I need some help to locate plans for a DP Ultimate Biplane bottom wing. I can not find a replacement for it that will arrive in any decent amount of time. I had an unsuccessful dead stick landing and busted it up good. The rest of the plane is fine, just the bottom wing smashed up. I called Dave Patrick models today and the lady that answered the phones said she wasn't working today (5/17/02) and wouldn't know anything until late Monday, if then. She said she thought they were out and wouldn't be able to get any for at least 4-6 weeks. Fed up with this nonsense, I called Cermark, the distributor for this kit. The lady there stated that they didn't buy any wing replacements and that I would have a tough time getting any. My hope is that with the vast amount of knowledge available on this board, you guys would have some suggestions for me. What a horrible time to have this problem. Just a week before a 3 day weekend! Help me please!!

I had pretty much talked myself into getting the DP Ultimate as my next plane. That is until you brought up the problem of replacement parts. Sad to say but I'm betting the 4 to 6 weeks will actually be much longer than that. My search on the net didn't even bring up any mention of replacement parts. Nope, I guess it's back to Great Planes for me. When I trashed my GP .46 300 Extra S wing I was able to have a new one sent next day from Tower and was up in the air the next weekend. Does anyone have another suggestion for a nice biplane ARF in the 60" wingspan area?

Jeff

Sorry about your not wanting an Ultimate based on my bad experience. I taked to Sandy at DPM yesterday and they said they were going to get me a wing out yesterday, and send me the tracking number asap. That was as of about 2pm CST yesterday. As of 11am CST today, no tracking number. I am trying to be patient and not call but it is getting more difficult. I went ahead and rebuilt and reinfirced the wing and am about ready to cover it this evening. Should be in the air hopefully on Saturday or Sunday.

Well, keep me posted. I still have an open mind. They sure made it sound like there was no hope in your first contact. I can deal with a week or two, but 4 to 6 weeks is beyond my patience level. It would be nice if others stocked the replacement parts as well to ease my mind on availability. It doesn't make you feel too good that you're totally at their mercy.

A guy at our field just brought the new DP 330L......very nice.

Jeff

Did they take care of you?

Trent, I would like to say they took care of me with a smile on their faces, but I have to tell you, this company has the worst customer relations I have ever seen. It is not fair to say company since I have only had the "pleasure" of dealing with one person. Did they send me the product I needed? yes. Did they send it to me in a timely fashion? A week longer to get the information than it should have, but the merchandise did arrive in a fair amount of time. Would I recommend this company to anyone else looking for a decent aircraft? Probably not based on the service I received from Sandy. Very curt, no information, not helpful in anyway. She stated that she would call or email me the tracking info on the package I requested that evening when it went out. Did she follow through? No she did not. It took another long distance phone call in order to find out if in fact the merchandise had been shipped. (it had been, but a simple email with no cost to anyone with the information I requested would have sufficed) As for the Ultimate ARF, at first glance it looked like a beautiful plane. Had I not damaged the wing, I never would have known better. When I peeled back the ultrakote to look at the damage I had caused, I noticed a hole had been punched through the wing at the factory and patched with filler, several places on the cap strips had been pushed through with thumbs or fingers and replaced with small pieces and CA'd back in place. Some of the wood used appeared to be old and moldy, almost like it had been damp. These were things I noticed from looking at a damaged bottom wing. I haven't gone over the fuselage or top wing and can't at this point. I will end this way, in the beginning, I anticipated purchasing a model or two more from DPModels. After the way I feel that I have been treated, there is not a snowballs chance in hell that I will give them another red cent of my modelling money.

I bought the Extra with a Moki 210. I haven't flown it yet but it's ready, I think. One never knows....

Reference the DP parts, if you haven't heard from them, give em' a call back. It's my understanding that they are on the go alot. I ordered a canopy from them for my 120 bipe. It took a bit but it came in about 2 1/2 weeks. After hearing from you all about the delays, I expected it and wasn't disappointed, but again, if you think too much time passed, call back and inquire about the order.

John Wells

John, glad you had a good experience with them. Its not about the time issue at this point, but shear bad customer relations. I understand that people who have met and dealt with Mr. Patrick himself have had a good experience.

We just had a brand new dp 330L go down at our field on about its 5th or 6th flight. Aileron flutter during a knife edge caused one of the ailerons to make an early exit from the plane. The supplied CA hinges just pulled out of the wings without a bit of wood left on them. I realize that this could have been builder error as I am not familiar with this particular person. However, what I seem to be hearing most is that the hardware supplied with the kits are simply not up to the task. I don't know if that's true or not but I don't think I'm willing to take the $400.00 gamble. Unfortunately, there aren't exactly a lot of giant scale arf biplanes out there to choose from. Oh well, it looks as if another kit is in my future.

Jeff

Jeff you are right, the hardware is not up to the task from what I can tell and I had one of these kits. I completely replaced the hardware on all of the surfaces except the pull/pull rudder. I was going to replace it but alas, the poor Ultimate didn't make it. I had 10 - 12 flights on it before I made a mistake and the plane didn't survive. If you know anyone that is looking for a brand new, never installed, still in the plastic bag bottom wing, please let me know. My problem had to do with me in a bad situation and servos that didn't center. I was doing a little practice at a slightly to low altitude. I had been fooling around with inverted flying at a higher altitude, dropped down in preparation for landing, started doing slow quarter rolls, got it inverted, centered the stick, but the elevator didn't stay centered and she dove for the ground. Yeah, the proper thing to do would have been to roll the wings back level asap and pull up,maybe just maybe damage the gear, but noooo, not me. Hahaha I just knew she would finish up a few feet off the ground and soar back into the blue yonder with me shaken but still a whole plane to land and play with. errr Did I mention I had the radio set on low rates? Oh well, at least I still have my little Corsair to play with until I build my new plane! Thanks for all the help guys. I do really appreciate it very much. Remember, our $'s are to valuable to spend with companies that practice poor Customer Relations.