To those of you who miss some of the "old standby" designs, I feel your pain.

Modern companies intent on survival have no choice, though. They either go with the trends, or they fail. (and obviously there's a lot of interest in 3D right now) (Examples: If Leonardo Da Vinci were alive today, he could make a lot more money painting Coca Cola signs than portraits. There's more money in Top 40 music than in classical music or jazz. Computers today must include colored, translucent plastic, or they're not "hip".)

The model airplane business is excessively competitive, but not in the creative sense. Note that almost every successful company makes "a Trainer, a P-51 and a J3 Cub", for example. That's what keeps them in business, and whether we like it or not, it's the nature of this hobby. None of the model companies can afford to continue to support their old kits and keep up with trends at the same time. (If it was profitable, they'd be doing it!)

In defense of Great Planes, I've got to say that I appreciate what they're doing. When I built the Ultra Sport kits, (which were a lot of fun to fly) I always thought they were "overbuilt, (heavy) but sturdy". Last year, I kit-bashed an Ultra Sport .40, to see if moving the stab, straightening the rudder hinge line, and lightening the kit in general would make it fly better. ... It did. ( http://www.nextcraft.com/us40bash.html )

Recently, I assembled and flew their "Venus .40 ARF", and noticed huge improvements. Wood thicknesses were reduced where practical, (lighter!) without sacrificing strength where it's needed. The kit uses excellent materials, traditional building techniques, (easy to repair) and new design concepts that make it a better flier than the Ultra Sport. The included fiberglass cowl and wheel pants are pre-colored, and done very nicely. Rudder response in particular is a LOT better, and the plane is close to a pound lighter than the Ultra Sport, while providing even more wing area. I was so impressed that I actually sat down and emailed Great Planes, with these comments. Ann Marie Cross wrote back to me, and mentioned that, for one thing, improvements in radio technology over the years has enabled them to design kits to FLY, rather than "survive a radio failure". (I posted a review of this kit on my web site - Click the "www" button below.) I'm assuming that the new Ultra Sport includes similar improvements.

If Great Planes (or any other commercially-oriented company) kept manufacturing all their old kits, the overhead and reduced profits would kill them. Time marches on...