xDennis

My Feedback: (2)

I recently purchased a Sig four star ARF. Got it all together and on the 8th flight the wing failed. Not from where I apozied it , but from the manufacture. You can see it looks like who ever glued the wing together either fell asleep on duty, or ran out of glue. There is hardly no glue holding it up. My LHS advised me to give SIG a call tomorrow morning to see if they will replace it, the LHS said it's clearly a manufacture failure. I hope they will replace they plane as I doubt they will replace the brand new motor (carburatord) that's broken from the wreck

Has anyone ever had to send back a plane to SIG? Where they pretty fair? I really love this plane, it sucks this happened.

Dennis

flynnaire

My Feedback: (24)

Thats a good question.... I have a Sig Senior ARF the wing folded on the first flight. It was a no brainer at the field that there was a serious lack of CA or apoxy.
Sent them some pictures via email twice 5 days ago and have yet to hear back...

I'm sure this is just a glitch nowing there reputation and will get this problem with the ARF's fixed

Would hate to see the last of the great home turf manuf. go down the drain because of arf quality problems....

xDennis

My Feedback: (2)

Very interesting. I'm going to give them a call first thing in the morning.

yellerchamp

My Feedback: (42)

I bought a sig senoir last year, the quality was terrible, called sig ,the guy says what do you expect for 200 bucks. I reinforced everything in sight, its still flying but I treat her gentle. The covering is terrible, looks like saran wrap.

flynnaire

My Feedback: (24)

Oh come on.. If I had a rep that said that to a customer he would be looking for a job... As a matter of fact I am going to call Sig in the morning and see what they say..
I will report back to this forum and we will all see for our selfs how Sig handels potential, if not known problems..
My name is Jere and I fly SIG"S and proud of it....

Zippi

My Feedback: (10)

I've been trying to get a new windshield and wing struts for my Rascal 110 from my local hobby shop and he says that he is having trouble getting wood and other supplies from Sig. He said their inventory just keeps going down hill just like others like Tower and Horizon who have been laying workers off. Nothing we can do about the economy.

yellerchamp

My Feedback: (42)

Ask for Don, thats the guy I talked to, and yes he did say what do you expect for 200 bucks.
Also when I bought mine it was advertised with ultrakote when I got it there was a note attached to the manual saying it was covered with aerokote for better handling charactistics. I should have returned it right then.

grassroots

FYI, The Sig ARF product line is made by the same manufacture as World Models. Don't believe me just buy a Sig and WM ARF open them up side by side, same hardware, fuel tank, covering, and yes poor quality glue joints.

Originally Sig went with Ultracote, (to save money no doubt) they then changed to Areo Kote, which is the same as World Models Toughlon covering.

I have had 3 WM airplanes, the covering is okay at best, but once it starts to come up around the seams it will not iron back down. On my WM 60 size P-51 the covering out the box was comming loose around the seams, it never would iron down. Also had to go over all the glue joints I could get to with CA and epoxy, many were dry joints no glue.

Called Airborne Models (distributor for WM) the guy told me what do expect I am only the distributor it's not like I build them!

Also Tower Hobbies is dropping the Sig line, I wonder if Sig will be around much longer, very sad, but times are changing????

CCFPILOT

I wonder how long the distributer will be around with an attitude like that.

Iflyglow

My Feedback: (79)

Hoepfully not long. The economy will weed out the companies that do not stand behind what they import.

IAMKAOS

3 years ago i had a guy at hobby people said that excat same thing to me when i called them about a poor quality arf i bought from them except it was $159.00. several years ago i called sig about a kit that i had bought that had very poor balsa. i called them and i was told by some woman..."did you not read the warranty slip that comes with the kit stating we not responsible for the quality of balsa we receive from out suppliers"......and sure enough that slip was in the kit. they would not replace the kit or let me return for credit or something else.

jship

My Feedback: (4)

I have had nothing but great service from Sig. They have always been fair courteous and professional. It seems that every couple of years, Tower trys to drop the Sig line. A few mounts later they are back selling them. I know i've been through these rumors at least two times.

I to am very proud to be a Sig customer.

airbusdrvr

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8971078/tm.htm see this for wing failure. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_89...tm.htm#8903153 see this for my recently purchased Four Star 120 ARF that fortunately I stripped and reglued the wing before it fell apart. This thread also has pictures of the the wing joints with no glue. I found that I had to use epoxy in as many areas as I could reach in the fuselage to reglue the joints. I even had to remove the covering in two places to get to turtle deck stringers that were not even attached/glued. I think that for whatever reason, some of SIG's ARFs are being made by an extremely poor manufacturer and SIG will not stop sellling these substandard ARFs. In the long run this is only going to be bad for SIG's business. I know I will never buy another SIG ARF. Some of their kits are top notch, but not the ARFs.

flynnaire

My Feedback: (24)

Spent the last few days in touch with Sig.... They have had a rough year like most buisnes's, plus the loss of some key folks due to health. My family's prayers go out to them! The owner of Sig has just recently gone through heart bypass and is in recovery... Remember folks this is a family type plant and I'm sure they are are feeling the sorrow from recent events..

There over sea's company that dos there ARF's has been ( lets just say jerks) and it sounds like they have gotten any quality issues resolved.. but it will be a few weeks till they are back in stock....

The people I have talked to have been both professional and helpful. Very nice folks.. My son and I are going to build a Senior in Transparrent Green to replace our ARF.... and I for one am hoping the very best for all at the Sig plant.


Open offer to SIG....

I would be happy to donate 30 days of my time at my expense and with no pay to help in any way at the plant. Just need a spot to park the motorhome.

I fly Sigs and I'm proud to do so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

squeakalong

My Feedback: (8)

I have to say that my experience with Sig, though not involving an ARF, has been very good...with one exception. Normally I talk to MIKE and he's a good guy; replaced a whole batch of balsa that arrived in "hard" condition with some much better quality wood...and told me to keep the original order to boot. Always answered questions in a professional manner. Now, one time I did talk to a woman who said her name was, I believe, Robin...or something like that. I would NOT want to discuss any modeling topics with her again [:'(] and I can assure you our one and only conversation was short by my choice.

It is truly a shame that the Sig ARF buyers are having this kind of trouble and receive the kind of "in your face" answers to their questions. I don't care if you spend $200 or $2000 the product should hold together and the company should be darn happy that customers are purchasing their product. BTW: I purchased a Pacific Aeromodels ARF Knockabout last year for about $129 and have flown about 5 1/2 gallons of fuel through it with absolutely NO structural problems. It isn't just about money here, folks, it's about a thing called integrity.

Soft landings.

Joe

airbusdrvr

I've had a couple of SIG's kits and have absolutely no complaints. They were good. I'm just surprised that after knowing the issues with their ARFs that they would continue to sell the ones that are poorly glued. I just bought my Four Star 120 ARF a month and a half ago. These issues, I have discovered, have been known for a long time.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

What I consider the best ARF I ever put together was a Sig LT-40 when the ARF version first came out about 15 years ago.

I bought 3 Four Stars since then and I had come to the conclusion that they were made by World Models too. However, they were not the quality of a World Models ARF.

I know how to change the problem areas and come up with a good plane but for the double prices that Sig charges, you expect them to be better than a bargain basement job.

ABORH

I have a Sundancer 50 and Mayhem 90. I found both to be very well constructed. I built a small Sig flight box that was very nice and recently built the balancer. I was a little disappointed in the ply in the balancer as it seems a bit soft, but it works very well and is less flimsy than the Great Planes balancing machine. In addition, I screwed up one of the beams and Sig sent me a new one at no charge. I find Sig to be a good company.

xDennis

My Feedback: (2)

Sig's customer service is 100% top notch. I sent them pictures of the failed part, and a proof of purchase and the were kind enough to replace the plane.

That's what I'm talking about.. in a time where companies are cutting cost and avoiding standing behind their product SIG was helpful the entire way.

I just wanted to update this thread.

Dennis

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

I think it depends largely on how you act and who you happen to get on the phone

flynnaire

My Feedback: (24)

Here's a link to a brand new just out of the box Kadet Arf that the covering is being taken off to repair not only the wings but the fuse....
[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9026138/tm.htm[/link]

iron eagel

I like SIG and the people who work there.
Any time I have had an issue they have bent over backwards to rectify whatever was wrong.
Be it a kit or an ARF they have always stood behind their products!

flynnaire

My Feedback: (24)

I agree 100% and am very supportive of the SIG line. One look at my hanger will confirm that. Would you rather be warned before or after your plane crashed.
This is only FYI

iron eagel

Thanks for the warning...
I'd would rather know about problems before the plane get into the air if it has issues, either RC or FS.
I was considering getting a Seniorita for my daughter, rather than make her wait for me to assemble the kit.
If I do opt for an arf I will check it out when I first get it.

Apparently their overseas supplier had issues in providing them with a good quality product.
I have seen the pictures of the arf that were posted, and could not believe how bad it was.
Hopefully they can rectify the problem before it does any more damage to their reputation.
Generally I opt to build my planes as opposed to buying them, typically ones I build comes out much lighter than any that I have bough that were RTF or ARF.
But I like to build and enjoy the challenge of trying to make mine come out lighter and stronger than one I can buy.
Problem is with the move to build everything as cheap as possible overseas to remain competitive, many companies are seeing that quality control may be an issue.
I just hope SIG can rectify the problem before it cost them too much both in money and reputation.
It would be a shame to see such a great line be destroyed in the race to remain competitive...

Firebird25

Here's a copy of an -mail from SIG after I had sent pictures of the wing folding event with my Kadet Sr. ARF . Needless to say, I think that this is a company that is worth doing business with:

Quote:

Original Message:
-
From: Bob Nelson [email protected]
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:06:20 -0500
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Kadet Sr Wingfolding


Hi Herman,

A replacement for your airplane was sent out today.

Have fun,

Bob Nelson
Design Engineer/Customer Service

Unquote.


Currently I am working on two ARFs that involve SIGMFG: FourStar 120 & SunDancer 50cc.

Like with most ARFs, it is important to improve your chances of survival...