RE: Skyshark kit prices
Our kits are something that we never made money on from the start. The only reason we started making them in the first place is because Heritage was out of business and I hated to see a kit of that quality be lost from the marketplace. We never planned on making money from the kits because we knew it would not be possible while keeping the price somewhat in line with other kits. Due to increased costs of everything from labor to materials to equipment maintenance, we are at the point now where we can do one of two things: 1. Discontinue the kits because we don’t even make enough on them to pay for maintenance on the equipment or 2. Raise the prices so we can afford to at least pay for the equipment and labor used to make them.
It would be a lot easier for us just to discontinue the kit line and not have to deal with complaints, technical support, missing parts, and plain unhappy people in general! I will say that it is a lot easier to design, produce, sell and support an ARF than a kit.
Stopping kit production is something I really don’t want to do because there are people in the hobby who don’t mind paying what it actually costs for a quality product. Not to mention that we have a lot of loyal customers who have supported our products over the past few years in need of decent quality kits.
When you look at our kits in detail, they are a value even at our new pricing. I can cut an average Ziroli kit in about half the time it takes to cut one of ours. This is due to the number of laser cut parts and lightening holes in our kits. You would have a hard time finding laser cut parts for a Ziroli for under $400.00. When you factor in our pre-cut vinyl decals, fiberglass cowls, individually printed color plans, cockpit kits, crash free program quality of wood, and instruction manual, it’s a bargain. If you tried to put that kind of quality in making a Ziroli kit, the cost would easily exceed $1000.00.
I am aware that our line of kits and ARFs don’t fit into the bargain basement mentality of many guys here and in the hobby today. They never really have because that has never been our target customer base. The bottom line is that is costs money to make a quality product – kit or ARF. The only reason I got into this business in the first place was because I felt there was a lack of quality and service in the kits and ARFS available to the select few, like myself, who wanted that type of product.
Sure, we could easily put out kits and ARFS for under 100 bucks. They would be comparable to everything else that is out there now and, like many other companies, knowledgeable customer service would be non-existent. We could probably make pretty good money doing that in the short term. Of course, that is something I have absolutely no interest in because selling, building or flying junk is not something I enjoy doing! I have been burned by false claims and hype more than my share of times before I got into the business so I know how aggravating it is!
I do appreciate everyone’s input on the subject. Unfortunately, some of the comments above are 100% correct. If you want kits to be available and affordable, people have to actually buy them. Otherwise, everything will go the direction of the ARF – which may or may not be a bad thing.
Mike Grey
Skyshark R/C Corporation