Johnny_Zero

My Feedback: (44)

Well, it seems like there are some big whiners in Arizona also.

Hey Mike, here is my name and address:

Ben Whitmer
1034 6th st.
Golden, CO 80403
(303) 279 2XXX

So go ahead and add me to "The List"

You stated in an earlier post the dealer pricing wasn't going up until the end of the year. I was really hoping that this was true. At this time I make $200.00 a week. So I have been saving for awhile and was almost there and then the big jump in your kit prices. I didn't know at the time about RC Scale Products but started reading this forum and thought there was still hope of me getting one of your kits. Sure I am disappointed, I am only about $50.00 away from the shipped "old price" of a BF109G kit. I really don't want to build another Topflite kit but, hey, I don't have a B model Mustang yet. You guys are the only manufacturer that I know of that makes a .60 size BF109. I hate ARF's. With a kit I can build a little, save a little, and then buy a little and complete an airplane in 6 to 9 months.

This just seem to have really gotten all out of hand. I understand that you guy's need to cover your costs and that you do this on your own time for the love of the hobby. Thats great. I used to fix all my friend's and family's computers for free but when I started charging I lost most of those jobs so I understand your position. I never do computer work for free for anyone anymore.

Anyway, it's ok....this Colorado "whiner" will just have to get by without one of your kits.

J Villa

Hey Johnny, if you are patient, I'm sure you will get your Me 109 at a reasonable price. In this hobby there are always deals to be made and had if you hang on to your cash. I know you hate ARF's but I heard that cmp is coming out with a Me 109 soon, so In a couple months you should be able to get a clone for about 100 dineros. Now... everyone viewing this post ,"Let's just kiss and make up- it's just capitalism baby- nothing personal." J Villa

Putz Brother

Examples please! Of other kits that are better for the money. Not just sharp out of the blue comments. No offense of course.

w0mbat

My Feedback: (1)

Really? How many of them do you have and what makes them not worth the price?

I puchased a Heritage RC kit long before I purchased the company from them and I always thought the kits, at the price they were being sold at, were a great bargin. The only reason I purchased the company is because the kits were no longer being made and nobody else was stepping up to the plate to make them.

I understand that some people can't afford a kit now that we raised the prices, but blasting us simply because you can't afford one of our products is rude and shows a total lack of common courtesy . We are just doing what needs to be done in order to keep making kits. If anyone wants to buy the rights to the designs along with the equipment so they can start producing them at a cheaper price, my phone is waiting for your call. In fact, I'll be your first customer when you get up and running!

And Ben - yes, there are a lot of whiners here in AZ too - just take a trip to Havasu and the Desert Hawks RC club!

skysharkgirl

[sm=lol.gif]

J Villa,

You can keep the empty balsa sheets as you are builing the kit and use that as an outline for any "extra" parts you may need. Just remember to write the name of the part next to the empty spot. I hope this will help you out. We also are known to laser cut parts for customers who are not on the "list".

Angie [sm=wink_smile.gif]

The one who does the laser cutting!! Now happy that I am not sucking in all the balsa dust for free. [sm=idea.gif]

Johnny_Zero

My Feedback: (44)

Who would be the customers that are on the "list"?

Johnny_Zero

My Feedback: (44)

Maybe if you complain or cause other problems you are on the "list"

Larry S

My Feedback: (6)

Seems this forum really got going after I posted my question about plastic and fiberglass parts and for all the hard feelings, it wasn't worth it so I edited most of my comments out to try to keep peace. Mike, I said it before, you can charge whatever you want and if the market will bare it then you did OK and if the market isn't there then you have to decide to either lower prices or simply get out of the business. You are the only one who determines what the markup will be and we, the buying public, will determine what we can and cannot afford. This holds true for anything we buy, not just model planes.
I had also said if I had to pay the $350 for the kit I bought, I wouldn't have done it simply because it was out of my price range. I have looked at this ME 109 for some time and always wanted it but couldn't afford that price. I just put a lot of money in my home and that comes before model planes. Even now I caught hell from the other half for buying this plane but I wanted it and could afford to pay the price I paid. It seems to be a good quality kit, but so was Pica, Jemco and the Top Flite kits and they sold and are selling for much less. The market can afford those prices and they'll keep selling I believe. But lets say Top Flite raises their prices 100%, then I believe they'll put themselves out of the market. Mike, I don't want that happen to you and your company, we don't have that many kit manufactures anymore.
Larry

MikeChilson

My Feedback: (2)

So what exactly have we not been truthful about? What run-around? I don't understand what you are saying exactly?

This is EXACTLY why i started my own site to get away from this kind of CRAP. People who do not know what they are talking about and "ASSUMING" they do. Funny how you assume to know more about my business than I do. :-) This kind of attitude is what drive most vendors who do this more a s service than for profit to stop selling kits.

To those of you that have purchased kits from us a hearty THANK YOU!

Mike Chilson
R/C SCALE PRODUCTS, INC.

David B

Conspiracy theorists,

Try this: do a search on this site, Mike's site, or just about any other RC site for "Skyshark", "R/C SCALE PRODUCTS, INC", "RCScalebuilder" & check out the background of those involved. Skyshark's reputation & Mike's dedication to the hobby are second to none. While there certainly are a lot of questionable businessmen & women out there, these guys have earned the right to be given the benefit of the doubt. I'd be willing to bet any misgivings or concerns you may have can be explained & resolved with a phone call or email.

David B

FW190 Dave

My Feedback: (1)

After reading through the last 2 pages of post I am very dismayed. What a bunch spoiled brat children. I almost have a feeling of sorrow for refering this site to you guys. Not a feeling of sorrow for those of you who have so recklessly posted comments with out knowing but for Mike Chilson and Mike Grey for having to put up with people like the ones that have been so quick to critisize. Some of the post I read last night reminded me of my 2 young daughters bickering back and forth and looking some attention. Yes they act like spoiled brats and you guy's with your (I'm not getting mine fast enough attitudes) have sunk to that level.

After seeing this I would have to say that these kind of post and forums with no moderation are a big reason why a lot of our kit manufacturers and suppliers go out of business. God forbid people charge a price that actually makes them money for a quality product let alone not get it to you the next day.

Sorry guy's feel like it had to be said.

robflyer82

My Feedback: (1)

I got my f6f kit in the mail today. Everything is nicely packaged and the lazer cutting looks good. I'm going to finish my f4u before starting on this one.

Rob

ProfLooney

well as an idea why not sell just plansets for those that cant afford the kit prices it adds up to more sales and then those whiners abt prices can buy and cut their own wood etc and see that they payed the same as if they woulda just gotten the kit in the first place. but offering a set of plans besides just kits would be nice way to stop a lot of the headaches these guys givin ya
joe

J Villa

Didn't Skyshark sell "short kits" for awhile, like Dave Platt? It would be nice if they had all the formers and ribs printed on their plans. I don't know about they rest of you, but when I am deciding to buy a kit the first thing I look for is the quallity and completeness of the plan. Superior plans are usually the MOST Important aspect of a kit for me, everything else, wood, plastic, fiberglass can be substituted for. I think Skyshark makes great kits with good plans. In my opinion their plans are incomplete. All that being said, I did buy two of their kit,s mainlly because of the quality of the parts and the uniqueness of the designs.

SCALECRAFT

My Feedback: (13)

People

Its not like you have to buy it..

This is a hobby. It is not health insurance, not hazard insurance, not food or gas. You have choices. Your not under any any obligation to buy anything.

For those who are unhappy with a price increase in a certain product such as this, should be aware of the many other doors it opens at this price range.

Do the research on options, its only a click away.

Just my two $

Steve

mdelzer

First, Mike please get off of your soap box. I realize that you have posted your reply to my post after Larry S removed his post that I had replied to. It clearly stated what he was told and what really happened, to respect him removing it, I will not restate what it said. I am always open to considering the possibility of a few holes in the line of communication, such as the fact that now what I replied to is no longer posted in this thread. I did not ASSUME anything as you seem to be ASSUMING now. As for attitude, this is the kind of attitude that drives customers away from vendors. I'm not saying anything was intentional, but you have to admit that the information provided on your website combined with the linking to the Sky Shark site for more details is pretty much what lead up to this entire situation. Once again an example of miscommunication.

Mark

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Mark , I appreciate your comments and just want to add some things that have been said , in the end competition will determine who and how many kist are sold .
If you and other deserning modelers do not wish to purchase the Skyshark kits you simply take a pass .
The only problem with this post is that I dont see an alternative .
Yes if you compare any skyshark kit to an ARF , they are blown away , but outside of that who are we kidding , what are the choices in that size --top flight gold edition lol , ok you will pay $159 for enginering and die cutting that is as old as top flights name .

Now if you willing to step it up to Jerry bates , and some plan servaces then you will probably spend a little mor ebut get a nice kit .Some of the Skyshark kit prices also come close to short Zirolli kits and after all you will get a much bigger bird with Zirolli .

But in the end the choice is yours , you dont have to buy there kits if you dont like there prices

J Villa

Why hate on Top Flite? Yeah, they have been around for a long time, but since when has that been a bad thing? In the end a kit is just as good as the builder. I worked in a hobbytown USA for two years and I know for a fact that half the kits we sold while I was there were never built. In the end a kit is only as good as the builder/pilot, and i've seen plenty of nice SkyShark kits turned into trash because they all crash the same. I've read alot of bickering on both sides of the argument, but I haven't read about SkyShark thanking the guys that did buy the kits and that's a shame, because in retail the customer is always right. Right? Unfortunately, you can no longer go into a LHS and buy a SkyShark kit right? And if you live in Canada you are out of luck too? So is this guy running his business as a business or as a hobby and if he is not into the business to make a profit and he loves kits so much why is he selling ARF's???? If Skyshark is now only producing kits on a per order basis their overhead musk have gone way down, right? And if they aren't using any outside distributer then they are saving money by dealing directly with the public, right???? So why is Skyshark raising it's prices and taking it's customers for granted? Do they assume that just because Pica is gone from the kit market and Sterling is gone and Platt is gone. etc. etc. that we (the modelers) will pay 350.00 for a kit? That's exactly what they are assuming. And as a matter of fact that's probably the best thing that could have happened to me because I have my Pica and my Platt and my Skyshark kits that I want. I'll probablly go buy a giant TOPFLITE F4u for 279.00 and then go see what this ARF craze is all about.

J Villa

Here is my P-39 for those of you who don't like TopFlite kits and like to laugh at them. Maybe it will get me some street cred here on RCUniverse? Skyshark should make a 39 or 63 then we can talk....I got my visa waiting and waiting.........

J Villa

And yes, I know the tailfeathers have been enlarged on this design!

Raven_0-1

Well, maybe I'm pissing in the wind here - but I'm about half way through Skyshark's A-1 Skyraider and I would DEFINATELY buy another at the new prices considering the quality and support. If you want to save money, but a Chinese made ARF and enjoy!

Raven 0-1

J Villa

Do they make an A1? I mean the Chinese, not SkyShark! Aren't SkyShark ARF's made in China? That's a trick question! Because most ARF's come from asia...Speaking of ARF's VIMAR is making a sweek Su 30 if anyone cares???

w0mbat

My Feedback: (1)

Why hate on Top Flite? Well, because I have built a few of their kits before I got into the R/C business and I thought they were terrible to build and to fly. That is one of the reasons I purchased Heritage R/C in the first place - because I wanted something better. Sometimes planes do not fly well because of just plain bad design.

As far as thanking our customers - we personally thank everyone who calls and orders from us. We hope our few dealers do the same thing. We give people what we feel is the best customer service available. When our kit customers need laser parts cut because they made a mistake, lost or broke something, we make sure they get what they need right away and ususally at no charge. We offer everyone who buys a kit from us 50% off a replacement kit if they crash within the first year. We have even cut special contest grade kits for people at no extra charge. We have probably turned more beginners away from buying our kits than we have sold simply because we felt they were not ready to build or fly warbirds. Most people would just sell them and be done with it - I know because that is exactly what happened to me when I started in the hobby! We do appreciate our customers, but we do not appreciate people who have nothing better to do than complain just because they enjoy complaining or have some chip on their shoulder. We would rather not make the sale than have to deal with people who are chronically unhappy and miserable to everyone around them. This is supposed to be a fun hobby. Why do some people make it so miserable for themselves and others?

The reason people cannot go into hobby shops and buy Skyshark kits is because hobby shops refuse to stock them. That is just the nature of the beast. They would rather stock ARFS because they move faster - and they can order everything from one place - Hobbico or Horizon. Many hobby shop owners are more interested in convenience than stocking the "best" items. It's convenient to order from one main company, rather than trying to order from 100 different ones even though the products may be better and less expensive. We have done our best to try and get hobby shops to distribute out kits but it just hasn't worked out, so we sell direct. At least this way, we have complete control of customer service. When someone has question on or problem with our products, they get immediate answers from knowledgable people.

Just because we produce kits on a smaller scale does not mean our costs go down. In fact, they have gone up because we place smaller orders with our suppliers, and in return, have to pay more for our materials. All our other costs have increased in the 4 years we have been in business yet we have only had one small price increase on a couple kits in all that time. You have to realize that, unlike Top Flite, we don't have engines, glue, radios, servos, building tools, covering and misc building supplies to subsidize our kits. Naturally they would cost more even if they were the same quality. With fewer builders now than ever before, kit sales drop and prices must go up or you go out of business like Pica, Royal, Marutuka, etc.

The good news is that we are selling more kits now than the 12 months previous to our price increase and so far, our complaint numbers have dropped to almost zero. This is a good thing because it will allow us to have kit sales and trade show specials with big savings. The only people who are really complaining about the price are a few usual people here on RCuniverse. This is nothing new to me because I have been on RC newsgroups and forums since the beginning. I now realize that there are some people who are never happy no matter what. I could give free kits to some people (and I have) and they would complain about the balsa being too soft or the box not being the right color (and they have)!

Now our ARFs are another subject. I have owned quite a few arfs from various manufacturers - and I have been ripped off more than my share of times and ended up with what I consider junk. I have always built kits but I also enjoy assembling and flying ARFs. I make the ARFS that I want to fly at the level of quality that I like. The way I see it, there are more guys like me out there who also want a quality product - even if it costs more. Most may not reside here on RC Universe, but they are out there. If we can subsidize our kit business and my hobby by selling ARFs that I like to fly, then so be it! After import freight, duties, advertising, labor, testing, prototype costs, competition from China and all the additional items we add to each plane, we don't make much on them anyway. I think you will find that most small companies who sell only a few different ARFs are in the same position. The hobby has changed a lot in the 4 years since I started this company. Now it seems that many people are only interested in the least expensive thing they can find - no matter what the quality. Yes, I believe the Wal-mart mentality has infested the hobby and it's a real shame. Other than a few premium brands like BVM, Dave Patrick, etc., it's difficult to find a quality ARF that is well designed, builds easy with quality materials/hardware, flies well and is durable for years of flying. It seems like many of the planes today are designed to fly a few times and be thrown away. Perhaps most people crash them right away and don't get to that point?

J Villa, I think you should go out and buy that TF Corsiar. When it tip stalls into the ground, you can sell your $1500.00 worth of engines, gear, servos etc. and call me for a $350.00 Skyshark Kit and rest assured that it will fly as advertised! [sm=teeth_smile.gif]

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Keep shooting yourselves in the foot gents, pretty soon there won't be anybody making kits at any price. As I have said in the past, I can't believe Mike (w0mbat) puts up with this crap on a regular basis. I'd have quit a long time ago.

Darren40

My Feedback: (2)

I spend most of my time at an RC scale builder's site and don't get to RCU as often. I hadn't been to the skyshark site for a few months but dropped by to see if anything new was brewing. WOW, was I surprised by the price increase! I was surprised I hadn't seen any chatter on this subject. I began writing an email to Mike to find out why, and i guess to complain. Then I started to think about my own selfish interests. I want Skyshark kits to be available for several years to come. Skyshark offers three other kits I've always planned to purchase but couldn't justify because of the large stock of kits already filling my building room. I'll eventually pick up these kits (as I accumulate brownie points) and accept the fact that the extra cost of the kits is the price I have to pay for expecting them to be around for the long term. I've directed many would-be TF buyers to consider the Skyshark kits because, despite the extra cost, the added quality, included fiberglass cowls and cockpit interiors made them good value IMO. It would definitely be a harder to sell this argument now, simply because there is such a huge price difference. I've built a Skyshark Val, Marutaka kits, and Top Flite kits and am willing to buy all three but understand the differences between them. I like the challenge of the Marutaka kits and get much more satisfaction in the building than the flying. I will never own an ARF. I'll build a Midwest or DC fun-scale kit first if I want something in the air quickly. In fact, I'm in the middle of a Midwest Zero now as a break from some scale detailing work i was getting bogged down in. I can imagine the burden of offering the level of support they do to builders of limited experience. Lots of phone calls and emails to deal with!
The 1 yr crash guarantee isn't worth anything to me as it takes me all of that to build and detail a model of this calibre. The vinyl decals aren't worth much to me either since I paint my markings on. Located in Canada, my only option is the short kits. They seem to fit my needs. The price increase, as Mike pointed out, simply means these kits are not competing with Top Flite kits but will continue to be sold to those who know the quality of the Skyshark kits and are willing to pay the extra price to get what they want. They'll continue to get my business (it'll take a bit longer to earn those extra brownie points though!). It would be nice to see the occassional special offer continue such as the kit+motor deal offered earlier.