ORIGINAL: jeff sewell
It's kind of funny you should say that - I often wondered whether the people making the most noise about copy theft were just disgruntled SM customers whining because they used up all their allowance to but a model they could have bought much cheaper elsewhere.
But then again I could be wrong....you see how east it is to say that? (That's not directed at you EASYTIGER - you've been a relative beacon in the gloom! Well maybe one that's been beating the hornets' nest a little!)
Let's hope that those people who were quick to criticise Spark/JetLegend will be as quick to apologise when they've been vindicated. I know I will stand up and say 'I was wrong' publically, if they're not.
I hope all this settles out into a really good competition between these two companies - whichever side of the fence your on competition is good for the consumer.
Me? I have no moral high ground...I'm just going to put my custom where-ever I want to (as always).
Would that be a Sparks' Hornet's Nest, a Skymaster Hornet's Nest, or a Tamjets/BVM SUPER Hornet's Nest? Or a Yellow Aircraft Single Hornet's Nest? A YA ARF Single Hornet's Nest? A YA TWIN Hornet's Nest? A YA Twin ARF Hornet's Nest? Maybe the old Spirit Jets' Hornets Nest. Or a Bob Parkinson one....
How quick will people be to apologize? Well...not quick at all. They won't! Not in a million years! If court papers came out saying that Skymaster was only a sales agent and didn't design a thing, there would STILL be a bunch of people shouting "Sparks copycat"! Till the day they die. That's how this works.
If Sparks was smart...and they are probably not...they would start giving huge discounts to prominent modellers to have them say nice things about their models. Work that
PR machine. Give out T-shirts and hats and show up at rallies. But above all, give discounts or give models away so that the planes end up in the hands of people who will fly them and say nice things about them. Works for other people.
A huge part of the success of Skymaster here in America is they got good people to distribute them, people who knew at least a little about marketing, and people who speak English well. And people who did a GOOD job with support. That good reputation will only carry you so far, though.
In the end...90% of the customers will go with price. That's how it is. People TALK all the time about high-falootin' values, buy local, buy American, brand loyalty, yadda yadda yadda, but when push comes to shove, they end up at Walmart. 90% of the time. It's why Tower has 1000 or so employees and your local hobby store has one. Or none. It's just the way of the world. It's not going to change HERE for model airplanes, they are not that special.
The price differential should be a little bigger, though, Sparks should cut their prices.