samguan

I was at my hobby shop yesterday and this guy bought a T-Rex 700 Heli kit...

What he did was pay the LHS to build the kit. I heard the hobby guy said that it would take about two weeks and would call him when it is time to break-in.

I think that is kind of dumb...the whole purpose of the kit was to have fun and learn.

Access

IMO if he's willing to pay the shop $30-40/hr or so to build the kit, it's a good thing, it keeps the shop in business and means more for the rest of us. I doubt the shop is doing it for free.

redfisher1974

When i was younger the LHS would do builds..but you had to help the guy build it,He wouldnt charge much and he would teach you alot...

evader8

i would love to have a lhs build one for me if i am busey, but if i have some free time i would rather build it myself.

sheograth

It's fine for the LHS to offer the service, personally I wouldn't use it though. Like you mentioned, I get many hours of fun just from building the kit - wouldn't want to give that away.

Barber420

My Feedback: (1)

I would NEVER let an LHS, or anybody for that matter, build my kit for me!!! I think buying RTR's is bad enough, but to spend the money on a kit to then only have someone else build it for you just seems ridiculous. I can understand if you're VERY, VERY, VERY busy, or perhaps if it's your first RC and you are young(under 12) that maybe you would want someone to build a portion or all of it for you, but not me. I built my first kit, my vintage LB which I still own, when I was about 6 years old. I've been building all of my own kits since.

However, I do agree with a previous post that it benefits all of us when the LHS can make $30-50 per hour building some suckers kit for them. It keeps the LHS in business and making a pretty good profit. Lord knows I do all I can to support my LHS's, because having to order parts and wait a week for them sucks. I'll gladly pay $1-3 more for a part to have it immediately instead of waiting 5-7 days for it in the mail.

Also, I think it's hillarious they said to give them two weeks to have it built! That would kill me! When I get a kit it's assembled within 3 days or less depending on how much time I have to dedicate to it when I get it. Building is a lot of the fun in this hobby, and if you get real skilled at it you can begin making your own custom parts, saving time during repairs, saving money, etc... I also know the EXACT quality of the build when I do it. I know what screws have been loctited. I know the attention to detail taken. I know the kit has been assembled pefectly, etc... I often notice that 99 times out of 100 when I compare one of my vehicles to an RTR of the same model or someone else's kit, that mine is assembled and operates MUCH better than the other. I take pride in assembly and maintenance of my RC's and it shows. That's probably why I can run them HARD for 21 years and still have them in perfect operating order!

Cheap Guy

I really don't have a problem with this. It's not necessarily an issue of a person not being able to build a kit, it could be that they have more money than time. Also, it may be an issue that a person is a better driver/flyer than builder and they want it done "right" for some reason or other. Or it could be a "been there, done that" situation, where a person has put together kits in the past and is just tired of doing it.

IMO, whatever keeps people driving/flying/buying RC's, the better it is for everyone.

DaveG55

See, most in this thread are looking at this from a car/truck stand point. There's nothing all that complicated in a car/truck kit and anybody willing to take the time and read the instructions can do it. But, the guy bought a $700+ (+ engine & electronics) helicopter kit that is tremendiously more complicated than a car/truck and I don't think that a two week time frame is out of line. Now I can think of several reasons to have a LHS build that kit for them. Inexperience building helis, lots of experience but no spare time, giving it as a gift or any of the other possible reasons already given. We simply don't have any idea of the circumstances from what the OP overheard in the LHS.

I can tell you this, I've been in this hobby since the mid 60's. I've built simple planes, simple and complicated boats, I've built boats from scratch, I've built a dozen or so car/buggy/truck kits and I've tore down and repaired mid level rtr electric helis. And I've got to tell you, I would be very apprehensive taking on a .90 size heli and I know for sure that I'd never slap it togeather in 3 days. Realistically, I would expect to take 3 weeks to a month for ME to build that kit and even then I'd not be comfortable until someone with real heli building experience to check my build out.

Dawman

My Feedback: (33)

Back before RTRs I had a job building the kits for a few hobby shops that had customers that didn`t know how to or didn`t want to build them . Made some good money doing that .

Argess

Like the RTR/KIT debate.....to each, his own.

Airbus 9e

The last 3 trucks/cars I bought were RTRs, then a couple months ago, I dug up some stuff to build up a new dirt oval car....I had forgotten how much fun building a kit was, though this was more a collection of parts from several cars/kits....I kinda wish the RC manufacturers would offer some of their RTRs as kits.....some of us still enjoy building them......and if you built it, you know how to take it apart when it comes time for repairs....

DaveG55

I cannot argue with that. But there are still valid reasons for having someone else build a kit for you. All I'm saying is that we cannot condem a guy for having the LHS build a very complicated kit from a few snippets of overheard conversation.

What the OP should have done was strike up a conversation and ask the guy a few questions about flying helis, what he has, his experience, etc. Maybe then he would have had a better idea of what was going on and possibly gotten intrested in helis himself. Because, while they are very challanging to fly, they are a heck of a lot of fun!!!!!

Dawman

My Feedback: (33)

Also some people don`t have the mechanical know how to build kits .

werks21

maybee its the mechanic in me but i cant imagine a grown man that cant assemeble a model. (of any type) if tyey sold full size cars in kits i would have asembeled my 150 myself. but seriously with somthing like a helli you either know whats up or you dont. and having someone build for you doesnt help. regardless of how "complicated" it is you need to be a part of the build if you want to a legitimate hobbyist.

sheograth

For me half the fun is in building and understanding exactly how my vehicle (of any kind) works.

Dawman

My Feedback: (33)

+1