RCU Forums - View Single Post - What happened to all the glow powered trainers?
Old 02-18-2020, 08:15 PM
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tedsander
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: White Bear lake, MN
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SIG kits and ARFS are still available, from SIG if nowhere else. Kits went by the wayside with the rise of ARF's. Production shifted to the Far East. Batteries got far better, electric motors got better. Nitro stopped being produced in the US. Costs went up for glow engines, electric went down. Many engine companies stopped production. Glow prices went through the roof as hazardous shipping fees were placed on it. Engine sales dropped even further. Now wood ARFS are endangered - costs in the Far East are going up as wages are going up. Workers there are preferring jobs in electronics. Costs as much to build a .40 size wood ARF as it does a big gas ARF there. Injection foam planes, and other plastics, are beginning to take over so assembly can take less hand labor.
Planes of the older styles are still around, but much less variety. Most of what you named is now to be found via individual to individual sales.
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