Broken Wings

My Feedback: (20)

It looks like the Telemaster kits from Hobby Lobby have been discontinued. []

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/telemasters_216_ctg.htm

wazzbat

Another one bites the dust!  Maybe we should all chip in and start our own kit building company?  Soon there won't be any kits left.  Maybe the "Hoarders"  are on to something?  Everyone better learn how to build from plans/scratch or we'll all be flying ARFs before long!

Nergall

Manufacturer still has some of the kits...

http://www.aerocraftrc.com/planelist...ype=telemaster

Weird that the average sized one is no longer listed though....

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Buy the plans and make your own

http://search2.hobby-lobby.com/psear...lemaster+plans

eagledancer

that is too bad, they fly great and that IS the plane i recommend to beginners for a trainer and a way to learn to build. now to figure out what to recommend it sure WONT be a BARF

box car

I build my own S T. Get the wing from Eureka Aircraft CO. Some time's I cut the wing into ribs that way you can get 2 wings out of one. I think RCM has planes for it also. You even can get the tail feathers from Eureka.
Ken

fritzdecat

this is incredible?? I thought the Telemaster was a perennialbest seller?????

I guess Balsa-economics are to blame

carrellh

fritz,
Even if it was a "best seller," how many do you really think were sold in a year?
How many new guys build their first plane?
I know I wouldn't have started this hobby if I had to build the first one. After I started flying with an instructor, and knew I wanted to continue, I decided to try building. My first kit (Great Planes PT-60) took me almost a year.

eagle,
There are still some trainer kits available
Great Planes PT-20/40/60
Great Planes Goldberg Eagle 2
SIG LT-25 and 40 (availability varies, call SIG when ready to buy something)
Various other SIG trainers (availability varies, call SIG when ready to buy something)

fritzdecat

I've got news for you SIG is on the way out, if you like their planes buy them nowbecausethere will be no later

I agree Telemaster builders are few and far between but they could always count on selling them , I say that because I know the guys that cut those kits. The Telemaster arf also sold out remember that

carrellh

You may be right about SIG. Rumors are flying that the new ownership is killing the company. I hope that changes but there is nothing I can do about it either way.

Hobby Lobby appears to be interested in catering to the 'small electric RTF' crowd. That's probably where most sales are happening so it's easy to see why they would go that way.

Maybe the people who actually make the kits can find another distributor. I do hate to see good kits disappear completely. I may only buy a kit every few years but I do want to have that option when I'm ready. My hands and arms are partially paralyzed so I do not think cutting my own kit from plans would work out very well for me.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

http://www.eurekaaircraft.com/foamwings/wing-t.htm

fritzdecat

Well on the plus side I just bought some plans for a canard from RCM and there is a guy in Texas at Lazer Arts who will lazer out the kit for good price, 

vmsguy

lazer-works used to offer a short kit. (http://lazer-works.com/index.html)

In speaking to them, they said they had to remove it, because Hobby Lobby had the rights to teh STM.

Maybe we'll see them put the STM back on their list of short-kits.


BTW.. I built one of lazer-works' short kits:


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_99...tm.htm#9917705

fritzdecat

I was curious about the Telemaster so I called the guys at Aero-Craft that cut the kids and it seems the Chinese bought the years supply of balsa wood to build blades for wind turbines...no balsa no kits till next spring

oldtyme

I can't believe the statement that someone would not have started in this hobby if they had to build their first kit........for crying out loud......it's a hobby and not a race! Building a kit.......even the first one..........teaches you valuable skills, especially for repairs. The whole world is in too much of a damn hurry!! If you are really interested, a kit like a PT60 should not take more than a month or two. This is why the kit selection is going away and ARF's are taking over. I bought a couple of ARF's but do not like how they are built and I really had to go over them to make sure they don't fall apart on the first flight. Wonder why the country is going downhill....it's because of inferior, cheaply paid Chinese labor.

Do yourself a favor........slow down.....build and fly............IT'S A HOBBY!!!!!!! not a job.

jship

My Feedback: (4)

Not a race either!

Hobbsy

My Feedback: (102)

Well gents, I have one wing of a 12' TeleMaster built, I gotta git bizzy.

Telemaster Sales UK

They say things go in threes.

Last Thursday after eight-years of trouble-free motoring my Rover suddenly stopped as I was coming back to the flying field. It refused to start. My best mate owns a garage I phoned him up and he towed me in. He hasn't been able to look at the car yet as he's been too busy, but I'm expecting a hefty bill.

I wanted to go flying yesterday so phoned my flying buddy, loaded the ARTF Senior Telemaster into his Volvo and went to the field. It was quite windy but with a 5200 mAh battery the old STM was able to punch its way through the wind. Being a British Model Flying Association instructor I usually take a buddy box with me but this time I accidentally left it behind. There was a young man there who had flown twenty years ago but had just returned to the hobby and was learning to fly again. He seemed to manage his own trainer alright so I offered him a go on the STM. At first he coped well but with the model veering off course he handed the transmitter back to me. I corrected everything, turned the model down-wind and handed the transmitter back to him. The model was moving quite quickly in a shallow dive and in a gentle turn but I thought he could handle it. He put in the wrong signal and the starboard wing ripped off. $400-worth of model crashed to the ground from about 400 feet and was totally destroyed. The port wing was just a plastic bag of smashed balsa.

What have I learned?

1. The crash was my fault; I should have given him control of the model with the wings level and pointing into wind.
2. If it's your model, always use a buddy box when instructing regardless of how good the trainee seems to be!

Two final thoughts:

1. If I had built that STM from a kit or plan would the wing have ripped off? Perhaps we'll find out as my i/c powered Barn Door Telemaster only awaits the installation of wing servos, covering and fuel proofing.

2. They say things go in threes. Car breaks down on Thursday: STM destroyed on Saturday: I lost my job in July. Does that count or am I to expect something else to go wrong soon?

Happy Landings?

DD

Stubshaft

FWIW - I started flying in the '70s and the Senior Telemaster is still one of my favorite planes.

What a sad day...

summerwind

pretty soon the ARF's which everyone is buying will kill modeling as we know it forever, and the good ol American Distributor will be overjoyed as he jacks up the prices too.........why?.because he can and it's the American way.
anyone who buys an ARF has themselves to blame.............it's not just the economy, it's the unloyal American who did this[:@]

for us who have been building for the past 20-30-40 years, it's no real BIG issue not to have kits..........but for the newbies who want to build a model, it will be a lost art to which there will be no repair.
their only hope is to purchase a kit from ebarf for 3 times it's worth.
our club is what my friends call ARF Inernational, and quite frankly it shows.
i recently built and covered a model and had an Old Timer come up and stroke it saying, "my god, they really do nice work on these don't they?".................i just looked at him, he read the look, then said, "oops"

WCB

Oldtyme said..

So very true. I know a young guy that refuses to repair a broken plane. Doesn't have a clue where to begin because he has never built a kit or even tried to learn to repair. He just throws the broken one in the trash and buys a new one. Which works out ok for me. I get it out of the trash, take it home and fix it and fly it.
My point is people are too used to taking the easy way out in a disposable world.....just go buy another. That's why kits are not popular among the young crowd. It takes time and effort. It's easier to just plop down a credit card and buy a disposable one. Building something yourself and taking pride in what you do has left the building.
That is what happened to the Telemaster kit....sadly, more to follow.

Dom_P

I'm in the middle of my first kit build. Thing is my plan was to buy an ARF. A SIG LT-40. But as they are impossible to find, I decided to build. Now a week into the build, it was the right decision. First, it's not as hard as I thought, second I'm finding it to be a lot of fun. I was planning to build a second kit over the winter, but now you guys tell me SIG and other kit builders are in trouble. I think I better buy the Kavalier I was thinking about for the winter, for that matter, I'm going to think about buying a third kit as well...

oldtyme

Dom...........if you are thinking about buying another kit, I would highly recommend the BTE VEnture 60. I have built a lot of kits and have not built for awhile...........wait a minute.......I'm building a giant scale TF P47.........but I'm plateaued for the moment so decided I wanted something fun but simple to build. I was going to build a SIG Four Star 60 but they are not available in the forseable future so someone suggested the Venture 60 because Bruce Tharpe is the man that designed the Four Star 40 and 120 for SIG among others. Well, I got my Venture kit the other day and I can tell you that this is one fine kit and from what I've read from other builders of this kit............they just love it, so if you are thinking about buying another kit, you might look at the Venture 60.
http://www.btemodels.com/venture.html

Cheers,
Andy

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Bruce Tharpe produces some very fine aircraft and kits.


Ed Cregger

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

I think the parts are router cut to a jig?