There are many instances where 'items' destined for the jet community are 'inflated' in terms of cost, it happens in a lot of sectors, aviation is one, boats and medical are others etc. The hook is we all want the best in our 'expensive toys'.
Festo and SMC make great fittings, interestingly Festo seem to be 'the' fitting, SMC do not, SMC make a very very good product and often more cost effective than Festo, its just the Festo name is the bling one when it comes to fittings - only you guys can change that.
Aeropoxy is another often commented product, there are alternatives, 9462 has been around for donkeys years, yes it achieved 'approval' but chemistry has moved on and products like 9464 albeit grey in colour are equally good, along with many others, the problem is getting them in a quantity that makes the price attractive, something I have tried to do but yet to find a 'partner' to help with a bulk order, it would only take a big retailer to come on board and we would see some better priced adhesives around.
Air traps, component parts are tiny, parts are all available even the famous 'white material' that is fitted on one makers unit - I'm looking to make a simple effective cheap CBT (composite bubble trap) so if this might interest some of you let me know, and I will do some prototyping and testing.

marcs