in UpState Ny The Hobby Shop is more than just a place to buy hardware and rubber bands. It's a place to go talk shop and shoot the bull with other R/C pilots and builders and discuss these things that bother us. In all the Hobby shop owner is like a bar tender. He's there and he listens because he cares and he knows that if he can help you with your problem he can make money from his wisdom. How many of you have ever gotten a 10 or 15% discount by being a regular customer at the hobby shop? That kind of service you can't get at mail order houses like Tower Hobbies or Hobby Barn. Usually The local Shop will match the prices of these places just to keep your business and you don't have to pay shipping. There used to be a shop in Port Byron Ny called Utopia Hobbies run by a couple named Abraham. It was about an hour and a half drive from here and even though I had a hobby Shop about 20 min away from home I and a couple of my fly'in buddies would always try to make it up there once in awhile to see them because they always had a deal or two for us. This weekend My buddy and I are driving to Binghamton Ny to another shop we go to once in awhile. Beats sitting at home crying about the prices of the mail order houses. Support you local shop. You'll be glad you did.