hogflyer

[quote]ORIGINAL: Andrew


Easy, its call slave labor . Some of the people assembling ARFS are probably making $1.00 per hour if they're lucky.

Bipe Flyer

Well said George. It's pretty hard to make an objective comparison because we all have our preferences. For me the fun per dollar factor is important.

Andrew

Quite true since most products requiring any type of labor intensity are manufactured off-shore, but in many cases, just the cost of materials for a scratch built will not be far different from the cost of a finished plane. When you take into account manufacturing profit, transportation profit, importer profit, wholesaler profit and retail profit, how was Raidentech able to sell a .40 sized trainer for $39.00?

Our club got one for a club trainer and admittedly it was not the best constructed, yet how many of us could build a .40 sized trainer complete except for radio gear and engine at that price? Cheap labor or not, it still amazes me. Maybe I'm just a poor shopper.[]

I've never really understood the "My choice is better than your choice" argument. Gas, nitro, electric, rubber, hand launch, C/L, whatever -- if the person flying says, "Man, I had a good time today!" and walks away with a smile, then that's all that matters. It might not be my cup of tea, but if he/she enjoyed themselves, then the hobby has made someone happy.

D Bronk

DON`T support,,, Slave labour.!! Build your own planes,with as many, North American made,Parts as you can.

Bipe Flyer

When I build, it feels like slave labour!

flybug

LOL, funny how we say don't support slave labor yet I could bet my bottom dollar none of you are walking around butt nacked. Those planes come from the same place your clothes come from, same process (check your tags) and it is done so the big boys keep their fat pay check and for us to afford it. We say slave labor because we can't imagine living on US$1.00/hr, but the questions is how far can a dollar go over there, maybe that dollar an hour just moved them up in the income bracket from living in a weed hut with mud floor to a cinder block house. My grandfather use to say "son, you cannot talk about the cold unless you been to the cold".
Maybe I'm a thrift shopper it's why I shop at walmart a club member got 2 of those .40 trainers from Raidentech and though they are not top of the line quality, he said over all they flew well and he got his money worth.
I guess it's like they say "what ever works for you" that also applies to nitro, electric, rubber, etc

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff

In an attempt to bring this thread kicking and screaming back to the original intent I have a few observations.
As the result of being a long-time friend and daily correspondant of Randy Randolph's I know that Larry Marshall was one of the members of the modelling press for whom he had a great deal of respect. As such I think the column is in good hands. Larry, as is the case with all columnists, cannot create the sort of content in the column desired by the readership without feedback from his readers that will indicate their interests and the type of information they wish to see presented. Feedback is the lifeblood of an on-going column predicated on a narrow interest. So if you aren't seeing the sort of things you want to see in Small Talk these days check the mirror for the reason. Larry is a modelling journalist, not a mind-reader or prophet. I'm sure if he could read the future he could make far more pocket change to support his own modelling habit by playing the horses.
That said I've been fully as guilty as everyone else. Perhaps even more so because I did send Randy material in our private posts that he used on a somewhat regular basis. I have not accorded Larry the same opportunity. I've been in a modelling slump since we lost Randy and I'm just now starting to ease back into the hobby. But I will make it a point to send material to Larry when I get back to the point of having anything I think he even might be able to get a bit of mileage from. I will NOT expect him to use every little tid-bit I send. And if you will take the time to do likewise you shouldn't expect to see your own words immortalized with every submission. One of his jobs is essentially self-editing the content of the columns he submits. I suspect that Frank hardly ever makes a suggestion to him or actually edits anything except spelling or grammatical errors.
As for the paucity of issues of Smallnet from Joe please consider that Joe is @ 80 years old, not in the very best of health and rather recently lost his wife of many years. That alone effects us far more as we get older. And, like ourselves, he lost Randy too, his long-time friend and co-conspiritor. Like Larry's column, but to an even greater degree Smallnet is purely fueled by reader input. If Joe doesn't get material he doesn't send material. Simple, isn't it?
So let's all try to give Larry a hand. Send him something, even if it's just a gripe or an "Attaboy". They too give him direction, but nothing takes the place of content. Let's contribute to 'our' column.
Just my 2 cents, Tom