coxco

My Feedback: (7)

I have built and flown 40 plus SIG planes. I still get excited when I see a kit for sale on ebay and other places. We have talked about the planes and the kits but not about the balsa and other wood produces available there. This is by far some of the best building wood on the market. I have never had a bad piece of balsa in the older kits. Maybe I was lucky that way but a lot of guys in the club who built Sig kits said the same thing.

As a beginner to building these kits are just what you need. Some of them get a little tricky in places, but overcoming this only makes you a better builder. When most of us started building there was NOT internet we could look on for tricks and tips. Now you can find help everwhere and become a master builder in a shorter time.

Don't be lazy. Order a kit and get to building. YOUWILLLOVEIT

acdii

Shipping is super quick. I placed an order last week for some dope, stix-it and a couple other items. They were at a show and got back on Thursday to process my order, it arrived Friday afternoon.

ARUP

I love SIG! I buy from Brodak when SIG doesn't have the dope I need. SIG always has great balsa. I keep a lot of it in my stockpile and replenish it every 6 months or so.

coxco

My Feedback: (7)

Just sitting here thinking about my first plane. SIGKADET 3 channel trainer. I learned to do loops, rolls, inverted flight, touch and goes(my fav) and even a tree landing. It was so smooth and slow the tree did not hurt it. This was the way to start. Then the KWIK BUILD P51 standard gear and then another 51 with retracts. I still have that one 40 years later. I have built almost all the kits eather for myself or others over the past 40 years. I even have one of the original Wonders with a os 25fsr. Man that thing goes fast.

Great memories from the past and more to come Im sure.

THANKS SIG

countilaw

How can you be an "exclusive online retailer of sig airplanes" when I can go straight to sig and get whatever I want? Also my lhs is a sig dealer also, so how can you be the EXCLUSIVE online retailer?

I'll stick with SIGMFG.COM.

Frank

stevegauth30

I'm guessing he means all he sells are SIG products. Cause you can buy a sig kit on just about any web site or LHS.i could be wrong though. Happened once long ago.

SIGPlanes

countilaw,

Please let us help clear-up the misunderstanding. Our company is an exclusive retailer of SIG airplanes. Meaning, we have chosen to only promote the SIG brand and not carry any other manufacturers' airplanes. We feel we can do the best job possible in being knowledgeable about our product line and servicing our customer with this clear focus. There are many places that you can purchase SIG airplanes online. However, at SIGPlanes.com, we are 100% committed to the SIG brand.

Please reference our "About Us" page for more information about SIGPlanes.com:http://www.sigplanes.com/About-SIGPlanescom_ep_7.html

Thank you,
SIGPlanes.com

stevegauth30

thats a what i figured. thanks

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

This is meant as a serious question ... I hope its read that way.

I think its great your reselling sig, I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more what it means that your 100% commited to the SIG brand? For example I looked through your site and noticed that the kits you have available are price matched to within a dollar or so of ordering directly from SIG. Is there any benefit to the end customer ( myself ) from ordering from you versus ordering directly from the sigmfg.com website?

Thanks.

stevegauth30

I've been wondering that too, is there any benefit?

wickedpissa

My Feedback: (1)

It is a good thing to support a distributor base.

stevegauth30

Well I agree with you 100% on that. At least your supporting SIG rather than some over seas chop shop.

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

I did notice that SIGPLANES offers free shipping on orders over $150. Shipping Sig's 1/4 scale clipped wing rang up as $18 for me so there is a slight cost benefit there. 

SIGPlanes

We appreciate you asking for more information about SIGPlanes.com and are happy to explain its value proposition to RC airplane enthusiasts. The purpose of SIGPlanes.com is to support the SIG brand and promote its products online in places where they currently are not. We will be working to create a modern shopping experience with current product information in additional to a large inventory of images and video. We are very excited about the talented team of people our company has brought to the RC airplane industry. Our people are balancing SIGPlanes.com with other projects, but look for continuous development in our website, programs and channels. It is not our objective to move current SIG Mfg. customers over to SIGPlanes.com, but to introduce a new generation of RC pilots to the legendary SIG brand and provide them with the online resources and webstore that has the functionality and content they expect today. <o></o>

While we are creating our online properties, SIG Mfg. and its new ownership and management group is focused on building new SIG ARF models to their renowned quality standards. In July, SIG will be bringing three new models to market. Based off the highly-popular Four-Star models, the new 4-Star 54 & 4-Star 64 ARFs retain all of the signature features of their beloved predecessors while sporting a number of aesthetic and design improvements. The all-new T-Clips ARF is a focus-built acrobatic model with a strong nostalgic flavor to it design. Then, coming in September will be a new venture for SIG with the Sbach 300 ARF. And that is just the start of the new chapter for SIG.<o></o>

<o></o>

In the nature of this thread, we encourage all SIG fans to engage with the brand and celebrate its return to relevancy. Share its story with the new RC pilots who may not be familiar with this pillar of the RC airplane hobby. When you are ready to purchase, the entire SIG team wants you to purchase where you feel comfortable – from SIGPlanes.com, SIG Mfg., or your local hobby shop. Fly The Legend!

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Uh... lots of flowery rhetoric there. And I'm being kind.

mattnew and steve30, methinks our question was answered...

.

HighAndWideat65

My Feedback: (2)

Hi I see a lot of Sig planes here but no Clip-Wing 52" Cubs,I have one and am now building it. Was this plane not populer or does it fly bad?

countilaw

We appreciate you asking for more information about SIGPlanes.com and are happy to explain its value proposition toRCairplane enthusiasts. The purpose of SIGPlanes.com is to support the SIG brand and promote its products online in places where they currently are not.

Where is SigMfg not available online?


We are very excited about the talented team of people our company has brought to the RC airplane industry.

What talented team?


Our people are balancing SIGPlanes.com with other projects, but look for continuous development in our website, programs and channels.

So when you say, "other projects" does that mean other "Exclusive Online" ? How many other Exclusive websites do you currently have now or will have in the future?


It is not our objective to move current SIG Mfg. customers over to SIGPlanes.com, but to introduce a new generation of RC pilots to the legendary SIG brand and provide them with the online resources and webstore that has the functionality and content they expect today.

I think this could have been done just by saying, " Hey buy your stuff from Sigmfg. You can order online or by telephone. Great products, Great customer Service and Great prices.


Idon't mean to throw water on your parade, but I think there is more here than meets the eye.

Frank

stevegauth30

Hey highlandwide, I don't have any experience with the 52 inch cub, but I can assure you, if they made it, it flies really well. I've had 1/4, 1/5, and 1/6 SIG cubs, and ALL were awesome fliers. Never had a single complaint with any sig product for that matter. I believe you will be happy with it. Steve.

lflf

My Feedback: (1)

My favorite Sig is the Wonder, I've built several of them and they are a blast. My uncle built a Senior, and that plane must have had a thousand flights before a rubber band failure on the wing hold downs ended its career. It had two owners, my uncle, and then after his passing my father, and must have been around for 10 years. Both learned to fly on it. It started out with a fox 40, and after that wore out it had an enya 46 cx on it. That is one good trainer. I am building a Sig hummer at present which I plan to electrify. Sig makes quality kits.

SushiHunter

My favorite SIG has been the Kougar Mark II. I've built four of them in total. First one was in '81 when I was a teen. Two more in the mid-90's. And the forth one in '13. I was very amazed that these kits are still available. Had to replace a wing core and was very happy that I was able to order the replacement for a very reasonable price. I do hope that they never stop selling these.

Most recently I purchased a very old SIG Komet kit. Not sure how old this kit is, but very unique. First thing that caught my eye is the hinges are three part where each has to be assembled with a metal pin through the center. Another thing that was pretty cool that I don't see much anymore is the elevator control horn is metal and is actually welded to the metal rod that connects both elevator halves. I'm thinking this kit has to be 40-45 years old but can't confirm that. Box is completely yellow from age and the building plans / instructions are printed on one large blue print style piece of paper. All the Kougars I've ever built, Even the Kougar that I built in '81, had a multi page instruction booklet. So this Komet has to be pre-'81. Another amazing thing about this Komet is everything in the kit is there and in great shape. Nothing broken, warped, etc.

This Komet has been an exciting build for me. To date it's been my best build so far and I'm taking my time with it so it will be completed as such. A kit that will finally get assembled and fly after many years sitting in a box.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Has SIGPlanes.com approached SIG about creating a run of one of their discontinued kits? I could see SIGPlanes.com taking pre-orders in advance to determine how many they could sell of a particular kit and get a feel for the price. I know I for one would love to have SIG's RYAN STA but there may be other discontinued kits out there you could get people to make a commitment. If SIG was willing, and a retail price and Delivery date were set in advance; I think the builders around here would be willing to make a deposit in advance to offset the cost. It's something worth looking into I think. Understandably the companies like SIG are a little gun shy on bringing a new kit on the market but it might be a way of doing it.

My 2 cents

SushiHunter

Over the past maybe 8 months I've been talking with a bunch of other r/c pilots about why there aren't so many kits available anymore, along with why the kits that are being sold on ebay are so high in price. From the general census that I get, most r/c'ers rather buy ARFs and RTFs these days. The younger generation which is just recently getting involved in r/c for the first time know no other but to go out and purchase something already, or close to already built to fly. They want it all right here right now. I was a little surprised talking with old timers who rather buy ARFs and RTFs now. But their motive is that they are no longer able to build from kits because of their physical age, plus many of them as they get older lose patience and can't or don't want to sit for long periods of time working on something.

With that said, I think the marketing target group for unassembled kits would be for us who are in our late 30s and 40s, with the occasional younger r/c'er who wants to build because it's how "dad" or "grandpa" did it. That really isn't the biggest marketing group. In greater numbers it's the younger generation and second would be the elders who've flown for half a dozen decades who now can't mentally and/or physically build anymore that would be the most favorable marketing group for the company. Us who are in our 30's and 40's who want to still build, we aren't the greatest numbers group. Me personally, I think half the fun of r/c is building it yourself. Plus when you build it yourself, you tend to fly it more responsibly, take greater care of it since we put so much time and effort into building it. I would hope that SIG would start offering the old kits but not sure if that is what they will ever do because of the new generation of r/c'ers. If they do anything, I would guess they would offer for sale prints of the patterns and plans to all of their planes they've ever designed.

My 2 cents

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

Don't write off those of us in our 50's, 60's or even 70's yet ... most of us can still hold an x-acto knife

While I agree in general with your point that the population of RC enthusiasts interested in traditional kit building has decreased, I have recently seen see a tremendous increase in really innovative scratch building being done with low cost foam materials. If you have not done so, check out some of the foam and EDF scratch building forums here and at other RC sites, and you will see some amazing and creative things being created with very low cost materials. This being driven by the same passion for creativity and "build it yourself" satisfaction you describe.

Like all things, our hobby is evolving (you can't buy a new Pontiac Firebird or Kodak camera any more either). There is a lot of great new technology making our planes lighter, faster, more aerobatic, and much more reliable. And kit building is not completely dead ... SIG stills has a couple dozen listed in their catalog as does Top Flite, and companies like Alien Aircraft, Stevens Aero, and Manzano Laser still come up with new offerings. All that said, when I do come across a good deal on a vintage kit, I grab and stash it away for the future

Happy Building!!!

Al

SushiHunter

Not writing anyone off. Just mentioning that most everyone in that age group that I've talked with is now into the ARFs and RTFs. I'm always happy when I do meet others who still enjoy building as much as flying. I'm currently building a SIG Komet. The kit must be around 40 years old. It's close to 50% completed right now. Is it me or did the quality of balsa change over the years? The balsa in this kit is really nice, compared to the previous kit I finished building in '13. Seems like the balsa in the new kit was very soft and extra light. The balsa in the Komet kit is much more durable it seems. Is it me or has the quality of balsa in the kits changed?

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

No worries ... just making a little joke.

Actually, most of the builders I know are (like myself) in the 50+ category. Baby boomers who grew up in a time when building was the ONLY option if you wanted to fly model planes. Back then, I built stick and tissue rubber band powered free flight kits from Guillows, Sterling and Comet. These were all "die crushed" with some real questionable material quality.

I only started back into building model airplanes (and flying RC) a few years ago and am finding the laser cut kits available today to be just amazing by comparison (building a Stevens Aero kit with interlocking laser cut parts is almost like assembling a 3D puzzle). Even the die cut stuff in the Top Flite kits I have is far better than what I remember from "back in the day". Like you say, balsa sheeting quality seems to be hit or miss, but that is always the case with natural materials and has been for as long as I can remember (ever shop for a nice straight 2 x 4?).

I really think the RC hobby is in a bit of a "Golden Age" right now. Things have changed, but there are more options than ever.