Josh_K

"The only place this whole copying argument holds water is if someone copies another companies ORIGINAL sport design, then maybe. Otherwise, I think it's called COMPETITION! Let the better design/cost WIN! "


The whole free market competiion thing is what is catching up the Chinese right now. Its just like the roaring 20's was for the USA. Back then if we made it it sold. And the same has been true for the Chinese till now. This slump that we are in (US) is all over the world too. This is creating a HUGE impact in China right now and I think they are going into there first great economic depression since embracing there sudo capitalism.

Ist only my prediction, but when companies that dont own that manufacturing facilily in China start to fold and close, you will see manufacturing go back to its home country. This is also impacted by fuel cost to ship form China and the weak dollar. Its The "perfect store" for thim right now and the rest of the world is the winner.

tommivesalo

Hi!

Anton!

Look very carefully what FEJ copied from your F-16 1/8 and what they changed and make those changes to your product as well. (Stronger elevator shafts, gear door alignment, some carbon cloth around gear doors etc...)
How about competing with service and quality? Start selling spare parts. Ply wood parts, landing gear parts etc...
And then...sell us good working gear door cylinders with proper size that are included in the gear kit.

You really know how to make very light and strong more planes. That's good place to start!

Synthetic

My Feedback: (18)

Nicely said Tommi...

tomp40c

Hello Anton,

I was one of the first customers to buy the F-18C model. In fact, I bought it at Florida Jets in 2004 from Eric Wu. I was impressed with the airplane then in its infancy stage and today, I see they are even better than the one I purchased. I hope you can combat these infringements by these knock-off products. It is a shame how there are pirates in today's business world. It doesn't have any boundaries or limits anymore. I would tell you that the only to fights this kind of thing is to educate the buyer. If you can't afford the real thing then don't buy the imitations or don't enter that realm of the hobby, because in the long run the entire hobby will feel the effect.
On another note, did you ever hear of the tires coming off the rim of the nose gear or main gear on any of your products? Saturday, July 26,2008 we went to an airport in our area to fly the F-18C and upon roll-out and almost liftoff, the left front tire ejected off the rim, moments later the right front tire did the exact same thing. Fortunately, it skidded off to the left of the runway and came to rest in the grass and dirt. The nose gear broke the mounting plate and pushed/separated the back plate which holds the extension arm from the bottom of the fuselage and no other damage was sustained. We Searched for the tires, but only found the one of them. We will be contacting Skymaster/you about the availability of the tires. Good luck with this invasion of your business, you will come out of it O.K.

Vincent

My Feedback: (61)

BTW on my FEJM F-16 i had to discard the 3 door cylinders because they were leaking air badly. Not a big deal to replace them with UP cylinders but it seems all the China arf kits have the same source for these leakers.
V..

Synthetic

My Feedback: (18)

Vincent,
Where were your cylinders leaking?
Thanks,
Don

AndyAndrews

Why the apology to customers? Are the lower prices going to equate lower quality? Customers are happy with lower prices without sacraficing quality. I am confused.

Synthetic

My Feedback: (18)

Andy,
I think what they are saying is this, "We copied stuff and now they're copying stuff and now we're trying to figure what to do about their copying us without effecting what we have copied".. or something like that....hehehhe

ghost_rider

My Feedback: (20)

Lol Bob, it looks more like:

Vincent

My Feedback: (61)

Dom,
They were leaking thru the shaft seal.
V..

Synthetic

My Feedback: (18)

Thank you Vincent. I will be checking mine....
See ya,
Don

jetnuno

Hi Morne

I did not call myself an expert. You did.

I stated that I own both planes and stated my free opinion respectfully. I guess I am free to do it, right?

Regarding your post, I did not said that FEJ is lighter or stronger than SM. You are the one, who stated the other way round.
As a customer and end user from both companies, I just posted my opinion regarding these 2 planes, (since I own both) and my feelings regarding that the quality difference is neglectable, to the price difference between these planes.

At the time I bought them (more or less at the same time), I weighted both fuselages and there was no significant difference. Sorry, I do not have any proof.

My planes are paid and are to my enjoyment. I sure will not put them to the tests you have suggested. Manufacturers or official pilots should do it.

This is a free opinion forum, so even if all data provided my me, was somehow inaccurate, please do not feel offended. It is just my respectfull opinion.

Best regards

Nuno

Synthetic

My Feedback: (18)

Nuno,
I'm not sure how much better of a report someone can give other than someone who has both planes.

I thank you for your post and seeing as you have both brands I would call you an expert.

Thanks,
Don

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Does anyone remember this post : http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5051375 , where Anton showed his true character ?

tamjets

My Feedback: (2)

All factory in china copy each other products and under cut each other. Beside, Anton himself is the mastermind. So why complain if you can come clean in the first place.

machI

Hi Nuno
And about the FEJ F15?
You have one wright?
Did you flight already or still in project?

Related to the Mr. Anton comments, wake up man... you are on the market or not?
According you said about the copies, you can put these people on the Chinese court .

I'm a SM F16 owner and know quite well the FEJ F16 and to be honest no big defferences to justify 1000USD.
Maybe the cockpit from the SM is more detail .

About the FEJ elevators, ok is normal. That's why exist the call recovery, the car industry use all time (sh** happen)
A friend of mine has the big SM F16 and the rudder broken during the normal fly.
Is not the first case, on the youtube has another video with the same kind of rudder accident.

The difference between FEJ and SM is, FEJ give the elevators free of charge to everybody and SM doesn't recognize his fault and my firend paid for a new rudder.

mikedenilin

My Feedback: (67)

Hi Dave,

Well said. We are all copying the full scale aircraft. Who's saying who's copying whom?

I need a couple of F15 and F18 cockpit kits for my JL, FEJ and SM airplanes, but it seems to me that SM dealers don't want to sell them to me because I buy other kits. I thought that they all know each others well.

I am so glad that my builders can build me anything I can't get. If I can't get them by the end of this year, I guess I will have to tell my club builder to build one and many for our club members and it might actually cost less than what I can get from SM. I don't like to do that unless I have too.

Could any SM dealer contact me and sell me the cockpit kits for my F15 and F18?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

P. Richards

My Feedback: (3)

The part that most don't understand is that you may need only 300 pieces of completed jet kits to sell,
because of your budget. When a Chinese Factory agrees to take your order they may want you to
accept 500 total kits to keep the workers happy. You say No I can only afford 300, they say fine we will do that.
But what really happens is that they still do a production run of 500 completed kits and guess where the 200
extra kits go? You got it to whomever is willing to cut the throat of any Major Jet Company. All of your hard work
and R/D just got stolen and you don't get any compensation for it. It is a risky business dealing with these factories,
the labor cost is so cheap it is allmost worth the risk...

P. Richards aka Swat Team

AndyAndrews

Is all factory kwazy in china or what?

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Wow !! Given the thoroughly disgraceful way you treated Ali (from AL's Hobbies) after he elected to stop handling Skymaster product, it seems to me that it would make more sense for us to discuss responsible financial practices with the guys from Enron, than talk to you about ethics. Either you have an incredibly short memory, or you think all of us do. If you have forgotten, see e.g. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5045760

LOL ! Do you realise that by listing specific companies whose models Skymaster won't sell copies of, rather than saying "Skymaster doesn't make or sell copies of ANYONE's stuff", that seems like a rather interesting admission.

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

gordon, while i dont have a dog in this fight, my hats off to your memory. i think you are sharper than my wife in that department, and that is saying a lot. barry

mikedenilin

My Feedback: (67)

Hi Andy,

Nope, not all Chinese factories are like that. I run medical factories in China and our vendors have very high ethic standard. It's the bad guys that gets the biggest PR.

Mike

Vincent

My Feedback: (61)

Don,
With pressure on the cylinders in the door open position wiggle the shaft to see if it will hold air.

V..

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Yeah, I have an OK memory ... for instance, I remember some Barry guy yesterday coming up with the smart idea of sidelining me into a "sucky ex-moderators" forum rather than letting me play in here with the cool guys !

Dave Presta

My Feedback: (3)

Hey Mike, how you doing? We missed you at LA Jets this past weekend.
Call Skymaster USA I believe they are having a sale on cockpits. The shop number is 818-994 4074