I understand that many modelers are cheap. I really don't think that is the case with us as jet modelers. Look at Keith's plane, for example, with his Uber expensive F-14. He shouldn't be fighting with that gear at all. It should be 100% reliable from the start. Even a lot of the Top Flite GS warbirds guys are getting pretty upset with their Robart gear. I know there's not a ton of money in manufacturing the RG but the problems seem to be pandemic in our hobby. All I ever hear about is how it's a cottage industry job and they do this part time. Surely, there is somebody out there that can make this work.
You mention us being such a tiny group. I understand that but somebody's producing something and we're buying it. They just need to do it correctly with a QA system that'll catch problems. I would just like it to be reliable, durable and reasonable. Look at our servos nowadays. When I started in the mid seventies, we were using Kraft servos (and others) KPS-14's. What a joke. Probably the 14 stood for the ounces of power they put out, square spline and no options. We now have servos cranking out nearly 500 oz of power with all kinds of options. Back then, we had the Kraft electric gear which was state of the art. It seems we haven't gone much farther in research since then...
Don't get me wrong, my KingCat has NEVER had a retract failure as I knock on wood but I'm talking about industry wide problem not individual manufacturers. Don't turn this thread into a BVM vs Skymaster vs Lado vs etc flame war.
Maybe I'm just dreaming. There's a market out there but it could be impossible with all the hard landings and shoddy installs we as pilots do to these airframes. We certainly don't slam a full scale Arrow onto the runway like we do with these models.
Last edited by patrnflyr; 06-26-2015 at 03:10 AM.