ORIGINAL: MHester
Trouble is, I'm a part time professional builder and I keep running into this crap. ZN, PL all of them have problems. That's why I have pretty much stopped building for others, I am sick and tired of having to redesign someone else's crap. Wing tubes that break out after 100 flights, firewalls that are just HOSED, delamination, cracks, ridiculous balance and coupling issues, and yes...GREAT (non existant) customer service. And all I hear is how great these things are.....good god people.
I am sick of it, so I am doing something else, on my own. I'm reminded of a scene from Animal House: "THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER!!" **WHACK**
No thanks, but y'all enjoy
-Mike
Mike,
I am glad that you found a solution for yourself, but there are two problems with it:
1) It does not scale. That is, you could not make a wood Tempest or whatever thing you are working on fast enough, with quality that would suit discriminating customers like myself. Additionally, you would have a difficult time making a reasonable profit, so you would not pursue it in the first place.
2) It is not good enough. We want better stuff. PL and ZN have the formula that we want. They are light, durable, easy to build and finish, the parts fit, and they fly really well. I know several guys who like myself don't sweat the price and purchase two at a time because we appreciate the extra quality. We don't want a heavy wood roach.
Sorry to be blunt, but that is what I am thinking. You don't really have a viable solution. If all I had to choose from was your wood plane, I would stop flying pattern.
Now the Abbra looks like it is a good value for the money, but I am skeptical about whether it has the quality that I am interested in. I'm not impressed by the photos. The weight and size fit the formula. The paint does not, but that does not really matter. What matters is how it flies.
PL, ZN, BN Models and Oxai fit the formula. There are other kits that are a reasonable fit for the money, but the money is not my big concern. Quality is my biggest concern. These guys manufacturing and distributing pattern planes deserve to make a profit. I'm all for subsidizing their effort so that they can provide high quality planes.
Derek, sorry to hear about your troubles. I know of one other person that ordered direct recently that had the exact same experience. Order from a respected distributor so that you are shielded from bad business and bad luck. Do not order direct. Buy two at a time so that you do not have to wait for the next one.
Mike, Pizza, Dick, frugalmaniacs, et. al. -- that is the way I see it. I'm sure you disagree, but there are a lot of consumers like me who are just being quiet about the issue. Money for us is NOT the biggest factor. We demand much better planes like those that I mentioned.
David