I spoke with Great Planes yesterday and they have received a very limited number of OS .46VX engines. From that limited number, we will receive only 4. The better news is that they expect to receive more of them in about 2 weeks.

On the subject of the Jett .50 DF engine, when I spoke with Dennis at Jett Engineering about 2 weeks ago, he that "there was a disconnect" and indicated they are no longer making the ducted fan engine "due to lack of interest." In large part, the problem has been their lack of effective marketing of this engine. At no time did they offer to have us even RUN a Jett .50! At no time did they send us anymore than a casting so we could see what would be required to make some turbine bodies to accept their engine. Somehow the process seems to have worked backwards; afterall, if a fan exists that will accept an engine you might be able to make, would it not be logical to find out what it takes to make the engine work with the fan BEFORE making the engine?!! Then wouldn't it seem logical to have the fan manufacturer run, fly, and promote your engine? Wouldn't this stand to benefit both parties involved and the hobby at large? Contrary to one statement, the issue has never been whether or not we were willing to pay for a Jett .50; in fact, that was never discussed! The issue has been that somehow the folks at Jett Engineering were content to keep the real performance of their product a secret. I guess that is how they do it in Texas!

Unfortunately, when products are single-sourced (be it engines, retracts, kits, etc.), they also tend to become scarce--and the "source" controls the supply. This has led to what we see today: since D/F engines of any size and description don't sell like .15 car engines, the supplier makes the decision to neither make nor carry them based on the overall bottom line; afterall, volume and money are the only things that matter!

Of course, all of this has reduced prices and profit margins to the lowest possible denominator for the consumer, dealer, and the manufacturer. The end result is that the outlook for our hobby industry is one of less rather than more--and this is largely attributable to the breakdown of the distribution network to a few, giant, front-door/back-door operations that control both WHAT we can buy and what PRICE we will pay.

As someone else said, "money talks, B/S walks." Well--there you have it!

Best regards,
larry Wolfe
[email protected]